Armenian Cathedral (Lviv)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The wall paintings by Jan Henryk Rosen

The Armenian Cathedral in Lviv ( Armenian տաճար Հայկական , Ukrainian Вірменський кафедральний собор / Wirmenskyj kafedralnyj sobor ) is a church in the Polish Armenians in Lviv .

It was built in the 14th century in the Armenian quarter of Lviv by the Silesian builder Doring based on the model of Ani Cathedral in the former capital of Armenia. The building was donated by the Armenians Jacob, son of Schachinschach from Kaffa , and Panos, son of Abraham.

The cathedral was built in three stages:

  • the presbytery as a cross-domed church with a twelve-sided drum in the 14th century;
  • the main nave with coffered vaults in the 17th century;
  • the extension of the main nave with the vestibule in the 19th century.

In the southern courtyard on Armenian Street (Вул. Вірменська) is the old cemetery with grave slabs with partially weathered Armenian inscriptions and a chapel with a wooden figure of Christ. The cloister was built at the end of the 15th century. In the eastern courtyard there is a column (1726) with the figure of St. Christopher . The northern courtyard borders the Armenian women's monastery (1682). The tower (1571) was rebuilt in the 19th century.

In the 1920s, the painter Jan Henryk Rosen , the son of Jan Rosen , created wall paintings. 1945–2001 the cathedral was closed by the Soviet authorities and served as a warehouse for church furniture from other closed sacred buildings. The members of the Armenian Lviv ethnic group belonged to the Catholic Church of the Armenian Rite , which recognizes the primacy of the Roman Pope. These Armenians were forced to leave Lviv in 1945-1946 and settle in Wroclaw and other cities in the new Polish western territories.

In 2001 the cathedral was handed over to the autocephalous Armenian Apostolic Church . The renovation of the cathedral began in 2009 and was funded by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The city of Lviv financially supported the renovation of the church tower and parts of the churchyard.

  • The oldest part of the cathedral

  • The tower and the bishop's palace

  • The yard

  • The crucifixion sculpture

  • Grave slabs

  • The cloister

  • inside view

  • Wall painting by Jan Henryk Rosen "The Burial of St. Odilon"

literature

  • Weise, Christian, traces of the Armenian community in Lviv. From the settlement of the Armenians in the Ukraine in the 11th century to the end of the Armenian communities in 1940-1946 and their re-establishment in 1989 , in: Günter Prinzing / Andrea Schmidt (eds.), Das Lemberger Evangeliar. An Armenian illuminated manuscript . Wiesbaden 1997 (Languages ​​and Cultures of the Christian East 2) 143–169.
  • Chrząszczewski, Jacek, Kościoly Ormian polskich . Warszawa 2001. (Catalog zabytków ormiańskich 1).
  • Smirnow, Jurij, Katedra ormiańska we Lwowie. Dzieje archidiecezji ormiańskiej Lwowskiej . Lwów 2002.
  • Weise, Christian, The Armenian Diocese of Ukraine , in: Der Christian Osten 58 (2003) 237–248.
  • Weise, Christian, Church return in the Ukraine , in: Armenisch-Deutsche Korrespondenz 119/120 (2003) 28–30.
  • Wolańska, Joanna, Katedra ormiańska we Lwowie w latach 1902-1938. Przemiany architektoniczne i Dekoracja wnętrza . Warsaw 2010.

Web links

Commons : Armenian Cathedral (Lviv)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 50 ′ 36 ″  N , 24 ° 1 ′ 51 ″  E