Cerkiew sw. Michała Archanioła (Smolnik)

View of the Church (2012)

The Cerkiew św. Michała Archanioła ( German Archangel Michael Church , Ukrainian Церква святої Параскеви ) is a wooden church in Smolnik in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship in Poland . The church is part of the cross-border UNESCO - World Heritage " wooden churches in the Carpathian region " and is the Archangel Michael consecrated. It was a Greek Catholic church until 1951 and has been used by the Roman Catholic community since 1974 .

location

The church is located on the top of the hill, above the Smolnik brook. In the east, the cemetery borders the church. Gravestones are only sparsely available. The old village no longer exists. The new place Smolnik is about 1500 meters north. The border with Ukraine runs about 2.5 kilometers east of the church.

history

The church was built in 1791. - Smolnik was still inhabited by Ruthenians in 1900 . Of the 473 inhabitants, 421 were Greek Catholics, 458 were Ruthenian and 37 were Jews. The place was occupied by the Soviets in 1939 and German in 1941. After the end of the Second World War he stayed with the Soviet Union.

In 1951 the population was resettled and the region came to Poland as part of the Polish-Soviet territorial exchange . The district and the evacuated village were handed over to the state agricultural enterprise PGR Smolnik . This gradually demolished all the buildings. The exception was the church, where hay was regularly stored. In 1956 it was placed on the list of historic churches and in 1969 it was entered on the national list of monuments. Much had been looted or destroyed before then. After the entry, the building could be renovated with government funds in 1969–1970.

In 1973 it was given to the Roman Catholic parish in Lutowiska . In the following year it was consecrated as a branch church to the Patronage of the Assumption in Heaven ( Polish Wniebowzięcie Najświętszej Maryi Panny). Visitors are the residents of the newly built village of Smolnik.

In 2010 the church was included in the tentative list of world cultural heritage along with seven other wooden churches in the Eastern Churches in the Subcarpathian region and in Lesser Poland . The enrollment took place on June 21, 2013 together with eight other objects from Ukraine.

Furnishing

Interior of the church

Emptied iconostasis (before 1970)

The wooden church belongs to the now rare building type of the Bojkenland , which borders on the Lemkowszczyzna (Lemkowszczyzna) . After the forced relocation of the buoy as part of the Vistula campaign , many churches fell victim to demolition or decay in 1947.

The building is made of cut logs that are laid horizontally. The building is clad with shingles . The church is laid out in three parts and is crowned by three square domes. A canopy runs around the entire building and protects the foundation from rain and snow. The polychrome painting from the end of the 18th century was restored in 2009.

The looted iconostasis was removed before the building was converted. Parts of the original features are including in museums in Lviv (Lemberg) and Łańcut .