Church of Peace
The Churches of Peace in
Jawor and
Swidnica, localised in
Poland,
Dolnoslaskie voivodship, are the largest timber-framed religious buildings in
Europe. The church in Jawor is under the invocation of the
Holy Ghost, the Swidnica's one under the invocation of the
Holy Trinity. They were built in the former
Silesia in the mid-17th century, at a time of religious strife following the Peace of Westphalia. Constrained by the physical and political conditions, the Churches of Peace bear testimony to the quest for religious freedom and are a rare expression of
Lutheran ideology in an idiom generally associated with the
Catholic Church. The Churches of Peace are entered on the
UNESCO list of
World Heritage Sites.