Description of the attraction
Catholic cathedral church of Sts. Peter and Paul can rightfully be called the heart of Kamenets-Podolsk. Being in the city and not visiting this temple is like wasting time. This unique ensemble was created from the 15th to the 16th century, however, and in subsequent years it was repeatedly completed and expanded. So, near the walls of the church, the chapels of the Immaculate Conception, Consolation of the Virgin, Holy Communion, an altar part, and a bell tower have grown.
During the period of Turkish rule, the temple was turned into a mosque and was it until the expulsion of the Turks from Podolia. But the relatively short Turkish rule did not pass without a trace for the church - a minaret was erected on the western side. After the return of Kamenets-Podolsk under the rule of Poland, the minaret was not dismantled, but left, and in 1756 it was decorated with a bronze statue of the Madonna, trampling the crescent - the symbol of Islam. In the next two centuries, the temple was reconstructed in the neo-Gothic and Baroque styles, and its interior was painted in the Italian style, characteristic of the 16th century.
The decoration of the temple is extremely attractive - stained glass windows, wood carvings and paintings are harmoniously combined with the sounds of an old organ made to order in the middle of the 19th century. Particular attention is drawn to the tombstone of Laura Pshezdecka located in the church, carved from a single piece of Italian marble in the form of a tragically dead girl lying on an ottoman. This work is so delicate that it seems that every strand of Laura's hair is real.
The courtyard of the church is no less beautiful, where the rose garden and the monuments to Pope John Paul II, as well as the famous, according to the novels of Henryk Sienkiewicz, Jerzy Volodyevsky, who died during the siege of the city by the Turks, are harmoniously located.
