The Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord is a parish church in Siemień, a village on the Tysmenytsia River about 9 km west of Parczew. The building itself dates from the 1970s and is modest, but its history is one of forty years of persistent struggle by the rural community for their own church: first facing a lack of funds, then the German occupation, and later the communist authorities. This was the first new church in Parczew County after World War II.
From Chapel to Parish
Around 1770, two roadside pillar signs with figures of the Man of Sorrows and Saint John the Baptist were erected in Siemień. In the first half of the 19th century, Julia Malachowska Bernatska established a chapel on the estate, where services were also held for serfs. In 1908, peasants Jan Dawidek, Jan Kaszlikowski, Józef Łukaszek, and Stanisław Przystupa built a chapel of Our Lady of the Angels from pine logs at their own expense—it measured only 3.5 by 5 meters. On November 1, 1931, Bishop Henryk Przeździecki established a parish there.
The Wooden Church of 1934
They did not expand the cramped chapel, which held twenty people; instead, in spring 1934, carpenter Jan Trzciński from Miłków began building a new wooden church measuring 12 by 8 meters with wooden shingles, and it was consecrated on September 30. In the altar hung the painting "Transfiguration of the Lord" by Andrzej Czarkowski, and the oldest item was a 17th-century tabernacle, probably from Ostrów Lubelski. During the occupation, the Germans confiscated parish land and ordered the demolition of the rectory and barn, while vicar Władysław Bazilyuk became chaplain of the local Home Army organization. After the war, the community planned a brick church, but the authorities delayed permission for years.
A Church That Looks Like a Warehouse
Permission was granted only on April 10, 1973, under parish priest Edmund Klopotek, with the condition that the building should resemble a warehouse hangar—the authorities expected to repurpose it later when society became more "atheistic." The church was designed by Warsaw architect Jan Śniegowski. Construction began on May 18, 1974; parishioners generously contributed money and labor, and on August 6, 1976, the feast day of the Transfiguration, the church was consecrated. It is 28.5 meters long, 10.5 meters wide, with a 19.5-meter tower, and accommodates 700 worshippers.
The facade is adorned with a monumental fresco of the Mother of God with Child and the mysteries of the Rosary, which continues as a frieze with symbols of the Passion onto the other walls. The main altar is marble. The organ was built in 1958 by Fryderyk Schwarz from Kartuzy for the Assumption church in Biała Podlaska; it was moved to Siemień in 1986. The instrument has thirteen voices on two manuals and a pedalboard.
How to Get There
Siemień lies about 9 km west of Parczew, which is served by buses and trains from Lublin (about 60 km). The church stands at 2a Kościelna Street in Siemień-Kolonia, next to the parish cemetery. In the same village, there are fish ponds and the Zaorski estate with a nature trail and a paid fishing area, while in Parczew you can visit the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist and the Church of Divine Providence. This is Poland: Ukrainian citizens need a foreign passport.
