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Komárno, Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, façade, photo M. Michalski, 2023, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Komárno, Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, south-west view, photo A. Kurek, 2023, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Komárno, Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, finial with the statues of the Virgin Mary and Child, St. Nicholas and St. Stanislaus, photo A. Kurek, 2023, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Komárno, Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, nave vault, photo M. Michalski, 2023, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Komárno, Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pulpit, photo M. Michalski, 2023, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Komárno, Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, sculptural decoration of a window on the façade; gun holes visible at the top, photo A. Kurek, 2023, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Komárno, Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, carved pilaster capitals on the side elevation, photo A. Kurek, 2023, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Komárno, Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, original plaque with information about the renovation of the rafter framing in 1884, photo M. Michalski, 2023, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
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ID: POL-001851-P

Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno

Komarno | Ukraine
ukr. Komarno (Комарно)
ID: POL-001851-P

Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno

Komarno | Ukraine
ukr. Komarno (Комарно)

The history of the temple in Komarno resembles the fate of many other Polish churches. In 1946, it was used as a warehouse. Then most of its movable equipment was irretrievably lost. Although the Roman Catholic faithful tried to recover the church, it still remains closed.

Komarno - a short history of the town
Komarno is a town located south-west of Lviv, on the road from Sambor and Rudki to Szczerc. It was granted city rights in 1473 by King Casimir Jagiellon, when it was owned by Stanisław Chodecki of Chodecz (d. 1474), a Ruthenian voivode. In the centuries that followed, the estate, which included the town and numerous villages, was owned by the Kolów family from Dalejów, then by the Mielecki family, the Ostroróg family, including Jan (1436-1501), Voivode of Poznań, a famous speaker and writer, and later belonged to the Wiśniowiecki, Ogiński, Potocki and Skopowski families. In 1801, the estate was purchased by Antoni Józef Lanckoroński, Speaker of the Galician Sejm. The Lanckorońskis held the Komárno estate until 1939, when the Lanckorońskis' sisters Adelaide (1903-1980) and Karolina (1898-2002) were the last owners of the estate and patrons of the local church.

Komarno occupies an important place in Polish historiography because of the victorious battle against the Tartar Chambuls fought in its vicinity on 10 October 1672. The Polish army was then commanded by Grand Hetman of the Crown Jan Sobieski, who was elected king of Poland more than a year later. This success was celebrated by a magnificent engraving by the Dutch painter and engraver Romeyn de Hooghe (1645-1708), which included two views of the town with the church depicted in detail.

Parish and church in Komárno - origins
. The foundation of the parish in Komárno was made in 1473 by Stanislaw of Chodecz. It was one of the largest parishes in the Lviv archdiocese. It consisted of 20 villages. Until the first partition of Poland, it was richly endowed with tithes by the colonists and bequests by the clergy, including Bishop Samuel Głowinski (1703-1776), suffragan of Lwow. In 1787 the parish became part of the Przemyśl diocese.

The first wooden church in Komarno, probably founded by Otto Chodecki (d. 1534), Voivode of Krakow, was damaged in the years 1620-1621. The new building was erected in the years 1656-1658, at the expense of Mikolaj Ostrorog (1593-1651), Grand Chamberlain of the Crown. The author of the plans for the temple, which were probably drawn up in 1643, was an architect active in Lviv, Wojciech Kapinos, called Życzliwy (1577-1655). The work was led by the local parish priest, Fr Florian Lewin. The church was consecrated on 8 October 1658 by Archbishop Jan Tarnowski, Metropolitan of Lviv.

A short history of the church in Komárno
. The Komárno church stood on the eastern frontage of the market square, parallel to the route to Sambor. The church was oriented (deliberately oriented to the world), built of brick, with architectural and decorative elements carved from stone. The façade was preceded by a wooden bell tower, which was replaced by a new brick one shortly before 1768.

A fire in 1774 necessitated new furnishings for the church. The result was the main altar, consecrated in 1787, five side altars, a pulpit and a baptismal font with a carved scene of the Baptism of Christ.

