Świdnica, a lively city of around 60,000 inhabitants, lies approximately 40 kilometres south-west of Wroclaw and is known above all for an extraordinary landmark: the Church of Peace.
The Church of Peace of the Holy Trinity in Świdnica is the largest Baroque timber-framed church in Europe. It was built under the terms of the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, which brought the Thirty Years’ War to an end. The foundation stone was laid on 23 August 1656. The design was prepared by the Wroclaw architect Albrecht von Saebisch, and the building was constructed by the Świdnica carpenter Andreas Kaemper.
The church belongs to the Świdnica parish of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland and has been included on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2001.
It is one of three unique churches erected following the Peace of Westphalia. Under the treaty, Protestant communities in the Silesian principalities, which remained under Catholic Habsburg rule, were granted the right to build three churches. Strict conditions applied: only perishable materials such as wood, straw, sand and clay could be used; construction had to be completed within one year; and the building could not resemble a conventional church.
Despite these constraints, an extraordinary place of worship was created, distinguished by rich decoration and ingenious architecture. The ground floor and four levels of galleries could accommodate 7,500 people, including 3,000 seated worshippers—a remarkable testimony to the faith and communal strength of the period.
