At 32 Nowodworska Street in Olszewnica Nowa, a figure of the Immaculate Virgin Mary stands on a fieldstone pedestal. At the intersection of Spacerowa and Nowodworska Streets is a brick wayside chapel with a gabled roof and an iron cross. Inside are a figure of Our Lady of the Rosary and an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On Leśna Street is a brick niche chapel dating from the 19th century. Its glazed niche contains a figure of the Immaculate Virgin Mary; the hipped roof is topped with a cross.
Chapels and Religious Imagery
To compare the architectural forms, distinguish between three different types: the figure on a fieldstone pedestal, the brick wayside chapel and the brick niche chapel. The wayside chapel has a gabled roof; the chapel on Leśna Street has a hipped roof. A gabled roof consists of two sloping roof planes that meet at the ridge, while a hipped roof slopes down on all sides. Both chapels bear a cross, but the wayside chapel’s is made of iron, while the niche chapel’s tops the roof. A niche is a recess; on Leśna Street, it is glazed and contains the figure of the Virgin Mary. A direct comparison therefore sets the wayside chapel’s gabled roof and iron cross against the glazed niche and hipped roof of the chapel on Leśna Street.
The imagery offers a second point of comparison. The Immaculate Virgin Mary is depicted in two places: as a figure on the fieldstone pedestal at 32 Nowodworska Street and as a figure in the glazed niche on Leśna Street. Inside the wayside chapel are a figure of Our Lady of the Rosary and an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. If you are interested in religious imagery, this allows you to distinguish the recurring Marian motif from the different furnishings of the wayside chapel. The comparison thus connects the question of which figure is depicted with the question of how it is framed architecturally.
Landscape in the Wider Area
The landscape in the wider area encompasses several places. A municipal report dated 22 April 2022 describes a draft local development plan for Sikory, Olszewnica Nowa, Kałuszyn and Skrzeszew. The planning area is predominantly made up of meadows and pastures, crossed by drainage ditches and canals. It lies in the former riverbed of the Narew. The landscape information therefore refers to the shared planning area of the four places. This is a landscape-scale perspective that extends beyond the individual structures mentioned here.
The stated purpose of the plan was to protect ecologically valuable areas across the four places, covering a total of 466 hectares. The landscape description thus complements the religious architecture with a second, explicitly multi-place perspective: local architecture in Olszewnica Nowa and a planning and landscape context for four places.
Discover more destinations: Skrzeszew, Jachranka, Zegrze, Kąty Węgierskie, Jabłonna, Wieliszew, Rajszew, Chotomów.
For the broader travel overview: Legionowski.
