Strzelno Rotunda

Strzelno has two Romanesque churches on one hill: the small round church of St Procopius, built about 1160 in granite with a cylindrical nave and a tower, and the larger Holy Trinity church next to it, which is the reason specialists come. During repairs in 1946 the baroque plaster casing was removed from two pillars in the nave and revealed Romanesque columns carved in relief with standing figures - personifications of the virtues on one and the vices on the other, arranged in tiers under arcading - work of the late twelfth century of a quality and iconographic completeness that has no parallel in Poland and few in Europe. A third carved column and a tympanum were found later. The columns are in place and lit, and the rest of the interior is baroque over Romanesque bones. The two buildings together make one of the best Romanesque sites in the country in a town most people drive past.

What you actually see

• The virtues and vices columns - Romanesque figures found under plaster in 1946.
• St Procopius's rotunda - a round granite church of about 1160.
• A carved tympanum - recovered with the later columns.
• Baroque over Romanesque - the Holy Trinity interior, with the old bones showing.

When to go

April to October. Two hours.

Honest expectations

Opening depends on a keyholder outside services and is not always predictable. The interior is dim and the carving repays a torch. The town has little else. Photography may be restricted.

Nearby

Kruszwica is east; Mogilno and Biskupin are north.