Neukirch an der Katzbach/Nowy Kościół
Neukirch an der Katzbach/Nowy Kościół
Etymology
Sources explain the name of the village by suggesting that it was probably one of the first to have its own church following the introduction of Christianity in Silesia.
Location
Neukirch is situated at 51° 04′ north latitude, 15° 51′ east longitude, approximately 210–240 m above sea level, approximately 7 km south-west of Goldberg/Złotoryja and approximately 82 km west of the regional capital, Breslau/Wrocław.
Topography
The village lies on the left bank of the Katzbach (Kaczawa), a left-bank tributary of the Oder, in the Bober-Katzbach Mountains (Góry Kaczawskie).
Political and administrative affiliation
Poland. Neukirch is the largest village in the municipality of Schönau (Gmina Świerzawa) in the district of Goldberg (Powiat złotoryjski) and is situated in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship (Województwo dolnośląskie).
History
The village and its parish priest are first mentioned in written sources in 1217. At that time, Neukirch belonged to a certain Wittich von Zirn. In the second half of the 13th century, the village formed part of the ducal estates. Around the year 1300, Neukirch was purchased by the von Zedlitz family and, with the exception of the period from 1608 to 1719, remained in their possession for fifteen generations, until 1945.
After the end of the Second World War, Neukirch came under Polish administration. Between 1945 and 1954, the village was the seat of a municipality of the same name (Gmina Nowy Kościół). Between 1975 and 1998, it belonged to the Jelenia Góra Voivodeship (Województwo jeleniogórskie).
Economy
For centuries, arable farming and livestock rearing were the main sources of income in Neukirch. From the early modern period onwards, cloth-making was added to these.
The village’s economic boom did not begin until 1895, when Neukirch was connected to the newly built railway line between Schönau/Świerzawa and Goldberg. At the start of the 20th century, the village was home to four large industrial enterprises: a basalt works, a cloth factory, a cement works and a chocolate factory, which was depicted on numerous postcards.
After the end of the Second World War, the first Polish copper mine on Silesian soil was opened in Neukirch. The total output of the Nowy Kościół mine, which commenced operations in 1954, amounted to 4,025,847 tonnes of copper ore between 1954 and 1968. After new mines were opened in the vicinity of Lüben/Lubin and Polkwitz/Polkowice in the early 1960s and mining became unprofitable, the Neukirch adit closed in 1968. The area around Neukirch is rich in agates, with deposits that rank among the largest in Poland. This makes the town a popular destination for mineral collectors.
History of Religion and the Church
Neukirch is a significant place in the history of Christianity in Silesia. Firstly, it is highly likely[2] that one of the region’s first churches was built here during the Christianisation period; and secondly, the first Lutheran sermon in Silesia was delivered here. Like his father, Siegmund von Zedlitz (between 1415 and 1420–1508), the then owner of Neukirch, Georg von Zedlitz (1444–1552), was a passionate Hussite. When he heard of Martin Luther’s (1483–1546) theses, he sent two of his servants to him; according to tradition[3], they were to ask him whether he was the swan prophesied by Jan Hus (c. 1370–1415). Following further discussions, Luther sent one of his pupils to Neukirch: the Augustinian monk Melchior Hofmann/Hoffmann, a native of Goldberg. Hofmann delivered his first sermon in 1518 at the von Zedlitz family’s castle. This led to a conflict with the abbess ofthe Benedictine convent in Striegau/Strzegom, who held the ecclesiastical fief for the village and lodged a complaint with King Ferdinand I (1503–1564). The dispute finally ended in 1530 with the sale of the church fief to Georg von Zedlitz, following which Hofmann was officially appointed parish priest.
Neukirch remained an important centre of the Reformation in Silesia, even after 1654, when St Mary’s Church reverted to Catholicism in the wake of the Counter-Reformation. Despite numerous attempts at conversion, however, the congregation remained largely Protestant. Following the First Silesian War, Frederick the Great (1712–1786) authorised the construction of a new church in 1743. Consequently, the first Protestant service took place on 18 October of the same year, though initially it was held once again at the Zedlitz family’s castle.
After 1945, the religious affiliation of the village changed; today, the majority of its inhabitants are Catholic. Since then, St John’s Church has been a Roman Catholic church, and the old vicarage serves as a Protestant house of prayer.
Art History
The building of St Mary’s Church in Neukirch – that is, the ‘novo Templo’, from which the town derives its name – is first mentioned in historical sources in 1307. From the surviving structural elements, it can be concluded that it was built around the middle of the 13th century. The late Romanesque character of the building is evident in the piers running along the nave and a portal on the north side. In the late Middle Ages, the church was fitted with a net vault. A defensive wall with loopholes and a gatehouse with a pitch-covered gable also dates from this period. At the beginning of the 17th century, a tower was added to the church and two extensions were built; the year 1626 is engraved on the southern extension. Due to the dwindling Catholic congregation, there were insufficient funds to maintain the church building. It fell into disrepair at the beginning of the 19th century and has been known as the ‘ruined church’ ever since. The church tower was restored in 1931. The von Zedlitz family vault was located next to the church until 1945.
The construction of the new Lutheran St John’s Church on the banks of the Katzbach was completed in 1749. In 1853, the church was rebuilt; it was given a tower and took on a classical style.
The moated castle of the von Zedlitz family was built in 1319. Extended and rebuilt several times in later centuries, it was one of the few aristocratic residences in Silesia to feature a half-timbered storey projecting beyond the foundation wall. In 1900, a new castle in the Neo-Gothic style was erected on the site of the old castle; however, it was burnt down during the fighting over Silesia in February 1945. In later years, the ruins were demolished.
