The Brzeżany Castle Church, erected around 1554 as part of the Renaissance castle complex, served as a chapel and mausoleum for the Sieniawski family. In the years 1619-1624, a monumental mausoleum was added to it, which became the resting place of six or seven generations of Sieniawski ancestors.

Ulrich Werdum, who visited Brzeżany in 1671, described the castle chapel as "a beautiful sight in one corner of the castle square". He mentioned the magnificent marble tombs with life-size statues commemorating the ancestors of the family, most of whom up to the founder's father were Evangelicals.

In the 19th century, the chapel fell into disrepair and its fate is illustrated by the story of Prince François d'Este, governor of Galicia, who visited Brzeżany in the 1830s. He recalled that the chapel had been rented to Jews for a vodka warehouse, and the tombs ransacked in search of valuable items such as carbuncles, coat-of-arms signets or jewels. Of the paintings left behind by the Sieniawski family, some were stolen and larger canvases were cut into sacks.

Architecture and furnishings

In its heyday, the Brzeżany castle church delighted with its exquisite interior decoration. Mieczysław Orłowicz described its interior as "dazzling" due to the wealth of ornamentation of the vaults, domes and frescoes. Prominent among the outstanding works of art were:

The white marble altarpiece with mosaic reliefs and an image of the Virgin Mary.

The dome of the side chapel decorated with Baroque sculptures.

Baroque frescoes above the choir.

Sieniawski tombs and sarcophagi made of marble, alabaster and tin, depicting recumbent figures of knights.

The tin sarcophagi from the 17th century, made by Jan Pfister, an outstanding sculptor from Wrocław, are among the most valuable pieces of equipment in the chapel. During the Polish-Bolshevik war in 1920, in order to save them from destruction by the Red Army, they were moved to the castle in Pieskowa Skała, where they have been kept ever since.

Renovations and destruction

In 1861 and in the years 1876-1878, Stanisław Potocki attempted to renovate the church. The work was led by the eminent architect Leonard Marconi in collaboration with August Comte. Although the most urgent restoration work was carried out, the death of Stanisław Potocki made it impossible to complete the renovation.

During the First World War, the church and castle were destroyed by artillery shelling, which led to the gradual degradation of the building. Today, the remains of the church are in ruins, but its history and preserved elements still provide an extremely valuable testimony to the past.

Preserved furnishings

Of all the rich furnishings in the chapel, only four tin sarcophagi, now kept in Pieskowa Skała, have survived to our times. The remains of the marble and alabaster sarcophagi were transferred to the castle in Olesko, where they are preserved as historical monuments.

The castle church in Brzeżany, despite its destruction and the passage of time, remains one of the most important testimonies to the power and culture of the Sieniawski family and the Polish heritage in the Eastern Borderlands.

In the years 2020-2021, the Polonica Institute carried out work in the castle church.