The parish church in Jurgów dedicated to St. Sebastian
The wooden church of St. Sebastian comes from 1675. The founders were: the mayor Jakub Kesz and the miller Mikołaj. Built from the wood of fir trees*, rebuilt and lengthened in 1811 and 1869. It is a well-integrated sacred building among the surrounding trees. The roof and walls are covered with shingles, the interior of the temple is rococo with lots of various figures and statues of holy angels, etc. There is an interesting polychrome. The church presents a variation of the so-called "Spisz Rococo". The temple is filled with altars lined with mirrors. These tricks with mirrors have been transformed into a decorative composition. There is also a sculpture of the devil defeated by Archangel Michael (it is placed under the choir). There are legends associated with this statue, women and children are forbidden to see the devil.
taken from the book:
"Wooden Temples of the Archdiocese of Krakow"
authors priest Zbigniew Pytel; priest. Mariusz Susek
*In the local Jurgow dialect the phrase meaning "made from fir wood" is "z jedli". The word for "was eaten up" is "zjedli", almost identical to "z jedli" in dialect. The villagers now joking that there is no church in Jurgow "because it was eaten up" 😉
Briefly about the parish
Formerly Jurgów belonged to the parish in Łapsze Wyżne. From around 1770 it has been an independent parish. Independent records were kept earlier, but only survived from 1770. The earlier ones were burnt down during a fire in the presbytery.
Currently, the parish priest in Jurgów is from 2010, Fr. Stanisław Malarz, vicar Fr. Piotr Kosakowski.
Jurgów is an old parish and many priests worked there. We present a list of priests who worked in our parish.
Parish website: parafia-jurgow-sebastian.pl
Holy Masses in the church in Jurgów:
Sunday and holidays: 8:00 and 11:00 (in Slovak)
More information about holy masses can be found on the parish website in the tab: OGŁOSZENIA PARAFIALNE (in Polish)
Exterior view
View from the new rectory (March 2005)
Western view. (2003)
Church in Jurgów A.D. 2020
Eastern view (2002)
(south view 1996)
(north-west view 1996)
(eastern view 1996)
The interior of the church:
The interior can be viewed if the church is open. If it is closed, you can approach the rectory adjacent to the church and ask the parish priest or vicar to open the church. Currently, the priest has changed and unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to check whether he is opening the church willingly or less willingly. Generally he is busy, but if someone is lucky, he will find a priest. The second option is to go to the churchman that lives across from the church.
During the warm summer months, the doors to the church are often left open. You can then enter the vestibule, which is separated from the rest of the church with a lattice.
In the event that someone is planning to visit the church in a larger group, it is better to make an appointment with the priest or the sacrist to avoid unnecessary waiting.
In 2005 the left side altar was renovated and in 2006 the right side altar. In the church there is also an organ made by the Rieger brothers' organ factory opus 2968 around 1942. We present some photos of the instrument in the church in Jurgów.
Baroque and Rococo altar in the parish church in Jurgów. The altar (in the back) dates from 1869 according to the date placed on it. At the bottom of the photo you can see the balustrade, which was removed in 2004 during the renovation of the floor.
The sculpture of St. Sebastian in the main altar. In the Marian months, it is changed into a statue of Our Lady of the Rosary, who is also the patron saint of the church in Jurgów.
Angel figurine above the pulpit. In the church there are many different figures and figurines of angels and various saints.
One of the best known is the figure of the Archangel fighting the devil at the back of the church.
The belfry at the church in Jurgów. (photo next ) The belfry was built next to the church, unlike the Podhale churches where the belfry is connected to the church. The belfry is from 1881. In 2003 its external façade was renovated.
St. Joseph chapel
St. Joseph chapel was added to the church in Jurgów in the 1950s. In the main altar of the chapel there is a figure of St. Joseph carved by Wojciech Kułach (Wawrzyńcok). The chapel is made of brick and only clad with wood from the outside (like the sacristy) so that it does not stand out from the rest of the church. In 2006, the chapel was renovated and the windows were replaced. Traditionally, the chapel hosts a "God's Grave" and in some years also a Christmas Crib.
The sculpture of St. Joseph in the chapel of his name in the church in Jurgów.
More photos of the church and its history can be found on the website of the parish of St. Sebastian: parafia-jurgow-sebastian.pl
Modern trivia
Jurgów appears more and more in modern games such as
geocaching