They were doomed to be destroyed, yet, nowadays, they rise in all their splendor. Miraculously preserved witnesses of a rich and turbulent past, churches in Ukraine...
They were doomed to be destroyed, yet, nowadays, they rise in all their splendor. Miraculously preserved witnesses of a rich and turbulent past, churches in Ukraine occupy not only the central place in national architecture, but also a focal place in the building and preservation of Ukrainian identity. A diametrically opposite calling to the official line of the Soviet regime. Fiercely exterminating religion and traditional society, Lenin and later Stalin had many churches destroyed down to the ground.
In 1939, Western Ukraine was annexed by the Soviet Empire, which resulted in the persecution of Greek Catholic Church, considered by Moscow to be too close to Ukrainian national aspirations. While this Church was surviving clandestinely, a great number of its shrines fell into disuse.
Since the collapse of communism, this national heritage, mismanaged for long, begins to re-acquire some of its original brilliance. Independent Ukraine is restoring and rebuilding its churches and cathedrals. In defiance to centuries and tragedies, these monuments are benefiting from the renewal of religious life in order to become the cultural showcase of the country.
The Byzantine domes of Kyiv, the Baroque bells of Lviv and the wooden churches of the Carpathians constitute a rich architectural treasure of great variety. A variety of forms and styles, rythms and proportions born out of different influences, but all of them subject to the Ukrainian national character. This cultural legacy is a rich evidence of the ancestral faith of a People, of glorious and remote times. Ten centuries before, Kyiv became one of the cradles of Eastern Christianity...
© Cyril Horiszny
The web site presents a section of the photos serie "Ukrainian churches - The revival of masterpieces of art."
