The Church of St. Lawrence in Zhovkva is, next to the castle, the most important element of the town established by the will of Hetman Zhovkva. It is one of the most outstanding monumental creations of late Renaissance sacral architecture in the lands of the former Republic of Poland. Among the most ancient works of art furnishing the collegiate church are the tombstones of Hetman and Great Crown Chancellor Stanisław Żółkiewski and members of his family.

This year (7 October) marked the 403rd anniversary of the heroic death of Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski at the Battle of Cecora.

Church in Zhovkva as a votive offering
The main church of the magnate latifundium was not originally intended by its founder to be the place of his burial, nor was it intended as the family mausoleum. At first, Stanisław Żółkiewski wanted to be buried in his father's tomb in the Lwów cathedral. Towards the end of his life, he changed his mind. At that time, he considered a funded church, but in view of the wars being waged, he allowed for burial outside the country, in Wallachia (modern Moldavia). In such a case, he ordered "a high grave to be removed, not for the ambition I so wish to have, but so that my grave would be a mound of the Republic of borders".

According to the Hetman's intention, the Church of St Laurence, erected in 1606-1618, was to be a monument to the glory of the Polish knighthood which he commanded, a votive offering of gratitude to "the God who has repeatedly rendered His mercy to our homeland (to which I have also rendered some service of mine), and [who] has endowed it with victories, the same God Almighty". The unprecedented liturgical programme devised by Stanisław Żółkiewski was unequivocal about this. It did not bring to the fore the duties of the clergy towards the soul of the founder and his family, but prescribed first and foremost the remembrance of the victories won by him.

Żółkiewski established solemn celebrations of anniversaries: 24 January - the Battle of Byczyna (1588), 28 January - the battles against the Turks at Udycza and Korowajna (1606), 16 June - the struggle against the Cossacks in Ukraine (1596), 4 July - the battles of Guzov (1607) and Klushino (1610), 20 October - the victory over the army of the Moldavian hospodar Michael (1599), 24 November - the repulsion of the army of Archduke Maximilian Habsburg from near Kraków (1587).

The Hussite ideals of knighthood are beautifully and unambiguously expressed in the artistically superbly sculpted frieze of the beam surrounding the church's façade. It features figures of hussars fighting and dying for their homeland and the Catholic faith in battles against the Muscovites, Tartars and Turks, accompanied by the patrons of the knighthood and the commander, symbolically present through coat-of-arms signs. There was no shortage of eagles - symbols of the kingdom, and at the same time a reminder of the ancient idea of the psychopompa, the eagle lifting the souls of the dead to eternity. The ideological programme was completed, hanging in the church, by a large painting of the Battle of Klushino (1610) as a victory opening the way to Moscow.

The ideas guiding her husband were excellently understood by his wife, Regina of Herburt Żółkiewska, who in 1621 established a mass foundation, with exequies, for the souls of the hetman killed at Cecora and his soldiers killed and dying in captivity, as well as for the intentions of those imprisoned by the enemies.

Collegiate Church in Zhovkva - the mausoleum of the Zhovkva family
The original function of the temple, planned by Hetman Żółkiewski, began to change after his tragic death in 1620. It began to commemorate not only the founder but also members of his family who had fought in defence of their homeland. As a result, the collegiate church became the ancestral mausoleum of the Żółkiewski family and their heirs: Danilovichs and Sobieskis. Their tombstones, epitaphs and portraits, depictions of victorious battles filled the interior of the church. Apart from Hetman Żółkiewski, the following people are buried in the crypt: his wife Regina of the Herburt family (died 1626), their son Jan (died 1623) and daughter Zofia Daniłowiczowa (died 1634), Voivode of Ruthenia, her son Stanislaw Daniłowicz (1636) and son-in-law Jakub Sobieski (died 1648, castellan of Krakow) and several other family members.

