Description of the attraction
Zhytomyr Catholic Seminary Church of St. John of Dukli is located in the very center of the city, on the street. Kievskaya, 4. The temple reminds of the Polish past of the city. Initially, according to the charter issued by the Polish king August III, in 1761 in Zhitomir the Bernardine monastery was opened for Bernardine monks and a wooden church dedicated to St. John of Dukla was built in it.
In the 20s of the 19th century, instead of a wooden one, the construction of a stone church began on the same place, which was completed in 1842. It is a brick, three-aisled basilica, made with traditional Baroque architectural forms. It housed three altars - one central and two side ones - in honor of the Mother of God of Czestochowa and St. Anthony of Padua. Some time later, in the same 1842, the activities of the monastery were banned, and in 1844 its building was transferred to the Roman Catholic Theological Seminary, which was transferred from Lutsk. As a result, the church at the seminary began to be called Seminar.
Before the outbreak of World War II, the premises of the church were converted into a cinema. The entrance to it was made from the side of Kievskaya street, and the tower, towering from the side of the square, was simply demolished. After the end of the war, the regional philharmonic society, the department of nature of the local history museum and the regional house of folk art were located here.
In 1993, the Zhytomyr Catholic Seminary Church of St. John of Dukla was restored and a new tower was added on the side of the street. Theatrical, after which it was returned to the believers. The solemn consecration of the church took place in October 1997. In the same year, the church received its present name.
Today, the seminary church of St. John of Dukla is a full-fledged functioning church, services in which are conducted in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish, as well as an architectural monument of national importance and one of its attractions in Zhytomyr.
