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Parish Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno, photo Romankravchuk, 2015
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Wikimedia Commons, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Parish Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Kościół Parafialny pw. Narodzenia Najświętszej Panny Marii w Komarnie, photo 2021, all rights reserved
Źródło: Instytut Polonika
Fotografia przedstawiająca Parish Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Kościół Parafialny pw. Narodzenia Najświętszej Panny Marii w Komarnie, photo 2021, all rights reserved
Źródło: Instytut Polonika
Fotografia przedstawiająca Parish Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Kościół Parafialny pw. Narodzenia Najświętszej Panny Marii w Komarnie, photo 2021, all rights reserved
Źródło: Instytut Polonika
Fotografia przedstawiająca Parish Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Kościół Parafialny pw. Narodzenia Najświętszej Panny Marii w Komarnie, photo 2021, all rights reserved
Źródło: Instytut Polonika
Fotografia przedstawiająca Parish Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Kościół Parafialny pw. Narodzenia Najświętszej Panny Marii w Komarnie, photo 2021, all rights reserved
Źródło: Instytut Polonika
Fotografia przedstawiająca Parish Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Kościół Parafialny pw. Narodzenia Najświętszej Panny Marii w Komarnie, photo 2021, all rights reserved
Źródło: Instytut Polonika
Fotografia przedstawiająca Parish Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Kościół Parafialny pw. Narodzenia Najświętszej Panny Marii w Komarnie, photo 2021, all rights reserved
Źródło: Instytut Polonika
Fotografia przedstawiająca Parish Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
Kościół Parafialny pw. Narodzenia Najświętszej Panny Marii w Komarnie, photo 2021, all rights reserved
Źródło: Instytut Polonika
Fotografia przedstawiająca Parish Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno
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ID: POL-002214-P

Parish Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno

ID: POL-002214-P

Parish Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Komárno

Variants of the name:
Cerkiew grekokatolicka w Komarnie

Historical outline
The village lies on the left bank of the Wereszczyca River, near the route from Sambor and Rudki to Szczerc. Initially, the village belonged to a set of vast estates granted by Wladyslaw Jagiello to the starost of Halicz, Mikolaj Parawa from Lublin. Then (from 1450) Komarno was ruled by Stanisław Chodecki from Chodcze of the Powała Coat of Arms, later Voivode of Ruthenia. The village was granted town rights as early as 1473 and around the same time a parish was established there and probably the first wooden church was built. When the last owner from the Chodeckis family, Otton, died without children, the estate was handed over to Paweł Kola from Dalejów of Junosza coat of arms, who was married to his sister. Then Komarno became the property of their son, Jan, castellan of Halicz and field hetman of the Crown, and their daughter Anna - wife of Jan Mielecki, Voivode of Podolia and Grand Marshal of the Crown.

When the era of the Mielecki family's rule ended, the town belonged to the Ostroróg family. At that time there were hard times of Cossack, Turkish and Tatar invasions. The town was repeatedly destroyed. Despite numerous historical turmoils, in 1656 the crown chamberlain Mikołaj Ostroróg founded a new brick church. The work was completed two years later. It was then that the church was consecrated by Archbishop Jan Tarnowski.

In the 18th century Komarno became the peculiar centre of a centre encompassing the surrounding twenty-two villages. It was ruled by the Ogiński family, then by Prot Potocki, Kajetan Skopowoski, and finally, at the beginning of the 19th century, the Lanckorońskis became the owners of the estate and managed it until the Second World War.

At the beginning of the 1930s, the church underwent an extensive renovation. The stone floor was replaced, the organ was extended and the exterior walls were renovated, and the belfry was thoroughly restored.

The Soviet authorities closed the building in 1946, with parishioners and priests being expelled. Fortunately, much of the equipment was saved. Of the most important, the painting of the Virgin Mary from the main altar, known as the "Komárno image", deserves special mention.

During the years of domination by the USSR, the building was used as a warehouse and was gradually devastated over the years. The church was returned to Roman Catholic hands in 1992, but not for long. Quite soon, amidst a huge scandal, the authorities handed over the church to the Greek Catholics. The dispute has continued to this day, and the controversy over the allegedly incompetent renovation carried out by the Ukrainians (which began in 2020) has further exacerbated its nature.

