St. Michael the Archangel Church, Ciechocinek

St. Michael the Archangel Church is an Eastern Orthodox church in Ciechocinek, the site of one of the six military Orthodox parishes of the Polish Orthodox Church. The church was built in 1894. As Ciechocinek was a highly popular spa town, the church was supposed to serve the Russian Orthodox people coming there for healing. It was constructed in an unusual Uralian style, thus becoming the only church in Europe imitating directly the wooden churches of the Urals. After Poland regained independence in 1918, the number of Russian visitors to Ciechocinek suddenly diminished and the Orthodox church was converted into a casino and then a warehouse. In this period, the initial interior of the place was entirely destroyed. In 1995, Polish Orthodox military bishop Sawa (Hrycuniak) managed to collect the funds to reopen an Orthodox parish in Ciechocinek.