Parish Church of Blessed Kinga in Schodnica, photo przed 1901, Public domain
Source: Architekt. - 1901. - nr 4.
Photo showing Parish Church of Blessed Kinga in Schodnica
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ID: POL-002073-P/162377

Parish Church of Blessed Kinga in Schodnica

ID: POL-002073-P/162377

Parish Church of Blessed Kinga in Schodnica

Historical outline
Schodnica was first mentioned in the early 17th century. It was then that the village was recorded as the property of minor nobility. Over time, the names of the owners included Stanislawski, Sokolnicki, Żyrawski, Golanski, and later Nahujowski, Kropiwnicki, Zamoyski and Lubomirski. The end of the 19th century saw the beginning of mass oil extraction. At the time, Schodnica's mines were the most productive in the Polish lands. This resulted in a large-scale influx of people and a need for a religious building, which no one had built on the site before.

In 1896 a wooden church was erected in the village. It was built thanks to contributions from workers and funds from the Oil Company. The building was consecrated in 1897 and the interior was furnished in time. The parish was served by a priest from Drohobych. A few years later, the unit began to function as an exposition and then as a removable parish.

During the First World War, the building did not suffer any damage. Only the bell and the signal box were requisitioned. Probably for military purposes. In the 1930s, the parish in Skhidnytsya included such villages as: Dolhe, Kropiwnik Nowy, Kropiwnik Stary, Lastówki, Majdan with Plain, Rybnik and Urycz.

A dangerous time came with the end of the Second World War. Numerous assaults and murders caused most parishioners to move to less intimate centres. Drohobych and Boryslav were the most popular choices. In 1945, all the inhabitants left the village and moved to the west. The last parish priest, Father Jan Dołowy, also left Schodnica. He managed to save some of the furnishings, which eventually found their way to Krosno (Polanka-Karol). In the 1950s, the church was burnt down. The circumstances have not been explained to this day. The only remnants of its existence are the bell tower and the tombstone of Kazimierz Odrzywolski. The site was taken over by the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

Architecture
What was most striking about the building? What made it stand out from others? Well, it was one of the few examples of sacred architecture of the time that referred to folklore. Paradoxically, it was also one of the first. This happened not only on the level of raw materials. Apart from the fact that the church was wooden, in addition, the whole idea reached deeply into rural associations. Most of the buildings referred to historicism. Most were neo-Baroque or neo-Gothic churches. Less frequently, they consciously wandered between styles. But there were hardly any buildings that consciously and artistically incorporated folklore into their concept at the time.

The church was situated in the south-eastern part of the village, on top of a hill. It was a wooden building on a plinth of broken stone. It was built on a Greek cross plan. It consisted of a rectangular nave, a short transept and a triangular closed chancel. To this base there were annexes in the form of a porch and sacristy. The exterior elevations had no divisions. The façade was notable for its boarded triangular gable with decoratively cut boards. On the sides of the porch and the vestry were openwork porches with balustrades. The entrance opening to the porch was rectangular, as were the window openings. The roof over the nave was gabled with pairs of dormers and small pediments. In its centre was a signature turret covered with a helmet in the shape of an octagonal pyramid with a knop and cross. No information is available on details of the interior decoration.

Other important elements related to the decoration, furnishings and surroundings of the church included:
. - Main wooden altar "in the Gothic style", with a painting depicting the image of Blessed Kinga,
- Side altar with the image of St. Joseph,
- Side altar with the image of the Virgin Mary,
- Organ probably by Jan Sliwinski of Lviv,
- Marble baptismal font,
- Pheretrons with images of saints and angels.

Related persons:

Time of origin:

1896

Creator:

Sławomir Odrzywolski (architekt; Kraków)(preview)

Bibliography:

  • Światosław Lenartowicz „Kościół parafialny pw. Błogosławionej Kingi w Schodnicy.” 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. 167-171.

Supplementary bibliography:

Publikacja:

20.07.2024

Ostatnia aktualizacja:

20.07.2024

Author:

Michał Dziadosz
see more Text translated automatically
Photo showing Parish Church of Blessed Kinga in Schodnica
Parish Church of Blessed Kinga in Schodnica, photo przed 1901, Public domain

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