The Church of St. Paraskevi 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 ...

(Ukrainian Церква святої Параскеви П'ятниці) is located at Khmelnytsky 77 B (Ukr вул. Богдана Хмельницького, 77В, before 1945 – st. Żółkiewska) at the foot of the High Castle.

History of the building

St.Paraskeva (or Paraskevy Piatnyci) church belongs to the oldest religious buildings of the city. Its construction dates back to the 13th-14th centuries. Was substantially rebuilt after a fire in 1623. Due to the persecution of the Orthodox Church in

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

funds for reconstruction was provided by

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

n Voevod

Vasile Lupu Lupu Coci, known as Vasile Lupu (; 1595 – 1661), was the voivode of Moldavia between 1634 and 1653. He was of Albanian and Greek origin. Lupu had secured the Moldavian throne in 1634 after a series of complicated intrigues and managed to h ...

, which was completed in 1644.Архітектура Львова: Час і стилі. XIII—XXI ст. — Львів : Центр Європи, 2008. — С. 53. — . Building blocks were hewn sandstone. The single-nave church has a defensive character – its walls are thick and the windows small, also further demonstrated by the loopholes in the upper storeys of the tower. Enclosed is an octagonal apse. The wall bears the

coat of arms of Moldova The coat of arms of Moldova is the national emblem of the Republic of Moldova. It was designed by the Moldovan artist Gheorghe Vrabie. The escutcheon's aurochs head accompanied by a rose, crescent and pointed star is derived from the coat of ...

of the hospodar – the head of an

aurochs The aurochs (''Bos primigenius''; or ; pl.: aurochs or aurochsen) is an extinct species of Bovini, bovine, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of t ...

with the sun, moon and star. In 1885, a fundamental overhaul of the entire building was made. The high, square tower is linked organically with the competent body of the temple. In 1908, it was covered with a new, domed helmet, designed by architect

Michal Łużecki Michal (; ; ) was, according to the first Book of Samuel, a princess of the United Kingdom of Israel; the younger daughter of King Saul, she was the first wife of David (), who later became king, first of Judah, then of all Israel, making ...

and placed at the current helmet tent, then the smaller towers at the corners were added. A decorative element of the tower is an attic with a blind arcade of arches of Romanesque and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

pilasters In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

. In 1987–1990, a new bell tower was built in the courtyard in front of the façade, which was harmonized with architecture of the old church.

References

Mentioned

* Ion Turcanu. Illustrated History of Romania, Ed. Litera, Bucuresti-Chisinau, 2007 Churches in Lviv Churches of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine {{Ukraine-church-stub