Historical outline

Nadvodnya is a historically very interesting town located in the foothills of the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains. Archaeological research has proven the presence of the first civilisations in the area as early as the second millennium BC. Among other things, a settlement dating back to the Bronze Age was discovered. It was located on the same hill on which the castle was later located. However, it is not possible to establish exactly which tribes inhabited this space.

Closer sources lead us to the year 1589, when the then owner of the estate, Mikolaj Kuropatwa, filed a document with the court referring to the Tatar attacks on Galicia, during which property in villages such as Pniów, Bitków and precisely Nadwórna was destroyed. It is likely that the latter village was completely destroyed and only rebuilt in 1596. A few years earlier (1591), it was located under the Magdeburg Law. From the 16th century, the coat of arms of the Kuropatwy family was used as the coat of arms of Nadwórna. The first church in the village was probably built in 1599. In the 17th century, Nadwórna became an important economic centre for crafts. After the Tatar invasions it was rebuilt and expanded. Furrier's, tailor's, tanner's and cooper's trades started to develop in the new, better conditions in the village.

Later, Nadwórna was under the rule of the Cetners. One of the members of this family, Count Ignacy Cetner, developed a tobacco plantation and salt mines near the village.

He also brought in German settlers, which, as we know, was of considerable importance at the time in terms of tilling certain areas.

In the 19th century, the Habsburgs owned Nadwórna. Throughout all these centuries, there was a church in the village, which was rebuilt many times. It was also not spared by historical turmoil and the natural process of destruction. According to some references, at one stage it was a brick building, covered with shingles. Certainly, a brick building must have existed in Nadvydna, as a large part of it has survived to this day, and research by art historians points to Baroque associations.

After all, in 1937 it was decided not to modernise, but to add a new building, partly using the old one. In the structural analysis of the current church, pre-existing and "new" elements must be taken into account. The construction was not completed due to the outbreak of war. The parishioners were displaced in 1945 and the Soviet authorities closed the building around 1947, using it for storage and production purposes. During the domination of the USSR, the former church deteriorated. In 1991 it was returned to the parish community and rededicated. Refurbishment work was carried out and the building still exists today, providing an interesting example of the combination of old and "new".

Architecture

The church lies to the south of the square, on the east side of the former road. The building consists of two parts: the old church facing north-east with the chancel and the new church with the chancel facing south-east. The building was constructed in brick, which is complemented by structural elements located in the 'new' part. The façade was partly rendered and partly faced with stone slabs.

Inside, the walls of the nave have been decorated with doubled liselins. Above the entrance is a brick music choir, supported by a pair of pillars. The vaulting of the nave and chancel is cruciform. The interior is divided into two storeys by a reinforced concrete slab supported by, among others, the pillars of the choir. The portal from the vestibule to the nave, dating from the early 17th century, is rectangular in shape.

The entire interior is divided into two storeys by a reinforced concrete slab supported on the choir pillars and on a second pair of such pillars.

The most important elements associated with the decoration, furnishings and surroundings of the church also include:

- The semicircular cornice in the interior of the nave, probably dating from the 17th century,

- The abutment of the sacristy portal in the old part,

- The altar in the new part,

- Sculpture of an unspecified Dominican saint,

- Sculptures of Christ and (probably) St Peter.