The Lanckorona sisters and the development of the parish
. The church survived the next century in good condition. It was not until 1931 that restoration work was undertaken. They were financed by donations from Adelaide and Karolina Lanckoroński and contributions from parishioners. In 1937, the facades of the building were renovated and the bell tower was repaired.

Karolina Lanckorońska's commitment to the Komárno parish and church was exceptional. This is evidenced, among other things, by the matter of filling the office of the local parish priest in the inter-war period. She became impatient with the protracted decision of the Bishop of Przemyśl on this matter. She therefore informed him that, exercising her right as colator, she had made a personnel decision and appointed a beneficiary. The decision was approved. This was probably the last patronage action of this kind in the 20th century.

Recent history of the Komárno church
The church in Komárno was closed by the Soviet authorities in June 1946, after the displacement of parishioners and priests - parish priest Marian Czech (died 1947) and vicar Franciszek Wołczański (died 2003). From then on, the church was used as a warehouse and was gradually devastated. Most of its movable equipment was destroyed.

In 1992, in accordance with Ukrainian law, the local Roman Catholics registered the parish. That year, on 16 August, the first Mass was celebrated in the recovered church. Soon, however, the authorities changed their decision and allocated the temple to the local Greek Catholic parish. Since then, the church has not been used.

The current state of preservation of the building, despite severe neglect and destruction of numerous architectural and decorative elements, is stable. The Baroque wooden altar structures, the pulpit, the baptistery, the organ prospectus, the confessionals (lacking Baroque sculptures, columns and ornaments), dating back to the fourth quarter of the 18th century, have been damaged to various degrees.

Particularly interesting is the façade of the temple in Komárno with pilasters in great order. It has a rich sculptural and ornamental decoration (popular in the 17th century clam-bone decoration), forged in Lviv stone workshops. Above the portal is the foundation plaque with the Ostroróg coat of arms; on the sides, in two tiers, are niches with stone figures of St Peter and St Paul (lower zone) and St Andrew and St Peter (upper zone). The elaborate finial features the statues of the Virgin and Child as well as St. Nicholas and St. Bishop Stanislaus.

Rich furnishings of the church in Komárno
. Archival inventories bring information about the equipment of the church. There were three altars with sculptures. In the main one was the scene of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary; the side ones were dedicated to Christ Crucified and St Anthony. In the sacristy were numerous liturgical vessels and garments.

Thanks to existing inventories and photographs, we can reconstruct the furnishings of the church from before 1946. In the centre of the main altar was the above-mentioned image of the Virgin Mary and Child, obscured by a painting of St Casimir, probably from the 19th century. On the sides stood statues of St Anne and St Joachim. In the finial was a painting of the Transfiguration, figures of unrecognised saints and a pair of angels.

In one of the side altars, by the rainbow, were sculptures of Christ Crucified and St Veronica and Mary Magdalene (?). In the second, identical retable (altar set), there was an 18th century painting of the Holy Trinity and a pair of figures of holy bishops. The third of the side altars, against the north wall of the nave, contained a painting of the Holy Family, probably from the 18th century, while the slider featured St Anthony (19th century) and figures of saints and angels.

When leaving Komárno, the parishioners took with them, among other things, the venerated image of Our Lady and Child from the main altar. The image, kept in the church of St Martin in Nowolesie near Strzelin, still enjoys a cult covering the Wroclaw archdiocese. The painting can be traced back to the time of the church's foundation with a high degree of probability. It is one of the many copies of the ancient image of the Virgin Mary of the Snow, known as Salus Populi Romani from the Roman basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, which enjoys great popularity and veneration in Poland. The painting has been preserved in fragments, the heads of the figures embedded in a silver dress with a rich pattern of acanthus flowers and leaves, created at the turn of the 17th century.

Time of origin:
1656-1658
Creator:
Wojciech Kapinos (architekt)
Author:
Jerzy T. Petrus
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