The Church of Sts. Olha and Elizabeth is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church located 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 ...

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 ...

between the city's main rail station and the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

. It was originally built as a Western Catholic church and today serves as a

Ukrainian Greek Catholic The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is a major archiepiscopal '' sui iuris'' ("autonomous") Eastern Catholic church that is based in Ukraine. As a particular church of the Catholic Church, it is in full communion with the Holy See. ...

church. The church was built by the Latin Archbishop of Lviv, Józef Bilczewski in the years 1903–1911 as a parish church for the city's dynamically developing western suburb. It was designed by Polish architect

Teodor Talowski Teodor Marian Talowski (born 23 March 1857 in Zasów; died 1 May 1910 in Lviv) was a Polish architect and painter. Because of his style, which combined late Historicism with Art Nouveau and Modernist influences, he has been described as "the Po ...

, in the

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style, similar to that of the Votive Church in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. St. Elisabeth's, placed on a hill which is the watershed of the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

and

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, with its facade flanked by two tall towers and an 85 m belfry on the north side with imposing spires was envisioned as Lviv's first landmark to greet visitors arriving in the city by train. In 1939, the church was damaged in a bombing raid but remained open until 1946. After the war, the building was used as a warehouseL. Galusek, ''Reconstructing a Shattered Mosaic: The Common Heritage of Poland and Ukraine'', Centropa: a journal of central European architecture and related arts, vol. 7, 2007, p. 107 and fell further into ruin, until it was returned to faithful with the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In 1991, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church was established and the church was reconsecrated as the Church of Sts. Olha and Elizabeth.

Gallery

File:Church of Saints Olga and Elizabeth, Lviv (5).jpg File:Церква св. Ольги і Єлизавети 2.jpg SStOlha and ElizabethChurch Lviv Interior1.jpg File:Ukraine-Lviv-Church of Olga and Elizabeth-6.jpg File:Church of Saints Olga and Elizabeth, Lviv (W. Rawski).jpg

References

Churches in Lviv Churches completed in 1911 Church buildings converted to a different denomination Ukrainian Catholic churches in Ukraine Gothic Revival church buildings in Ukraine 20th-century churches in Ukraine 20th-century Eastern Catholic church buildings {{UkrainianGreekCatholic-church-stub