Historical outline

The village is located 21 kilometres north-west of Trembowla and 7 kilometres west of Budzanów. The earliest mention of Wierzbowiec dates back to the 16th century and relates to the destruction of the village during the Tartar invasion. During the Khmelnytsky uprising, the inhabitants of the village took part in riots. At the beginning of the 19th century the village was bought by Michał Bobrowski. Later it belonged to the Ochocki family.

Initially Wierzbowiec was subordinate to the parish in Budzanów. Towards the end of the 19th century, the local people wanted their own church building. Construction started in 1884, but was interrupted due to lack of sufficient funds. In 1888, the engineer Władysław Świtkowski created an artistically interesting design on the basis of which the church was successfully erected. Unfortunately, it was rebuilt a few years later, in 1905, which destroyed its original form. At that time, an exposition was established in the village, which gained the status of an independent parish in 1925. The solemn consecration took place in 1930. In 1938, the state of the church was recorded as good.

In 1944, dozens of people were killed by Ukrainian nationalists. The survivors left for the west, taking some of the furnishings with them. The church was closed in 1946 and in 1950 the Soviets turned it into a kolkhoz grain warehouse.

Architecture

The building is located in the north-western part of the village, south of the road from Budzanów to Laskowiec. The church was built of stone and plastered. It has a cruciform ground plan with a three-bay nave and a single-span chancel facing west. The transverse arm forms a transept, with short, single-span arms. There are annexes to the altar section, extending beyond the line of the transept arms.

It is worth noting that the building was built in three stages. Initially (1894), it was a grassroots initiative. Activities were discontinued due to lack of funds. The design by Władysław Świtkowski (1888) marked the beginning of the second stage. The architect breathed professional flair into the church, but also a specific artistic vision. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, the building was rebuilt, among other things by enlarging it and removing the tower. The intention, by doing so, was to create a more practical and capacious space. As Rafał Nestorow writes in his study of the church, this reconstruction did not do the church any good from an artistic point of view, and the new façade is kept in "banal" forms.

The façades are set on a plinth. The façade is single-axis, single-storey and framed by pilasters with capitals in the form of sections of profiled cornice. The façade is crowned with a triangular gable on rafters. On the axis of the façade is the entrance opening, above which is placed the inscription MY HOUSE OF PRAYER IS. Above it is a rectangular window closed with a semicircle, flanked by niches analogous in shape but smaller. There is a rectangular (horizontal) panel in the gable field and above it a circular window in a profiled frame. The side elevations of the nave and the elevations of the transept and the annexes are framed and closed from above with a profiled cornice.

The nave is covered with a gable roof. The altar section has an identical roof, which turns into a conical roof. The transept arms are covered with a tripartite roof and the annexes with a pent roof. All are covered with sheet metal. The signature turret was covered with an onion-shaped roof topped by a knop with a cross.

Inside, attention is drawn to the Tuscan pilasters set on high pedestals, articulating the nave section and framing the corners of the bay in the cross of the church. The building is covered with pseudo-vaulted wooden vaults. The nave and transept arms are enclosed by a cradle vault, the bay in the cross by a cross vault and in the chancel by a cradle vault, passing into a conch (shell-like shape) above the closure. The building is dominated by rectangular window openings, closed with a semicircle.

The most important elements related to the decoration, furnishings and surroundings of the building included:

• Interior painting decoration by Andrzej Kowalski of Wierzbowiec, dated 1923, which depicted religious motifs and imitated and emphasised articulation;
• A set of three neo-Baroque altars, dating from the end of the 19th century;
• The main altar with a stone mensa with a sculpture of Christ on the Cross and a painting of Saint John of Dukla;
• Stone plaques commemorating the construction of the building and its consecration:

1. With the inscription: Construction of the church commenced R. 1884 | completed by the noble Lord | JANA GROMNICKIE R. 1894
2. With inscription: D(EO) O(PTIMO) M(AXIMO) | ECCLESIAM HANC CONSECRAVTT | EXCELLENTISSIMUS ILLUSTRISSIMUS AC REVERENDISSIMUS DOMINUS | BOLESLAUS TWARDOWSKI | ARCHIEPISCOPUS ET METROPOLITA LEOPOLIENSIS | DIE 8. MAII A(NNO) D(OMINN) 1930

Which can be translated:

THE GREATEST GOD | the consecration of this church (done - editor's note) by the most excellent, illustrious and ecclesiastical Mr. BOLESLAW TWARDOWSKI | ARCIBISHOPSISKUP AND METROPOLITA , on the eighth of May in the year of our Lord 1930.

• The church grounds were surrounded by a stone wall with an iron gate, built by Piotr Buchert in 1930;
• A stone-built bell tower, with a closed triangular gable.

In his study, Rafal Nestorov describes the church walls as preserved in good condition. Unfortunately, the contemporary furnishings and decoration (including most of the wall paintings) and a significant part of the roofs are missing.

Name: Parish Church of St. John of Dukla in Wierzbowiec

Current name: Former Parish Church of St. John of Dukla in Wierzbowiec

Division: architecture

Location: Ukraine, District: Ternopil, Village: Virmovets

Author: Various/: Władysław Świtkowski

Date of construction: late 19th century

Technical data: Object made of stone, plastered