“The parish had planned to renovate five Baroque side altars and five paintings this year,” Father Dean Andrzej Jarosiewicz, custodian of the Sanctuary of the Assumption of the Mother of the Church, told IstotneInformacje.pl. One of the paintings scheduled for restoration is a very valuable canvas by Jerzy Wilhelm Neunherz. The Sanctuary sought funding for the renovation from several sources: the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Marshal’s Office of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, and the Bolesławiec city authorities.
As it turned out, apart from Wleń Castle, no other historic site in Lower Silesia received a ministry grant. The Sanctuary prepared its application for the grant back in December last year. “We received no signal until June 20,” says the custodian. At that point, the ministry asked for the application to be supplemented. “We did that, and that was the end of our correspondence with the ministry,” adds Father Dean Andrzej Jarosiewicz.
The church’s custodian admits that the culture ministry’s policy is incomprehensible to him. Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski, who comes from Wrocław, emphasizes in media appearances that he does not want to be accused of partiality. “But Lower Silesia has an enormous concentration of historic sites, greater than anywhere else in the country, which is why our region needs more funding,” explains the dean.
The lack of a ministry grant has forced the parish to reduce the scope of the project. Only three altars and three paintings will be restored. The Sanctuary will receive more than PLN 100,000 from the municipal budget for this purpose (if the ministry had awarded the grant, the city authorities could have contributed twice as much). The marshal’s office will support the church with PLN 80,000. Approximately PLN 120,000 is still needed. The parish plans to raise this amount independently. On Saturday, a festival will be held in the park on Parkowa Street to raise money for the renovation of the historic features in the church.
Parish Festival
The event will begin at 12:00 with an outdoor Mass led by Senior Prelate Władysław Rączka. After the service, dance and music groups will perform on stage. There will also be sports competitions. Another attraction will be a raffle, offering prizes including a pilgrimage to Rome and trips to Paris, Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. The festivities will continue until late at night. “I warmly invite all residents of our city to take part in this event,” says Father Dean Andrzej Jarosiewicz.
(GA information)
See also
Sanctuary of the Assumption of the Mother of the Church website