Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Biały Kościół

The first mention of the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Biały Kościól dates back to 1264. It was a granite building covered with a barrel vault with and an added tower. The walls of the nave, the chancel covered with a barrel vault, fragments of a late-Romanesque tympanum, and fragments of a portal (these elements may be found in a nearby lapidarium) are all that remains of the old church. The present structure is a result of reconstructions that took place after the fires of 1643 and 1768, and most of all, after the renovation of 1827 during which the building was adjusted to the requirements of the Protestant denomination. It was then that the multistory galleries, the pulpit set above the altar, and the portico embellishing the western facade were built. By the end of WWII, the church served as an ammunition depot. The Germans fleeing from the Red Army blew up the depot thus destroying the church. It was rebuilt in the 1980s combining the survived historic elements with the postmodern ones.