Discover Kąkolewo: Church, memorial sites and palace

• The All Saints Parish Church was built of brick in 1501, replacing an earlier wooden church.
• The main altar features a large 18th-century painting of “Świętych Obcowania.”
• The palace was built by the Mielżyński family at the end of the 19th century.
• An announcement from 2019 described two planned cycle route sections with a combined length of 10.7 km.

The All Saints Parish Church can be understood through its architectural history and design. Built of brick in 1501, it replaced an earlier wooden church. It is also described as a Baroque-Classical building incorporating late Gothic walls. Different architectural layers therefore come together in one building: the late Gothic wall sections and its Baroque-Classical classification offer different starting points for exploring the church.

The furnishings also provide a specific connection to the history of the sacred building. The main altar features a large 18th-century painting of “Świętych Obcowania.” This brings a named work and its location within the church interior into focus alongside the building itself. For an initial overview, you can consider the architectural form, the incorporated late Gothic walls and the altarpiece as distinct aspects, rather than combining them into a single building phase.

Next to the church is a monument honouring the Greater Poland insurgents from Kąkolewo. Three plaques on the south wall of the church tower commemorate other groups. The two side plaques honour 53 people who fell between 1914 and 1926. The central plaque above the entrance commemorates 13 residents of the parish who lost their lives in the 1919 and 1920 battles for Poland’s independence.

The locations and inscriptions distinguish the memorial plaques by the groups and periods they commemorate: the figure 53 refers to the two side plaques, while 13 refers to the central one. Another memorial site lies at the southern edge of the village on ul. Rydzyńska. A stone with a black plaque there commemorates three residents who fell in 1919 fighting for Poland’s independence. The monument, the plaques on the church tower and the memorial stone thus represent different forms of remembrance; make sure to associate the details about groups and years with the specific site.

The palace was built by the Mielżyński family at the end of the 19th century. This places it in a different period from the parish church, whose brick structure dates to 1501. If you are interested in Kąkolewo’s architectural history, these dates can therefore be viewed as reference points far apart in time. The palace adds another historic building to the themes of the church and memorial sites, but this does not imply that it is open to visitors.

For cyclists, an announcement from 2019 is relevant: it described two planned sections, Osieczna–Świerczyna–Ziemnice and Kąkolewo–Grodzisko–Świerczyna. Together, they were to total 10.7 km; this figure applies to both sections combined, not to each one individually. If you would like to include the project in a current cycling trip, check its status beforehand.

Discover more destinations: Osieczna, Charbielin, Lubonia, Rydzyna, Włoszakowice, Wijewo, Junoszyno, Leszno.

When was the All Saints Parish Church built of brick?

The brick building was constructed in 1501, replacing an earlier wooden church.

What is on the main altar?

It features a large 18th-century painting of “Świętych Obcowania.”

Which cycle route sections were planned?

The 2019 announcement described the Osieczna–Świerczyna–Ziemnice and Kąkolewo–Grodzisko–Świerczyna sections. Their combined length is given as 10.7 km; check the project’s status before setting out on a current trip.

For the broader travel overview: Leszno.