![‘Allegory of the Reformation Church’, by an unknown Silesian painter, c. 1570, tempera on wood, 130 × 87 cm. [Collections of the Archdiocesan Museum in Wrocław / Muzeum Archidiecezjalne we Wrocławiu, Inv. No. 988].](/fileadmin/_processed/3/e/csm_A81_IMG_9574-k_Muzeum_Archidiecezjalne_Wroclaw_2ed28f6dde.jpg "A81 IMG 9574 k Archdiocesan Museum, Wrocław")
The painting, dated 1570 and by an unknown Silesian artist, entitled ‘Allegory of the Reformed Church’, comes from Neukirch.
Georg von Zedlitz is depicted twice in the painting: listening to a sermon by Luther and waiting to go to confession with Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560). After the painting was removed from the altar of the re-Catholicised St Mary’s Church after 1654, it hung first in the von Zedlitz family’s castle and later, until the end of the Second World War, in St John’s Church.
Today it is held in the collections of the Museum of the Archdiocese of Wrocław.[4]
Bibliography
- Markus Bauer, Jan Harasimowicz, Andrzej Niedzielenko, Jasper v. Richthofen (eds.): The Nobility in Silesia. The Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Catalogue of the exhibition ‘Knights of Freedom, Guardians of the Law. The Nobility in Silesia. The Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. Catalogue accompanying the exhibition ‘Knights of Freedom, Guardians of the Law’. Dresden 2014.
- Johann Adam Hensel: A History of the Protestant Churches in the Communities of Silesia, Covering All Principalities, Principal Towns and Localities of this Region, from the Beginning of the Conversion to the Christian Faith before and after Hus, the times of Luther and Calvin up to the present year 1768, together with a complete list of all clergy currently serving in the Protestant churches, composed in eight sections and prefaced by Friedrich Eberhard Rambach, Royal Prussian Senior Consistorial Councillor and Inspector of Churches and Schools in Silesia. Leipzig, Liegnitz 1768.
- E. K…e: The Protestant Church in Silesia, in particular the services rendered to it by the Baronial family von Zedlitz-Neukirch. Based on historical sources and documents. In: Ulrich Junker (ed.): The Protestant Church in Silesia and the von Zedlitz-Neukirch Family. Bodnegg 2016, pp. 5–15 (originally in: Schlesische Provinzialblätter. New Series, 1865, Vol. 4, pp. 672–681).
- Siegfried Knörrlich: Der Heimat Bild. A local history book of the Goldberg-Haynau district. Liegnitz 1928.
- Romuald Łuczyński: Losy rezydencji dolnośląskich w latach 1945–1991 [The Fates of Lower Silesian Aristocratic Residences in the Years 1945–1991]. Wrocław 2010.
- Eufrazyna Piątek, Zygfryd Piątek, Henryk Rusewicz: Tropami śląskiej miedzi [In the Footsteps of Silesian Copper]. Lubin, Złotoryja 2004.
- Franz Schroller: Silesia. A Description of the Silesian Region. Vol. 2. Glogau [1887].
- Bożena Steinborn: Złotoryja, Chojnów, Świerzawa: Artistic Monuments of the Region [Goldberg, Haynau, Schönau: Artistic Monuments of the Region]. Wrocław 1959 (Silesia in Artistic Monuments).
- Neukirch. In: Ernst Badstübner, Dietmar Popp, Andrzej Tomaszewski, Dethard von Winterfeld (eds.), Sławomir Brzezicki, Christine Nielsen (comp.): Dehio Handbook of Art Monuments in Poland. Silesia. Munich, Berlin 2005 [Polish version: Zabytki sztuki w Polsce – Śląsk. Warsaw 2006], p. 342.
- [Hugo] We[czerka]: Neukirch. In: Ibid. (ed.): Handbook of Historic Sites. Silesia. Stuttgart 1977 (Kröners Taschenausgabe 316), pp. 368ff.
- [Arnold] zum Winkel (author): Liegnitz, Goldberg, the beautiful Katzbach Valley. Berlin-Halensee 1925 (German Urban Planning).
Web links
- dolny-slask.org.pl/507112,Nowy_Kosciol.html (A collection of historical images, photographs and postcards from Lower Silesia. The link takes you to the subpage about Neukirch).
- www.herder-institut.de/bildkatalog/wikidata/Q7067124 (Images of Neukirch an der Katzbach/Nowy Kościół in the image archive of the Herder Institute, Marburg)
Notes
[1] GUS – Główny Urząd Statystyczny [Central Statistical Office]: stat.gov.pl/files/gfx/portalinformacyjny/pl/defaultaktualnosci/5670/21/1/1/1_miejscowosci_ludnosc_nsp2011.xlsx (accessed 30 September 2016).
[2] Cf. E. K…e: The Protestant Church, p. 5.
[3] See Hensel: History of the Protestant Church, p. 130; E. K…e: The Protestant Church, p. 7; Schroller: Silesia, p. 57.
[4] See cover image for: Joachim Bahlcke, Beate Störtkuhl, Matthias Weber (eds.): The Luther Effect in Eastern Europe. History, Culture, Memory. Munich 2017. (www.bkge.de/Publikationen/Print/Schriften_des_Bundesinstituts/Band_64.php).
Citation
Artur Robert Białachowski: Neukirch an der Katzbach/Nowy Kościół. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2016. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p46467 (as at 15 February 2022).
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