Church of Saints Jakub and Filip in Sękowa

St. Philip and St. James- a wooden branch church inSękowadedicated toSt. PhilipandSt. Jakub, located along with otherwooden churches of southern Małopolskaon the UNESCO World HeritageList. Due to its history and specific appearance, it is often called the Pearl of the Low Beskids.

The parish in Sękowa was established under the privilege of King Casimir the Great, issued in Biecz on February 22, 1363. However, some historical sources suggest the year 1346 or 1348. The king endowed the parish with one field of land and founded a larch church. The Sękowa parish was established as one of the first in this region. Around 1520 a wooden church of Saints Philip and James was built as a parish church (no mention of the first parish church). The church is one of the most beautiful Polish wooden monuments, until 1914 it was considered the most beautiful wooden church in Lesser Poland .

Single-nave with a three-sidedchancel,carcass construction, on a foundation made of broken stone. Walls made of hand-hewn,larchlogs are fullycovered with shingles. Narrowerchancelandnavewidercovers common pitched rooftrussjednokalenicowyoforchid. Intheseventeenthcentury.Tower was added for the construction of pole - Framework apparent, boardedIzbicacovered with a domedcupola, opened in the basement and spreadingSaturdays- open supported on poles fit temple individualized nature and polygonalturret-bell, withalantern,covered with a pyramid, a tin helmet. The whole thing is covered with a lofty roof with soft surfaces. In 1819 thesacristyandthe music choir wererebuilt, before 1888 they were covered withpolychromewithneo-Gothicmotifs. The interior is coveredwithflat ceilings in the nave with curves, arectangular opening in the rood wallwith a profiledrood beamwith a woodencrucifixfrom the16thcentury.

Justification for entry on the UNESCO World Heritage List- exceptional aesthetic, architectural and landscape values. The church is extremely popular with painters of thenineteenth centuryand the first half.Twentiethcentury (rich iconography, painted by, among others,Stanisław Wyspiański,Józef Mehoffer,Teodor Axentowicz,Włodzimierz Tetmajer,Jan Sas ZubrzyckiandKazimierz Skórewicz).