Holy Trinity Church in Tarłów

The temple in Tarłów is known primarily to art historians - after all, it is one of the most interesting baroque churches in Poland. Tourists come here less often. Quite wrong, because there are a lot of curiosities here. One can, among other things, see how… death dances.

Tarłów was founded by Andrew Tarła. The town changed its owners - in the 17th century it fell into the hands of the Oleśnicki family. It was Zbigniew Oleśnicki who founded the Tarłów temple. The church was renovated several times. In the second half of the nineteenth century, it saw a new crowning of the towers. The remarkable sculptures of saints - Adalbert and Stanislaus - were replaced in the 1980s by original figures. The baroque facade of the church is decorated with the image of the Holy Trinity as the patron saint of the temple.

Note the richness of the forms of the facade itself. The central part is marked by columns on two floors. The towers change their shape - semicircular in the lower part, hexagonal on the upper floor and quadrilateral at the gables, decorated with soaring finials. The interior amazes with its richness and intricate workmanship of the smallest stucco elements. The most interesting of them can be found in the chapel of Jesus Christ, on the right side of the nave. This is the danse macabre theme known in the history of art - the dance of death. A terrifying death that reminds everyone, regardless of age and condition. The skeleton puts his hand on the shoulder of the wealthy nobleman and the poor pilgrim. It is worth knowing that the temple became a mausoleum of the Oleśnicki family. Among the buried nobles, we can find here the earthly remains of Anna Oleśnicka née Stanisławska, known as the first Polish woman - author of the poem - "Transakcya or describing the whole life of one orphan".