Description of the attraction
The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker belongs to the oldest architectural monuments of Ukraine, and is the oldest monument of monumental architecture in Lviv. The temple perfectly characterizes the ancient Russian architecture. The first documentary evidence of it dates back to 1292, which was confirmed by excavations in 1977. There is an opinion that the church was used by the Galician princes as a family tomb. At the end of the 15th century, the church was exempted from paying taxes, and in the middle of the 16th century, the parish was granted the rights of "jurisprudence". This meant that the parish population was subject to the authority and court of the church, and not the castle, as it was before.
The year 1544 was marked by the founding of the Nikolaev church Orthodox brotherhood, which contained a school and a shelter for the poor. A fire in 1623 caused great damage to the temple. In 1772 the church was rebuilt a second time, but in 1800 it burned again. Therefore, only the foundations and the lower half of the walls have survived from the original structure of the 13th century, due to the fact that they were built of hewn limestone blocks.
The cruciform plan of the church is based on a square nave with an oblong semicircular apse. The west wing is a rectangular vestibule, while the north and south are chapels with rounded apses. Domed endings, decorated with lanterns, crown the altar and nave. The simple and austere appearance of the sanctuary, the eloquent pyramidal composition of fragmented volumes make it possible to attribute the temple to a number of unique creations of the Galician school of architecture.
Not only admirers and connoisseurs of medieval architecture can visit the temple today, but also all those who are looking for unity with God. The atmosphere that reigns here, solemn and filled with special aromas, gives peace to the soul and joy to the body.