The lack of archival records does not make it possible to establish the circumstances in which the set of gravestone monuments of the hetman's closest family was made. They were created thanks to Zofia Daniłowiczowa, née Żółkiewska, Voivode of Ruthenia, heiress of his father's fortune. Despite attempts to link the sculptures to the work of certain sculptors active in Lviv in the first half of the 17th century, they must remain works of anonymous artists.

Tombstones in the presbytery
In the chancel of the church, on the sides of the main altar, stand two imposing monuments of red marble, framed by massive columns of greyish stone. They are composed identically. In deep niches, framed by arcades, stand full-length, life-size figures. Tables covered with fabrics on the sides complete the composition. The plinth is occupied by fields with panegyric inscriptions and decorative plaques. In the centre of the finial are medallions with coats of arms, framed by allegorical figures, while on the axis of the columns are figures of patron saints.

Tombstone on the gospel side of the wall
The tombstone by the northern wall (left, looking from the altar) is dedicated to Hetman and Great Crown Chancellor, Stanisław Żółkiewski, and his son Jan, starost of Hrubieszów, who died from wounds received at Cecora. Both are wearing full plate armour; helmets were at their feet. The elder Żółkiewski holds in his hands the Hetman's mace and the Chancellor's seal, the younger holds a mace. The finial features Michael the Archangel - the patron figure of the knights, a cartouche with personifications of the virtues "Fortitude" ("Fortitudo") and "Justice" ("Justitia"), with coats of arms: Lubicz, Korczak, the Herburtes' own Herburtes and Semikozic; on the sides, sculptures of the patron saints: St John the Evangelist and St Stanislaus the Bishop. The lower part of the pedestal is filled with representations of various arms.

Tombstone at the wall on the side of the lesson
. The tombstone by the southern wall (right, looking from the altar) depicts the Hetmaness and Chancellor Regina of the Herburt family of Żołkiewska with her daughter Zofia Daniłowiczowa. The finial of the monument is surmounted by a statue of the Virgin Mary and Child, and the sides feature representations of the patron saints, St Regina and St Sophia. The cartouche bears the coats of arms of Lubicz, the Herburt family's own, Nieczuja and Bończa.

The representations of the Żółkiewski family are definitely of a portrait nature. This is particularly important in the case of the hetman, whose iconography awaits detailed study. The painting, hitherto regarded as his faithful image (kept in the National Museum in Kraków), has recently turned out to be a depiction of another commander - Marcin Kalinowski, Crown Field Hetman in the years 1633-1636.

St. Lawrence Church in Żółkwi - a place of national hero worship
In the following centuries, the collegiate church in Zhovkva became a special place of cult of the national hero, whose deeds were reminded on successive anniversaries of the battles, especially those at Kluszyn and Cecora. The figure of the commander of the victorious army was created as a flawless hero. And although we know that there are no such heroes, this does not in any way detract from the memory of an outstanding statesman, a fervent patriot, a gifted commander, a good host and a caring family guardian. It was then that a beautiful legend was born about the lessons of patriotism given by the monument to her great-grandfather by Teofila née Daniłowicz Sobieska to her sons - Marek and Jan, later king, conqueror of Turks and Tartars at Chocim and Vienna. The young Sobieskis were to learn Latin from the famous quotation from Virgil's 'Aeneid' on their tombstone: Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor (Let an avenger rise from our bones), as well as the two-line poem: Tibi hostis ad terrorem, Tibi hosper ad exemplum (To you the enemy for fear, to you the bystander for example). They also read the inscription on the great-grandmother's monument, taken from the biblical Book of Judith: Vae genti insurgenti super genus meum. Dominus enim omnipotens vindicabit in eis (Woe to the nation rising up against my people. God almighty will take vengeance on it).

The gravestones of the Żółkiewski family have survived in good condition, but the interference with the inscriptions on them should be noted. Both tombstones were thoroughly restored in the years 1991-1997 during conservation work conducted under the supervision of Dr Janusz Smaza by students of the conservation departments of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and Krakow.