The Collegiate Church of St. Lawrence (
Ukrainian: Костел святого Лаврентія у Жовкві; ) is the main Roman Catholic
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
of
Zhovkva
Zhovkva is a List of cities in Ukraine, city in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast (Oblast, region) of western Ukraine. Zhovkva hosts the administration of Zhovkva urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Its population is approximately
History
A ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
. It was built between 1606 and 1618 as the
pantheon of the Polish commander
Stanisław Żółkiewski
Stanisław Żółkiewski (; 1547 – 7 October 1620) was a Polish people, Polish szlachta, nobleman of the Lubicz coat of arms, a magnate, military commander, and Chancellor (Poland), Chancellor of the Polish Crown in the Polish–Lithuanian C ...
and his family.
Description
The building's design is attributed to a team of
Italian Mannerist architects active in
Lviv
Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...
in the early 17th century. Started by , continued by , and (Ambrosius Simonis, an Italian from
Engadin
The Engadin or Engadine (;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ''Gidegna'' ...
[Jan Bialostocki. ''At the Crossroads of Classicism and Byzantinism: Leopolitan Architectural Achievements ca. A.D. 1600''. ]Harvard Ukrainian Studies
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learn ...
. Vol. VII. 1983. p. 52.). The building is raised on a terrace constructed by the Turkish captives. The
hexagonal
In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°.
Regular hexagon
A regular hexagon is d ...
bell tower
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...
, originally part of Zhovkva's fortifications, leans somewhat to the east.
The
frieze
In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...
and some parts of the interior recall martial events. Especially notable are two statues attributed to
Andreas Schlüter
Andreas Schlüter (1659 – ) was a German baroque sculptor and architect, active in the Holy Roman Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Tsardom of Russia, Russia.
Biography
Andreas Schlüter was born probably in Hamburg, in ...
. The dome is heavily coffered. In the 17th century, the walls of the church were decorated with pictorial representations of Żółkiewski's and Sobieski's battles executed by
Szymon Boguszowicz Szymon is a Polish version of the masculine given name Simon.
Academics
*Szymon Askenazy – historian and diplomat who served as the first Polish representative at the League of Nations
*Szymon Datner – Polish-Jewish historian and anti-Nazi par ...
and
Martin Altamonte Martin may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Europe
* Martin, Croatia, a village
* Martin, Slovakia, a city
* Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain
* Mart ...
, among others. They have since been moved to
Olesko Castle
Olesko Castle (; ) is located within the borders of present-day Zolochiv Raion, Lviv Oblast, Zolochiv Raion in Ukraine. The first historical records of the castle are in a document dated 1390, when Pope Boniface IX gave Olesko and fortress of Tu ...
.
Apart from the Żółkiewski, the church contains the family vaults of their relatives such as the Daniłowicz and the
Sobieski, notably
Jakub Sobieski
Jakub Sobieski (5 May 1590 – 23 June 1646) was a Polish noble, parliamentarian, diarist, political activist, military leader and father of King John III Sobieski. He was the son of castellan and voivode Marek Sobieski and Jadwiga Snopko ...
, father of Polish King
John III Sobieski
John III Sobieski ( (); (); () 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696.
Born into Polish nobility, Sobieski was educated at the Jagiellonian University and toured Eur ...
. The church is often viewed as a shrine to the golden age of Polish military achievement; so much so that its ongoing restoration has been sponsored by the
Warsaw University of Technology
The Warsaw University of Technology () is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors (including 145 titular professors). The student body ...
and the Polish military.
See also
*
History of early modern period domes
Domes built in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries relied primarily on empirical techniques and oral traditions rather than the architectural treatises of the time, but the study of dome structures changed radically due to developments in mathemat ...
References
Bibliography
* ''Лильо І. М.'', ''Лильо-Откович З. М.'' Прогулянка Львовом. Путівник — К.: Балтія Друк, 2005. — 224 с.: іл.
* Памятники градостроительства и архитектуры Украинской ССР. Киев: Будивельник, 1983—1986. Том 3, с. 132.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lawrences Church, Zhovkva
Churches in Zhovkva
Churches completed in 1618
Towers completed in the 17th century
Mannerist architecture
Inclined towers
1618 establishments in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
1618 establishments in Ukraine
Roman Catholic churches in Ukraine
Burial sites of the House of Sobieski