Svitarziv parish church - Roman Catholic parish church of unknown name in Svitarziv, built in 1937-1939 (construction not completed) to a design by architect Irena Obmińska-Wieczorkowa, daughter of Lviv architect Tadeusz Obmiński.

History
Świtarzów (sometimes also spelled as Świtażów) originally belonged to the parish of Tartaków. An exposition was established here in 1910, and an independent parish was erected on 22 December 1923.

It is known that in 1876 a private chapel was functioning in Svitarzov, probably in the palace. The public chapel was built in 1897, as a neo-Gothic burial chapel of Wanda née Rulikowska and Tadeusz Kownacki. It was a rectangular-plan building, relatively wide, with ogival windows. Before 1908, it was enlarged by the addition of a wooden annex of almost equal size. In this condition it served the local Catholics until the end of the Second World War. After 1994, it was taken over as an Orthodox church and completely rebuilt.

From the beginning of the 20th century, efforts were made to build a church. According to tradition, the site was to be chosen before the First World War by Archbishop Jozef Bilczewski of Lviv. Probably due to lack of funds, construction could not proceed for a long time. It was not until 1924 that the Lviv Conservancy Office approved the church project by architect Irena Obmińska-Wieczorkowa, but construction began in 1927. From time to time, festivals and contributions for the needs of the parish were organised in the surrounding villages. In 1936, the church was vaulted and roofed, and the Guardian from the Bernardine church in Sokal consecrated the cross on the temple. As late as March 1939, the church was still standing unfinished, without window, door and floor joinery, but with a plastered interior. The outbreak of the Second World War interrupted construction work, and in 1940 nearly half of the parishioners were deported by the Soviets to Siberia (to the Arkhangelsk region). When the war ended, the church was taken over by the local kolkhoz, which used it as a transport base and later as a grain warehouse. The building still serves this function today.

Architecture
The church was built on a hill in the south-east of the village. The building is of brick, unplastered, built on a cruciform plan, with a three-nave body and a chancel facing north. The body is four-bay with chapels attached to the transept, and the chancel is single-bay, closed trilaterally, with annexes to the treasury and sacristy on its sides. The articulation of the interior includes lisens passing into vaulted grottoes. The vaulting of the nave is cradle vaulted, in the side aisles, the chapels at the transept and in the chancel it is cross vaulted.

The façade is single-storey, surmounted by a concave abutment closed straight. The articulation is carried out on the corners by pairs of pilasters. The side elevations are divided by pilasters, the presbytery closure without divisions. The closes of the transept arms repeat in form the gable of the church façade. The entire architectural detail is unfinished (pilasters have no formed bases or capitals).

In spite of its use as a kolkhoz warehouse, the church has been preserved in fairly good condition. The interior has been completely rebuilt, including bricking up the side aisles and passageways and most of the windows.

Artistic issues
The church was designed by Irena Obmińska-Wieczorek in modernist forms, with clear references to baroque schemes. Katarzyna Brzezina-Scheuerer believes that the façade of the Świtarz church is similar in its general character to the façade of the church in Tuligłowy, added to the older church according to the designs of the architect Erwin Wieczorek (1927-1930), Irena's husband. It is worth mentioning that Obmińska-Wieczorkowa herself is also mentioned in the context of the Tuligłowy projects. The 1920s were a period of active professional work for Irena Obmińska-Wieczorkowa; in 1925, she became the secretary of the Circle of Architects in Lviv, and in the same year, together with her husband, she prepared a competition design of the presbytery and the Church of the Holy Cross in Lviv. In the same year, together with her husband, she prepared a competition project for the parsonage and church of Christ the King in Stanislavov (the project was awarded second prize). Jan K. Ostrowski associates Erwin Wieczorek and his wife Irena with projects for the reconstruction of the parish church in Sniatyn, prepared in 1926-1927 and implemented in 1926-1936.