Tum Collegiate Church

The collegiate church at Tum was consecrated in 1161 and is one of the largest and least altered Romanesque buildings in Poland: granite and sandstone, two round western towers, two square eastern ones, a tall nave with very small windows, standing by itself on a slight rise in open fields with no town around it. There was a town - Leczyca's early stronghold was here, and a national assembly met at Tum in 1180 - but it moved. Inside, in the western apse, is a wall painting of Christ in Majesty from the twelfth or early thirteenth century, among the oldest surviving in the country, and the north portal has a carved tympanum of the Virgin from the same period. The building was badly damaged in 1939 and restored from 1947 and reconsecrated in 1961, in a way that stripped later additions and returned it to something like its Romanesque state, which is why it reads so plainly now.

History

Building probably began around 1149 on the initiative of Janik, Archbishop of Gniezno, on an islet in the marshes where a wooden Benedictine monastery had stood earlier, and the unfinished church was consecrated on 21 May 1161. Tum hosted 21 provincial synods from 1181 to 1547; the church was rebuilt in Gothic style in the 15th century and in Neoclassical style in 1765-1785, and after reconstruction from 1947 it returned to its Romanesque form and was reconsecrated in 1961 (Wikipedia, Tum Collegiate Church; Polish Wikipedia, Archikolegiata w Tumie).

Highlights

• A granite church of the 1140s - four towers, tall nave, very small windows.
• Christ in Majesty - a wall painting in the western apse, among Poland's oldest.
• The north portal tympanum - a carved Virgin of the same period.
• Open fields - no town around it; the settlement moved to Leczyca.

When to go

April to October. Two hours.

Practical notes

Opening depends on a keyholder outside service times and can be unpredictable. The interior is dim and the painting hard to see without good light. The 1950s restoration removed later fabric, which some visitors find sterile.

Nearby

Leczyca castle is three kilometres away; an open-air museum sits beside the church.

Key facts