Perspectives of sacred buildings adaptation on the example of large churches of the Czestochowa Archdiocese

Abstract

The largest church buildings were erected in Poland during the communist when there were many difficulties in obtaining planning permission for churches. When a building permit was finally granted, extremely large buildings were often built, “just in case” as it were. Today, these buildings are usually too large for their users. The problem of large churches, of which there are a great many in Poland, will be discussed with particular reference to the Archdiocese of Czestochowa, where there are 8 churches with a usable ground floor area of nearly 1000 m2 or more: six in Czestochowa, one in Zawiercie and one in Radomsko. Five of them have two levels. After redrawing the boundaries and a subsequent reduction in the parish area, the number of parishioners is too low to cover the cost of their maintenance (heating, lighting, ongoing maintenance) and repairs. This is a serious problem for the administrators of these facilities. Finding a way out of this situation is a major challenge. It is necessary to look for opportunities to use these huge spaces for other purposes, which do not conflict with a parish church’s fundamental role. Already existing solutions in some churches and potential opportunities to develop some of the premises for other needs of local communities are presented in the paper