CHURCH OF ST. ANNA IN OLEŚNO

The 16th century wooden church of St. Anna is the most famous historic building in Oleśno. It is considered one of the largest and most interesting wooden churches in Europe. The building is called an "Oleśno rose enchanted into wood" because of its characteristic shape - it was constructed on the plan of a five-petalled rose flower which also appears in the city's coat of arms.

The establishment of the pilgrimage church in Oleśno is connected with the legend of the miraculous rescue of a girl named Anna from brigands thanks to the intercession of St. Anna. A wooden sculpture of Virgin and Child with St. Anne funded by the family of the saved girl was hung on the pine tree that had been her cover. The site soon became a pilgrimage destination for the faithful from the area. In 1444 the townspeople of Oleśno erected a wooden chapel devoted to St. Anne. The chapel was the size of the chancel of today's church and it surrounded the trunk of the "miraculous pine" whose crown was cut off. On the trunk placed was a white oval plaque with the inscription: "The venerable old pine under which one maiden through the intercession of Saint Anne was saved from death. July 1444".

This Oleśko miracle of wooden architecture, intricately woven over the centuries, received the honourable title of Historic Monument in what was for this sanctuary its jubilee year - the 500th anniversary of its consecration. Thereby it became one of the six Historic Monuments in the Opole region. Today, the Church of St. Anne is a historic monument, but also a monument to the living worship of St. Anne and to culture, a monument whose architectural beauty and structural logic make it impossible to indifferently pass it by. It attracts with its singularity. It is a precious jewel in the crown of Polish wooden churches. The church is on the Wooden Sacral Buildings Trail.

A miniature model of the Church of St. Anne in Oleśno was presented at the world architectural art exhibition in New York, alongside such famous objects as, for example, the Eiffel Tower.