What does the church of the Holy Spirit in Tychy have to do with the icon

On June 27, 2026, exactly half a century has passed since the bishop of the Katowice diocese, Dr. Herbert Bednorz, received from the communist authorities of the province a decision authorizing the construction of a new temple in Tychy. It was the Church of the Holy Spirit.

Father Prelate Franciszek Resiak, its investor and builder of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Tychy, in his memoirs, drew attention to a special coincidence: he linked the consent for the erection of the temple within the “model socialist city”, granted by Zdzisław December, First Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the PZPR in Katowice With the workers' protests of June 1976.

The discussion of this dependence, as well as the question of the reasons why Stanisław Niemczyk became the designer of the church in Zapadzie, will begin with a lecture by Dr. Ewa Chudyba, philosopher and cultural scientist. For a discussion about the temple of the Holy Spirit, we invite you to the Museum of the City of Tychy on Friday, November 27th — exactly five months after this year's unique, fiftieth anniversary of obtaining permission for its construction.

The answer to the main question of the lecture — what does the Greek Church of the Holy Spirit have to do with the icon — contrary to appearances, will not concern the polychromes by Jerzy Nowosielski, which adorn the interior of the temple. The subject of the meeting will be primarily the structure itself, considered in the context of social and political conditions, as well as assumptions arising from the Catholic worldview. Together with the presenter we will consider how these factors found expression in the architecture of the church in Zapadzie.

The architecture of Catholic temples is not only the construction, the materials used, current trends or aesthetics popular in the design community. It has — or at least should have — its metaphysical pragmatics. Some architects include it in their work, others — not necessarily. How was it with Stanisław Niemczyk? Why did he want the first church he designed to be “one hundred percent roofed”? This will be discussed during the lecture.

Ewa Chudyba — philosopher, cultural scientist and museologist, Doctor of Humanities. Her research interests focus on the cultural, semantic and axiological dimension of architecture and ontological determinations of cultural phenomena. Author of the first doctoral dissertation in Poland devoted exclusively to the work of Stanisław Niemczyk, one of the most important contemporary Polish architects. He publishes scientific and popularizing articles, cooperates, among others, with the “Czasypism” of the IPN, conducts lectures and educational activities dedicated to cultural heritage. Since 2011 she has been professionally associated with the Museum in Gliwice.

led by: Ewa Chudyba registration: 887 450 212 (also by SMS), t.melanowski@muzeum.tychy.pl free admission Regional media patron of the events of the Municipal Museum in Tychy

photo: Ewa Chudyba