Historical outline

Mraźnica is a small village adjacent to Boryslav. It lies 14 km south-west of Drohobych. It was recorded in 1589 as the property of the Borysławskis. Annals say that in 1628 it partly belonged to Roman Popiel of Sulima coat of arms. For many years, the village was subordinated to the parish in Drohobych. In 1928 it was subordinated to Tustanovice, and two years later it became part of the Greater Boryslav agglomeration.

Thus, Mraźnica did not have its own separate religious building for a long time. However, the need of the inhabitants in this regard was considerable, as in the 1920s a committee for the construction of a church was established and funds began to be raised. The project was conceived even before 1923, with Jan Semkowicz as the architect. However, it was not without its problems. The preparatory processes stretched over the next five years, until finally a new committee was elected, as the inhabitants felt that the previous one had failed.

From then on, everything was supposed to go well. The Lindenbaum family donated land for the building, but the date for the start of work was again delayed. Dom Techniczno-Handlowy Józef Tarapani i Spółka went bankrupt after collecting the advance payment. And it was the professionals from this company who were to carry out the construction. Despite all these adversities, the church was erected in 1934. It was not yet fully equipped at the time, but this time everything was to go according to plan.

plan. It succeeded. In 1935, the building was accepted by the inspection committee and the ministry could begin. Originally, it was to be run by the Missionaries of St Vincent de Paulo from Krakow, but the local conditions were too harsh for the brothers. Along the way, the Redemptorists were also considered, but it was finally decided on a single catechist, Father Jozef Miezina.

Unfortunately, the Second World War brought the closure of the church as early as 1939. After its end, Father Tadeusz Łącki, who administered the parish in Borysław, saved some of the building's furnishings, taking them with him to Poland. In 1990, the church was handed over to the Orthodox, who converted it into the Church of Pokrovna. Along the way, the building underwent extensive renovations and acquired the visual characteristics of Eastern churches.

Architecture

The building is located on the main road of the village. It can still be admired, but a certain amount of imagination must be used to be able to recall its former appearance. It was built on a cruciform plan. Its initial mass consisted of a two-bay body, reminiscent of basilican forms, a single-bay chancel closed with a two-sided apse and a delicate transept, slightly protruding beyond the line of the walls. A vestry and treasury were placed on the sides of the chancel.

At the front was a square tower with a porch below. It was one of the most interesting elements of the building and was the most important component of the façade. It was thoroughly modern, somewhat austere by its distinctiveness and cube shape. One could make the bold claim that it referred to both fortified towers and skyscrapers. On the one hand, it gave the impression of an extension. On the other, this impression was softened by the slender shape of the long window openings, the most important of which (above the portal) was more neo-Gothic. Unfortunately, it no longer looks like this today. The Orthodox Christians added a dome to it, typical of their buildings.

The rest of the building was already more subdued. The walls of the main body of the church, slightly set back from the front tower, were topped with a gabled roof. This was retained over the side aisles. A triple-pitched roof was used over the chancel. The remaining parts were covered by a flat roof. This was augmented by a masonry bell turret located almost on the other side of the main body. In a sense, one could say that it was a metaphor for a traditional echo for the non-traditional main tower.

Inside the building, a collector's vault was used over the chancel. The nave and transept arms were covered with a ceiling, and the side aisles with cross vaults. The windows in the building are high, rectangular and topped with overhanging triangles. The main entrance from the porch to the nave was closed with a semicircle. The other entrances are rectangular. The music choir was located in a room on the first floor of the tower. It communicated with the nave through a large opening with a pointed arch.

The designer Jan Semkowicz created a modern work, synthesising modernity with historicism in a very subtle way. He even drew on Expressionism in his inspiration, playing with geometry and contrasts, but established a very general reference to Neo-Gothic as a constant, unchanging and consistent counterpoint. It is worth noting, however, that this starting point was also not very clear. Unfortunately, the modern conversion of the building into an Orthodox church has severely spoiled this excellent idea.