Catholic Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Assumption on Burek
ul. Najświętszej Maryi Panny 1, 33-100 Tarnów
Tourist region: Tarnów i okolice
tel. +48 668826276
The parish existed as early as the 14th century. The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Assumption was built with the foundation of the peasants from Przedmieście Większe, and was consecrated in 1462. After a fire in the 17th century, the church was rebuilt before 1640 through the efforts of Father Andrzej Tarło, but it was a much smaller church then.
In 1653, a Baroque signature tower was erected on the roof. In 1853, a major renovation was carried out on the badly damaged church, flooded by rain and washed up by the Wątok Creek. The slipping banks of the creek were secured, the church was moved to a new foundation further away from the water, a new roof was put on and the walls were replaced. Between 1875 and 1876, a new roof was installed, the bell tower was tinned, new pews and floors were made, and a wooden fence surrounded the churchyard. In 1892, the church was repainted. A tower of columnar construction, with a lantern and an onion-shaped cupola, was added in 1910 and rebuilt in 1965. Between 1934 and 1935, the walls and tin turrets were painted from the outside. During the Second World War, the valuable 17th-century stained-glass windows were destroyed, the tower, the 17th-century polychrome and the fence were damaged. Between 1948 and 1965, the roof was repaired, the shingles replaced, and the tower planking completed, the walls painted, a new fence made, polychromes conserved, the ceiling with painted coffers and walls restored, a wall built to protect the church from washout, and a new bell tower erected. The shingles and wall boarding were replaced in 2009.
The church is orientated, of log construction, boarded, single-nave with a triangular closed presbytery narrower than the rectangular nave with a porch. The nave, presbytery and vestry are covered by a steeply pitched shingle roof with a Baroque turret and bell tower. The massive, square tower of columnar construction with a vestibule has an overhanging chamber with a neo-Baroque onion-shaped cupola with a lantern. The portals are pointed arches and the south door is decorated with 15th-century hardware fittings. The church is surrounded by a stone fence covered with shingles.
The interior, with a flat ceiling supported by moulded pillars, is decorated with figural and ornamental polychromes. On the ceiling from 1930, works by Tadeusz Terlecki; in the presbytery, late Renaissance fragments from the 16th–17th centuries. The 17th-century Rococo main altar contains a miraculous image of Our Lady and Child, known as the Scapular, painted on board in the 16th century and covered with 20th-century cloths. During the conservation work in 1963, it was discovered that the painting had been repainted several times and that the original, early Renaissance image is also of the Hodegetria type but more interesting than the current version, which it was nevertheless decided to leave. The two side altars are copies of Gothic triptychs from the 16th century housed in the Diocesan Museum, and the rood beam shows a crucifix and figures of saints from the 17th–18th centuries. There is also a Baroque pulpit from the 18th century, a late Renaissance music choir with a relief parapet and coats of arms from the 17th century, an organ from 1877, two wooden reliquaries from the 18th century and a Baroque cross from the 18th century.