Thursday, November 21, 2024

Upcoming Events

Sherlock's Genealogical Adventures

Follow Sherlock on his adventures into genealogical mysteries.

2 minutes reading time (391 words)

Żarnów and Opoczno Churches & Cemetery

Poland Traditions & Interest

Tim Firkowski

Wednesday, 01 February 2017

3661 Hits

0 Comments

St. Nicolas parish in Żarnów. My trip to Poland last year allowed me to learn more about my relatives in addition to the touring & client research I did. I have
only a few more blog posts to complete the documentation of my travels. I visited Żarnów & Opoczno, which are places that I had done a lot of research on microfilm, but even though I have been to Poland a number of times, I had never visited to see those churches from which I had spent so much time looking through records. My cousin Gosia & I spent a whole day visiting many of those towns & Żarnów & Opoczno were that last that we visited.

Żarnów was partitioned to Austria in 1795 & then changed to the Russian partition in 1815 until 1918.

Arriving at św. Mikołaja (St. Nicolas) parish in Żarnów, Opoczno County you see the old church that was built in the 12th century. As many churches that I have seen I am still amazed at the age of some of these churches.

St. Bartholomew parish in Opoczno
The church is an old gray stone building and is on a small hill & has a separate wooden bell tower to call the faithful to mass. Since the church was closed & we could not take a look inside, we walked around the church and took some photos.

After completing our visit to Żarnów, we made our way to Św. Bartłomieja Apostoła (St. Bartholomew) parish in Opoczno. This parish was open & I was able to get a look inside to take some photos of this beautiful church.

I took a bunch of photos around the outside of the church & then we made our way to the cemetery, which is only up the street. This is the parish for Gosia and she knew where all of the family gravestones are & took me all around so I could photograph headstones. It was wonderful to see those markers for the family members that I had researched fro so long.

Our day ended with visiting family in Opoczno, having some dinner & then driving back to Kraków. It was a long but wonderful day.

St. Nicolas parish in Żarnów.

St. Nicolas parish in Żarnów.

Bell Tower of St. Nicolas parish in Żarnów.

St. Bartholomew parish in Opoczno

St. Bartholomew parish in Opoczno

St. Bartholomew parish in Opoczno

Church cemetery in Opoczno

Church cemetery in Opoczno

Tags:

Żarnów Opoczno Churches Cemetery Poland Łódz Kraków

About the author

Tim Firkowski

I have been doing genealogy research since 2002 & have worked full time as a Professional Genealogist since 2008. I specialize in Polish and American-Canadian Genealogy. As a member of APG, I was the 2010/2011 President of the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists (NEAPG). I have Certificates of Completion for studies in "Foundations of Forensic Genealogy" and "Advanced Forensic Genealogy Techniques". I have been a volunteer librarian at the local Family History Center, and a genealogy research consultant at “Ask the Expert” Ancestry Road Shows. I have traveled to Poland numerous times & researched in churches and archives. At conferences and special events, you may find me dressed up in my Sherlock Holmes outfit, or my Kujawy (the folk costume from the region in Poland where my ancestors came from).