The Basilica of St. John the Baptist is the main church of Parczew, a county town north of the Łęczna-Włodawa Lake District. The two slender towers of the neo-Gothic church, built at the beginning of the 20th century, can be seen from afar across the Parczew Plain. It is a sanctuary of Our Lady Queen of Families with a crowned ancient icon, a minor basilica, and the seat of a collegiate chapter, with a wooden bell tower nearby that is more than two centuries older than the church itself.
City of Sejms
Parczew received its town rights in 1401 from Władysław Jagiełło. At the Horodel Congress in 1413, it was designated as the place for joint Polish-Lithuanian sejms, and until 1564 all kings from the Jagiellon dynasty convened here. It was at the Parczew sejm on August 7, 1564, that Sigismund II Augustus, together with the senate, accepted the decrees of the Council of Trent from the papal nuncio. In the 16th century, the town had three churches, a church, and a synagogue. Before World War II, about half of Parczew’s inhabitants were Jewish; in 1942, the Germans deported the prisoners of the local ghetto to the Treblinka death camp.
Volodko’s Neo-Gothic
The current church was designed by architect Władysław Wołodko, who worked in the then Bilski County and also built churches in Łomazy and Sławatycze. Construction took place from 1905–1906 until 1913–1914, and it was consecrated in either 1915 or 1919 — sources differ on the date. According to local historians, the bricks were supplied by the brickworks of Wincent Grodzicki from the neighboring Semeni. The red-brick church with two slender towers is visible from all entrances to the town.
Our Lady with the Pear
The greatest shrine of the basilica is an image of the Virgin Mary measuring 115 by 80 cm, usually dated to the 16th century and attributed to an unknown master of the Flemish school. Mary is seated and supports the Child; in His left hand Jesus holds a bouquet of flowers, and in His right hand a fruit resembling a pear, which is why the image is called “with the pear.” On April 26, 1989, John Paul II granted the church the title of minor basilica, on May 6, 2001, the Primate of Poland Cardinal Józef Glemp crowned the image, and since 2008 it has been the seat of the Parczew collegiate chapter.
Among the parish treasures is a 16th-century chasuble with a biblical scene, which according to tradition was embroidered by Elizabeth of Habsburg, the first wife of Sigismund Augustus, and a classicist monstrance from 1788. Near the church stands a wooden bell tower of frame-post construction with a shingle roof; local sources date it to 1675, while the heritage register dates it to the 17th–18th centuries. It now houses a chapel for farewells to the deceased, and nearby is a wooden presbytery from 1918–1923.
How to Get There
Parczew is located about 60 km northeast of Lublin; buses run from there, and the town has a railway station on the Lublin — Łuków line. The basilica stands at 77 Kościelna Street, in the town centre, and is open before services. From Parczew start the Forest Trail to Białka and the final section of the Partisan Trail from Urszulin; 6 km south is Lake Obradowskie, and to the west of the town is the modern Church of Divine Providence. This is Poland: Ukrainian citizens need a foreign passport.
