In the 17th-18th centuries Horodenka was owned by the Potocki family, who took care of the development of the town. One of the prominent art funders and patron of artists was Nikolai Basil Potocki. Thanks to him, a missionary outpost was established in Horodenka. It was realised by a duo of artists - Bernard Meretyn as architect and Johann Georg Pinsel as sculptor .

A town in the Pokuttya region

Horodenka, a picturesque town in Pokuttya, was known for its markets and products of Armenian and Jewish craftsmen . In the Old Polish period, it was owned by the Potocki family - firstly by Stefan Aleksander Potocki, governor of Bełsk (c. 1662-1726/1727), and then by his son Mikołaj Bazyli (1707/1708-1782), starosta of Kaniów.

The Potockis took care of the town's development by granting numerous privileges to its inhabitants. Stefan Aleksander Potocki founded an Armenian church in the town, and Mikołaj Bazyli a magnificent temple for the missionary order. The centre of the town consisted of three market squares located next to each other. The most important buildings - the Catholic church, the Armenian church, the Basilian church and a little further back: the great synagogue and the beit ha-midrash (house of prayer) - were erected around them.

Controversial founder

Mikołaj Bazyli Potocki was famous throughout the Republic for his extravagant, sometimes shocking behaviour . These were popularised by 19th century literature, creating the "black legend" of the starost of Kaniów. Separate novels or short stories were written about him, such as: Aleksander Groza, Starosta Kaniowski (1836); Michał Grabowski, Pan starosta kaniowski (1856); Placyd Jankowski, Fanaberie pana starosty kaniowskiego (1873). In other works he was one of the protagonists (e.g. Pamiątki Soplicy by Henryk Rzewuski, 1839). Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz (Pamiętniki czasów moich, 1848), Zygmunt Krasiński (Nieboska komedia, 1835) or Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (in the story Pan starosta kaniowski, 1875) wrote particularly unflatteringly about him.

Regardless of his controversial and boisterous lifestyle, Mikołaj Bazyli Potocki cannot be denied the reputation of an outstanding art funder and patron of artists . It was in his residence city of Buczacz that Johann Georg Pinsel (d. 1761/1762), one of the main creators of the so-called Lviv rococo sculpture, had his workshop located. Bernard Meretyn (d. 1759), the most prominent architect active in Lviv in the 18th century, also remained at Potocki's service for the last 15 years of his life. Both of these artists created their best works on Potocki's commission - the town hall in Buczacz and the Missionary Church in Horodenka.

Synthesis of the best architectural solutions

Mikolaj Bazyli Potocki founded the missionary outpost in Horodenka in 1743 . He commissioned Bernard Meretyn to design the church and monastery complex . This was their first joint project, which resulted in a long-lasting cooperation. Construction probably started around 1745, and within another ten years the brick monastery was completed, with the monks moving in in 1755. The church still needed to be completed.

Probably connected with this stage of construction is the legend, passed down by the poet Franciszek Karpiński, that the Hodorian missionary, Father Tomasz Zablocki, did not give Potocki absolution at his Easter confession. The enraged magnate therefore ordered the church under construction to be demolished and the monks banished from Horodenka. He eventually cancelled the orders and made a new, larger donation to the temple in Horodenka. He also decided to convert to the Ruthenian (Uniate) rite and did not withdraw from this intention. Over the next few years the church was completed and equipped.

Bernard Meretyn used various solutions of the best architects of the early 18th century operating in Central Europe , and thanks to his extraordinary talent, he managed to combine them into an original whole . For this reason, the church in Horodenka is most often compared to churches in Lower Austria: the Benedictines in Spital am Pyhrn (architect Johann Michael Prunner, 1669-1739) and the Canons Regular in Dürnstein (architect Matthias Steinl, c. 1664-1727). Its hallmark is its monumental, highly plastic façade with diagonally set-off towers and cornices with flowing, undulating lines. Similar solutions were used by the most important Central European architects of the first half of the 18th century, including Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt (1668-1745; church in Jablonné u Podještědí), Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656-1723; university church in Salzburg) and Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer (1689-1751; church in Šonov).

Furnishings complementing the architecture

An integral part of the architecture of the Horodenka church was the furnishings designed by Bernard Meretin, which consisted of 5 altars decorated with sculptures. He employed Johann Georg Pinsel with a workshop to make them. Particularly impressive was the main altar, with dynamic forms and crowned by a huge radial gloria. It was filled with nearly three-metre-high wooden figures of saints: Joachim, Elizabeth, Anne and Joseph, adoring angels and numerous putti. These are some of the best examples of the so-called Lviv rococo sculpture, which is famous for the maximum expression achieved through the geometrised form of the robes and the exaggerated, 'predatory' facial features of the figures.

Horodenka church today

After 1945 and the expulsion of Poles from Horodenka, the church was closed and most of the furnishings were burnt in portable ovens. A witness to its former grandeur remains the structure of the high altar with a gloria and a pulpit hung on a pillar. Figures from the main altar are kept in the B. Voznytskyi Art Gallery of Lviv. In 2024, they could be admired at the temporary exhibition entitled "The Emotions of Lviv. " Emotions" Lviv rococo sculpture at the Wawel Royal Castle.