The St Catherine of Alexandria parish church

The church comes from the 17th century. It was built in the years 1693-1694 in place of a previous church burnt down during a fire in 1692. The church was erected due to the funds of its founders – Zabel Balzer von Wolde and his wife Sophia Julianna von Glasenapp. It is an oriented, half-timbered church built on a rectangular plan. The hall church has no separated presbytery, finished three-sidedly. From the west, a brick neo-Romanesque tower covered with a hipped roof was added. In the church, there is a choir supported with four wooden pillars. The windows of the church are lanceted, and the pitched roof is covered with tiles. Underneath the church, there is a burial crypt form the 15th/16th century.

The church owes its baroque furnishings (especially an imposing high altar with side internal galleries) to the descendants of its founders. The majority of the historic elements come from the second half of the 18th century. These include a high altar made of polychromed wood with a figure of Jesus the Crucified and the Last Supper in the predella, richly embellished with figures and ornaments, a pulpit richly ornamented with sculptures and flower garlands, with a roof topped with the figure of Christ the Resurrected, two-level internal galleries surrounding the entire church from the inside, a balustrade, a church founders’ table, the tombstone of the founders of the church - Zabel Baltzer von Wolde and Sophia Julianna nee Glasenapp, a baptismal font from 1698, and a bell from 1649. Because of the poor technical condition of the church walls, a brick wall supporting the walls of the nave was built in the 1980s due to the efforts of parishioners. In the years 2003-2006, the church underwent a major overhaul, which resulted in regarding the building as “the pearl of the sacral architecture of West Pomerania”.

The modest external appearance of the church does not give away the beauty of its interior. It can be best rendered with the words of Bishop Edward Dajczak: “Entering the church, I felt great emotion, and I was moved, because I saw beauty, which is good, beauty in such a place makes us more human”. The church is surrounded with a low wall made of erratic stones. It is located among old trees. The step at the entrance to the church can be an obstacle for the disabled.