Sterimedic touchless hand sanitising devices on dedicated stands suit many different places. Today, we show them at the Sanctuary of St Valentine in Bieruń.
The Sanctuary of St Valentine, known locally as “Walencinek”, is a timber church belonging to the parish of St Bartholomew in Bieruń. It reflects the traditional wooden church architecture of Upper Silesia. Located on the eastern outskirts beyond the historic town boundary, it stands in a cemetery that served, until the late eighteenth century, people who were not buried in the parish cemetery. The exact construction date is uncertain. The first historical reference appears in a 1628 visitation report by Johann Hoffmann, the last Protestant dean of Pszczyna. According to that account, the sanctuary was probably built between 1623 and 1626, while St Bartholomew’s church was in Protestant hands, until 1645. Between 1677 and 1680 it served in place of the parish church following a town fire, and devotion to St Valentine spread beyond Bieruń. A major renovation took place in 1725. After another fire destroyed the parish church in 1845, religious life again moved to Walencinek. The sanctuary was listed as a historic monument in 1929. Its interior was extensively restored in 1942 at the initiative of Father Jan Trocha.
