Historical outline

The village is located 15 kilometres north of the much larger Sambor. The earliest mention of Brestany dates back to the 15th century. In the 16th century, the village was mainly in the hands of the Brześćński family. Sources also record priest Stanislaw Orzechowski, who was co-owner of the estate at the height of the first half of the century. From 1619, the village belonged to the Brigidine Sisters of Sambor, and after the dissolution of the order in 1787, the estate was incorporated into a religious fund.

Initially, Brestany belonged to the parish of Vojutychy. In 1920, an exposition was established in the village, which was elevated to the status of an independent parish church in 1926 at the latest. The church was probably built in 1914, but many years had to pass before it was fully completed and equipped. Only information from the second half of the 1930s suggests the completion of the work. Interestingly, the church managed to survive in relatively good condition for quite some time, but it had no luck with... the bells. They were first requisitioned by Austrian troops, and a few decades later German troops looted more.

During the Soviet domination, the Soviets converted the church into a kolkhoz warehouse. Later, the building was in a state of disrepair for many years.

In 2008, it was annexed by the Greek Catholic Church and architecturally transformed into a church in the costume characteristic of Eastern churches.

Architecture

The building is located in the western part of the village, near the road leading to Rakowa. It consists of a three-bay nave, flanked by a pair of rectangular chapels added to the middle bay, and a short, narrower and lower chancel, which faces north-east. The altar section was closed polygonal. Adjoining the chancel and the north-east bay of the nave was a vestry to the north-west, consisting of two rooms, with an irregular pentagonal plan.

To the front was a rectangular-plan annex, which contained a porch with an additional small room to the south-west, and a music choir in the upper storey. Next to this lot, a square-plan tower rose from the annex.

The church was built of brick and plastered. The smooth exterior elevations were framed by low double-arched sconces and topped by a reduced beam. The front elevation of the nave section (almost entirely obscured by the tower) was surmounted by a triangular gable, with a cross carved into the plaster of the axis.

The façade of the porch was tri-axial in the lower storey and single-axial in the upper storey. The attention was drawn to the triple window above the entrance opening and the inscription at the top, "Queen of the Polish Crown, PRAY FOR US". The whole was crowned with a cross.

The roofs over the nave and porch were gabled, and those over the chapels were tripartite. The chancel was covered with a multi-pitched roof, and the side parts of the porch and sacristy with pent roofs. The tower was covered with a high marquee cupola. All the upper parts were covered with tiles.

Inside, the attention was drawn to the pointed arches, which were reminiscent of the Gothic style. The arcades between the bays and the rainbow arcade, as well as the window openings, were profiled in this way. The central bay of the nave was star vaulted, the other two bays and the chapels had cross-ribbed vaults and the altar area had a fragment of an umbrella vault. The music choir room was covered with a pointed cross vault. Ceilings were used in the porch and sacristy.

The most important elements associated with the furnishings of the building included:

• A wooden main altar in Romanesque style, dated 1914-1915, with paintings of Our Lady Queen of Poland (on the frame the inscription: 'Begin our lips to praise the Holy Virgin'), St Francis of Assisi and sculptures of St Casimir and St Stanislaus Kostka;
• Side altar to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, located on the left, most probably in the chapel;
• Paintings: 1. Our Lady of Czestochowa, dating to the 20th century; 2. Sacred Heart of Jesus, dating to the 20th century; and Stations of the Cross (from the chapel in Wolica Polska), dating to the 19th century;
• Sculptures: 1. the Risen Christ; 2. Christ in the Tomb; 3. the Immaculate Mother of God.

In her study of the building, Ewa Herniczek notes that the church in Brzescany is an example of "a building that is not very large, but functional and impressive". The author points out the motifs characteristic of the late 19th and early 20th century, referring to history and, above all, to Gothic. This is evidenced by the sharpened shapes of some elements (window closures, the rainbow arcade, the arcade between the nave and the chapels) and the introduction of ribbed vaults. Today, the church has been substantially rebuilt in the direction of the architecture characteristic of Eastern churches.

Name: Parish Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary Queen of Poland in Brestany

Name functioning today: Greek Catholic Church of the Dormition of the Holy Virgin Mary in Brestany. Current name: Greek Catholic Church of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Brestany

Division: architecture

Location: Ukraine, District: Lviv, City: Brestany

Author: Unknown

Date of construction: 1914 r.

Technical data: Brick object