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Église paroissiale de l'Assomption de la Vierge Marie à Truskavets, photo Andrey Butko, 2010
Licence: CC BY 3.0, Source: Wikimedia Commons, Conditions d\'autorisation
Photo montrant Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Truskavets
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ID: POL-002078-P

Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Truskavets

Truskawiec | Ukraine
ukr. Truskawecʹ (Трускавець)
ID: POL-002078-P

Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Truskavets

Truskawiec | Ukraine
ukr. Truskawecʹ (Трускавець)

Historical outline
The village was first mentioned as early as the 15th century. At that time Truskavets was a royal village belonging to the Drohobych starosty. During the Partitions of Poland, the Austrian government sold it into private hands. At that time it was one of the most popular spas in Galicia. It belonged to the parish in Drohobych. In 1859 (some sources indicate 1860), a chapel was established in Truskavets to serve the patients. The growing population created the need for a fully-fledged religious facility in the village. The existing one only operated seasonally and was simply too small. However, this does not change the fact that it was the foundation of the later church and that is why 1859 is considered to be the year of its beginning. As early as 1898, a collection for the conversion of the chapel into a church suitable for Truskavets began. The finale took place in 1913, and it is this date that is given as the moment when the extension was completed.

By the 1920s, the church already had some furnishings. Among the most important elements are mentioned, among others, seven altars (1927). Electricity was installed in the building in 1928, and in 1933 the site was drained and a sewage system installed. The 1930s also saw the addition of an organ, Stations of the Cross and other important elements. Between 1935 and 1937, the vicarage was extended.

In parallel with the creation of a full-fledged building, an attempt was made to establish a parish exposition in Truskavets, but structural problems were encountered, so it was not established until 1925. Two years later it was turned into a removable parish and in 1938 into a non-removable parish. However, this does not change the fact that from 1925 until the war, the parish included such villages as Dobrohostów, Kolpiec, Orów, Staniła, Stebnik and Uliczno. In 1938, Gassendorf was added. The parish also had a branch church of St Barbara in Stebnik and a semi-public chapel of St Michael the Archangel in the home of the Michaelite nuns in Truskavets.

When the Soviet army entered the village (in September 1939), the good times for the parish were over. The rectory was demolished and between 1940 and 1941 almost half of the parishioners were deported to Siberia. The building itself, paradoxically, survived the historical storms in good condition. By the end of the war, there were virtually no Poles left in Truskavets and it was then that parish priest Adam Wojcik left the parish. The new authorities turned the church into a warehouse. In the 1970s, the building was rebuilt and turned into a planetarium. In the early 1990s, the church was returned to the faithful and the Roman Catholic parish came back to life. A major renovation of the church was carried out, which also aimed to restore it to its former shape.

Architecture
The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Truskavets is not characterised by overly complex architectural intricacies. Its older part was built in a similar Romanesque style. The extension of the building in 1912-1913 introduced elements reminiscent of early Gothic architecture. Its current image therefore brings associations with the late Middle Ages, but it should be noted that these associations are subtle and not devoid of a 19th-century historical perspective.

The church is situated to the north of the spa centre, on an elevated and separated area. It can be reached via Sukhovolskaya Street, which (along with Boryslavskaya Street) is one of the most important western axes of the town. It is from Sukhovolska Street that we can see the soaring façade with its dominant turret. The building was placed on a stone foundation and built of brick. The nave was plastered, while the presbytery and transept were not. Today, the entire church is plastered and painted white.

The building was built on a cruciform plan with a triangular closed, single-span chancel. The transepts are the same height, while the three-bay nave is lower. The west-facing chancel is flanked by a square sacristy and a vault. Adjoining the nave to the east is a square porch.

The single-storey façade is closed with a triangular gable. Just above it is a turret in the form of an arcaded gateway. However, it is not the dominant vector. The taller element is the octagonal turret on a square pedestal. It is located above the cross bay.

The corners are framed by two-sided buttresses. The side walls of the nave are topped off with a profiled cornice. Windows in moulded frames made in plaster, with marked keys. At the junction of the nave and transept is a triangular gable with a chamfered apex that rises above the roof of the nave. Gabled roofs dominate most of the building, but the apse of the chancel is closed with a multi-pitched roof. The roof over the nave was covered with sheet metal, and that over the transept and chancel with tiles.

In terms of modernisation and an attempt to restore the original shape, the focus in the 1990s was mainly on the interior of the church, as this is what the communists had rebuilt. Today, therefore, we are dealing with a contemporary take on a concept from more than a century ago, which in turn referred to architecture from centuries ago.

The rainbow arch and the arches separating the arms of the transept and the arch between the cruciform space and the nave are semicircular. They are supported by wall pillars identical to those articulating the walls in the nave. The finials use cross vaults. The windows in the apse are rectangular, as in most other parts of the building. One rectangular window each, closed with a semicircular arch, is used in the side walls of the nave. In addition, there are narrow rectangular openings in the gables of the transept. The entrance opening to the porch was closed with a segmental arch and the entrance to the sacristy on the south side is rectangular. The wooden music choir was supported on an iron structure, with a wooden balustrade.

It has not been possible to reconstruct the history of the original furnishings, most of which have probably been destroyed. It is also unknown what happened to the items donated to the Przemyśl curia.

Time of origin:
1859 (chapel), 1913. (extension), 1914. (consecration)
Creator:
Jurij Griszczenko
Bibliography:
  • Rafał Quirini-Popławski „Kościół parafialny p.w. Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Panny Marii w Truskawcu.” 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. 191-200.
Publikacja:
21.07.2024
Ostatnia aktualizacja:
21.07.2024
Author:
Michał Dziadosz
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