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ID: POL-002081-P

Parish Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Wallachia

ID: POL-002081-P

Parish Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Wallachia

Historical outline
The village of Volozha was first mentioned in 1425, when it was granted to Jan Mężyk by King Jogaila. In later centuries, in turn, it belonged to Stanisław Wołosiecki, and then to the Korytek family.

Initially, Volosiecka was subordinate to the parish church in Tuliglovy within the Lvov archdiocese. In 1703 Franiczek Korytko founded a parish in the village. A wooden church was soon built in Volozha. Alongside the pastoral institution, a hospital soon began to operate.

The turmoil of the past disputes and the unexplained debt situation led to a protracted court case, which lasted until 1760. A year later the Rabštín starost Józef Bielski came into possession of the village. Around 1800, the estates of Majnicz, Mosty, Monasterzec, Terszaków and Volocha were bought by Countess Anna Ilinska.

In 1824, the then owners of the village, František and Anna Brückmann, carried out extensive renovation of the building and built a bell tower. Over the years, however, the church in Wallachia began to deteriorate. Further renovations were therefore carried out at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. The minutes of the visitation, which took place in 1904, describe the building as "small and poor, but neat". At the beginning of the 20th century, the village belonged to Count Stanislaw Siemieński-Lewicki and later to Dr Natan Löwenstein.

The First World War spared the church, but in 1917 as many as three of the four bells were requisitioned, only to be bought back four years later thanks to the foundation of American emigrants. A new vicarage was built in 1928.

World War II saw not only looting of the building, but also attacks on the Polish population by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Several dozen people were killed as a result. When the area came under the rule of the USSR, the church was closed and the vicarage was turned into a warehouse. The Poles leaving the parish took nothing of the church furnishings with them. In the 1950s the church was turned into a leather and fertiliser warehouse. The building burned down in 1987.

In 1991 a new Roman Catholic parish was registered and the construction of a new church began, which was ready in 1995. This time a brick building was erected. It is the first such building in Wallachia.

Architecture
The church was situated on a hill on the north-eastern edge of the village. It was a wooden structure, consisting of a nave with a vestibule and a council chamber. The chancel had a vestry on the left side. Little is known about the shape and character of the building. Only a few artefacts have survived from the original furnishings. Most of them can be dated to the 18th century, and the craftsmanship of the individual elements suggests a relatively high level of the whole.

The most important (surviving) elements relating to the church's decoration, furnishings and surroundings include:
- Christ Crucified sculpture from the main altar,
. - Sculpture of Christ Crucified,
- Pheretrons with images of saints,
- Sculpture of the Risen Christ,
- Screen bell tower.

Time of origin:
1703
Bibliography:
  • Światosław Lenartowicz „Kościół p.w. Podwyższenia Św. Krzyża w Wołoszczy” W: „Materiały do dziejów sztuki sakralnej na ziemiach wschodnich dawnej Rzeczypospolitej. Cz. 1: Kościoły i klasztory rzymskokatolickie dawnego województwa ruskiego” T. 6. Kraków: Międzynarodowe Centrum Kultury w Krakowie, 1998, s. 213-219.
Publikacja:
21.07.2024
Ostatnia aktualizacja:
23.07.2024
Author:
Michał Dziadosz
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