In its heyday, the Komarno parish was one of the largest in the Lviv archdiocese. In the 19th century, apart from Komarno, it consisted of more than 20 villages and hamlets: Andrianów, Brzeziec, Buczały, Burcze, Chłopy, Czułowice, Herman, Horbula, Jakimczyce, Katarynice, Kossowice, Klicko, Kolodruby, Litewka, Łowczyce, Piaski, Podzwierzyniec, Porzecze, Powerchów, Tatarynów and Zaszkowice.

Architecture
The building is located on the eastern side of the square. The church is oriented (i.e. facing towards the symbolic east, by implication Jerusalem), built of brick and plastered. The stone foundation is enriched with wrought-iron decorative elements. The overall shape of the building is quite simple. It consists of a strongly elongated three-bay nave, a square chancel closed with a semicircle. In addition to the chancel, there is an annex containing the vestry on the ground floor and the vault on the ground floor (rectangular in plan). Under the chancel is an inaccessible crypt. A choir was built on the opposite side of the chancel, accessed by two circular staircases located on the sides.

According to Jerzy T. Petrus, in his study of the building, the interior walls were divided by composite pilasters. The nave section is topped with a cross-column vault. The presbytery, on the other hand, is covered by a triple field vault with lunettes. The sacristy has a cross vault. Above the choir it is covered with a cross-column vault. The icosahedral arcade has been considerably raised compared to more common solutions that clearly separate the nave from the chancel. In this case, the arch towers over the whole and is very carefully decorated with numerous elaborate ornaments.

The brick-built music choir was supported by six-sided Doric columns. The portal to the sacristy was built of stone and richly decorated with numerous motifs. The interior is entirely covered with paintings from the second half of the 19th century.

Looking at the building from the outside, one's attention is drawn to the very rich (relatively speaking against the background of the rather simple overall mass) and wider than the nave façade. It is single-storey in shape, but tri-axial with an elaborate gable. Its articulation is vertical, i.e. the dynamics of the architectural solutions applied have been thought out so that the whole rises upwards and the organisation of the individual elements is based on the vertical. In the lower part, this is influenced by square pilasters supporting a prominent profiled cornice. The figures of the saints (St John, St Peter, St Paul, St Andrew) are positioned between these basic components. Under the cornice are angel heads.

The gable is characterised by a high pedestal, over which an aedicula consisting of composite pilasters is superimposed, as well as very rich ornamentation that definitely enhances the peculiarity of the façade against the other facades.

The roof over the nave and chancel is gabled. Over the apse it transitions to a marquee shape and over the outbuilding to a pulpit shape. All covered with copper and galvanised sheet metal. The turret for the signature tower is clad in sheet metal. It is octagonal, open-work, with columns on a moulded base supporting a semicircular arcade and covered with a flattened onion-shaped cupola topped with a ball and cross on a high spike.

According to Jerzy T. Petrus (as of 1999): "The overall condition of the building, despite severe neglect, satisfactory. (...) Bell tower ruined. Parsonage partly transformed(...). In situ preserved altar structures, pulpit and baptistery, all damaged, with loss of architectural elements (columns missing from side altars), most figural sculptures and some ornamental elements. Organ prospectus heavily damaged, with loss of ornaments, instrument dismantled".

Related persons:
Time of origin:
1658
Creator:
Wojciech Kapinos (architekt; Ukraina)(preview), Jan Pokorowicz (architekt; Ukraina)(preview)
Bibliography:
  • Jerzy T. Petrus, „Kościół Parafialny pw. Narodzenia Najświętszej Panny Marii w Komarnie”, w: „Materiały do dziejów sztuki sakralnej na ziemiach wschodnich dawnej Rzeczypospolitej”, cz. 1: „Kościoły i klasztory rzymskokatolickie dawnego województwa ruskiego”, Kraków: Międzynarodowe Centrum Kultury w Krakowie, 1999, ISBN 83-85739-66-1, t. 7, s. 75-99.
Publikacja:
09.10.2024
Ostatnia aktualizacja:
11.10.2024
Author:
Michał Dziadosz
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