The restoration of wooden church architecture as condtioned by regulations of the partition tme. Some remarks on the basis of sources from the Greater Poland province

Abstract

Legal regulations imposed on Polish territories by the partitioning powers changed the rules of managing parish property and of financing the renovation of churches. In the territories an-nexed by Prussia regulations from 1794 were operative, assigning the management of property and financial issues to parish priests and provisors, while issues of community gatherings to commune plenipotentiaries. In 1875 the institution of church supervisory board was established, which took over church property management, and since 1905 was also authorized to levy a tax to cover renovation expenses. In the part of Greater Poland annexed by Russia the management of church property was regulated by a 1817/1818 decree, which established a supervisory board for every parish. 90% of renovation costs had to be covered by the parishioners. Following the nationalization of church estates in 1843 and the property right reform in 1864 the board could only enact charges with the consent of the assembly of parishioners, within which it was only real property owners that were entitled to decide. Works costing up to 3000 rubles were super-vised by province authorities, while more expensive renovations were subject to the approval of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.