The Church of the Transfiguration ( uk, Преображенська церква, ''Preobrazhenska tserkva'', or more formally Церква Преображення Господа Нашого Ісуса Христа, ''Tserkva preobrazhennia Hospoda Nashoho Isusa Khrysta'') in

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

is located in the city's Old Town, just north of the market square. It was originally built as the Roman Catholic church of the Holy Trinity of the

Trinitarian Order The Trinitarians, formally known as the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives ( la, Ordo Sanctissimae Trinitatis et Captivorum; abbreviated OSsT), is a mendicant order of the Catholic Church for men founded in Cerfroid, outside Pari ...

, between 1703 and 1731,Church of the Transfiguration website, ''History''
/ref> in the style of French

classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthet ...

but with a Baroque interior. In 1783, the monastery was abolished by the Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...

and the church was used as a library of the

Lviv University The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...

, until it was destroyed by Austrian artillery during the

Spring of Nations The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

in 1848. The ruins of the church were rebuilt by the

Greek Catholic Church The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...

, and most of the original design was kept. However, an

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

was added to the short presbytery and

domes A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

that now dominate the facade were built on the church's towers. The interior underwent much deeper changes to adapt it to the needs of Eastern Rite liturgy. The church was reconsecrated on 29 April 1906, as the Greek Catholic church of the Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by the Ukrainian Metropolitan of Lviv

Andrey Sheptytsky Andrey Sheptytsky, OSBM (; uk, Митрополит Андрей Шептицький; 29 July 1865 – 1 November 1944) was the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1901 until his death in 1944. His tenure span ...

, Bishop of Peremyshl Constantine (Chekhovych) and Bishop of Stanyslaviv Blessed

Hryhory Khomyshyn Hryhoriy Khomyshyn (also ''Hryhorij Khomyshyn'', uk, Григорій Лукич Хомишин, pl, Grzegorz Chomyszyn) was a Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishop and hieromartyr. Khomyshyn was born on 25 March 1867 in the village of Hadynkivtsi, ...

. In the first half of the 20th century, the parish became one of the main cultural centres of the Ukrainian national movement. On 29 October 1989 this was the first parish to be restored with the imminent collapse of the Soviet Union. The church contains sculptures and paintings by

Kornylo Ustiyanovych Kornylo Mykolayovych Ustiyanovych (Ukrainian: Корни́ло Микола́йович Устияно́вич; 22 September 1839, Volkyv, Lviv Raion — 22 July 1903, Dolgoye, Drohobych Raion) was a Ukrainian painter, writer and folklorist. His ...

, Tadeusz Popiel, Tomasz Kopystynski and Leonard Markoni.Lviv Center, ''Church of the Transfiguration''
/ref>

References

Churches in Lviv Ukrainian Catholic churches in Ukraine {{Ukraine-UGC-church-stub