Historical outline

The village is situated on the Tajna stream, 14 kilometres north-west of Husiatyn and about 10 kilometres north-east of Kopyczyniec. From the onomastic side, the name of the place has evolved. Along the way, Nizhborg Novi was recorded as Nyeczbork, and today it functions as Nizhborg (in Ukrainian Нижбірок).

The oldest mention of Nizhborg Nový dates back to the 15th century. At that time, the village was recorded as a town. Among the owners of the estate over the centuries, the following were mentioned: Krampski, Orzechowski (16th century), Paweł Krężelowski, sisters: Katarzyna Kozietulska (secundo voto Wolińska) and Agnieszka Siąska (secundo voto Stanisławska)- 17th century. It is most likely that the latter two donated the estate (along with two other villages) to the Jesuit college, who ran a mission there until the dissolution of the order in 1773.

Subsequent owners included Count Mikołaj Baworowski, Jan Horodyński and Franciszek Bielski. Later, the estate was in the hands of the Baworowskis and remained there until the Second World War.

Initially, Nizhborg Nový belonged to the parish in Kopyczyce. Despite appearances, it was not the Jesuits who founded the first church in the village. Efforts for an independent pastoral unit were not made until the end of the 19th century. It was then that a temple was established in Nizbork. Before 1907, an exposition had to be established, which was raised to the status of an independent parish in 1925.

According to Rafal Nestorov in his study of the building, the dean's visitation report of 1924 described its condition as good, although a hole in the roof and lack of a fence were noted.

In 1944-1945, Ukrainian UPA terrorists murdered twenty Poles on the territory of Nizborg Nowy and Nizborg Szlachecki. These acts of barbarism, but also the coming of the new Soviet authorities, forced our compatriots to leave for the west. The Poles, together with Father Eugeniusz Rychwa, left the village in October 1945. Some of the furnishings were saved. However, the fate of the equipment left in the church is unknown. In 1950 the Soviets turned the building into a kolkhoz grain warehouse.

Architecture

The building is located at the northern edge of the village. The brick-built and plastered church consists of a two-bay nave and a slightly lower and narrower north-facing chancel. The altar area takes the form of a deep, semicircular apse. A rectangular porch opens onto the south. A rectangular sacristy adjoins the presbytery to the west.

The façades sit on a low plinth and are closed at the top by a double profiled cornice, which surrounds the entire building. The single-axis, single-storey façade is almost entirely covered by the porch. It is crowned by a triangular gable with a circular window in the centre. The façade of the porch is covered with lisens and closed with a profiled cornice. The gable is topped with an openwork wrought-iron cross.

There is a gable roof over the nave. The apse has a conical roof. The sacristy, on the other hand, is covered by a triple-pitched roof. The now defunct bell turret was clad in sheet metal. In the past, it consisted of an openwork gloriette and a bell-shaped canopy topped with a knop and cross.

Inside, attention is drawn to the side walls of the nave, which are capped with a cornice forming pseudo-capitals on the pillars supporting the semicircular rainbow arcade. The interior of the building is covered with apparent plank vaults. The windows in the church are rectangular, closed with a segmental arch. There are rectangular windows in the sacristy. The wooden music choir was supported by two pillars with chamfered corners.

In his study of the building, Raphael Nestorov describes its architecture as modest, but in a successful way referring to the local Baroque tradition. He draws particular attention to the correct proportions, the segmental closure of window openings, profiled cornices and the Baroque-style signature tower.

Name: Parish Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Niżborg Nowy

Current name: Same as above.

Division: architecture

Localization: Ukraine, district: Ternopil, locality: Nizhborg Novy

Author: Unknown

Date of construction: 1886 r.

Technical data: Brick object, plastered