latin cathedral
Archcathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Cathedral, Lviv Cathedral
Ukraine, Lviv
The Latin Cathedral (Archicathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Most Holy Lady Mary) is an architectural monument in Lviv. It is located on Cathedral Square, 1. The only monument in Lviv that has significantly preserved the features of the original Gothic appearance.
The Latin Cathedral was founded on the site of the Orthodox Assumption Church, which was moved to Russkaya Street. The construction of the Latin Church was started by the Lviv architect P. Shteher in 1360, the work was continued by I. Grom and A. Rabish, and completed in 1479 by G. Shteher. In 1672, after the siege of Lviv by the Turks, Turkish cannonballs were hung on the wall of the temple. In 1760-1778, restoration work was carried out according to the project and under the guidance of the Lviv architect P. Poleiovsky, who significantly changed the appearance of the building, giving it the then popular forms of baroque architecture; Numerous chapels surrounding the temple were demolished. In 1772, in protest against the occupation of Galicia by Austria, the people of Lviv walled up the main Gothic entrance of the cathedral. In 1892-1930, restoration work was carried out intermittently in order to return the monument to its original Gothic appearance (architect M. Kovalchuk, professors V. Sadlovsky and T. Obminsky). In 1910, a memorial plaque was installed on the wall of the cathedral in honor of the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, where the united armies of the Slavic peoples defeated the Teutonic Order. In 1941, the board was destroyed by the Nazis.
The cathedral is made of stone, three-nave, hall type, with an elongated faceted apse. The monument is 67 meters long and 23 meters wide. The main space is close in volume to the cube, but many chapels were added around the cathedral, which is why its volume has a more complex configuration. The Gothic verticality of the building is enhanced by a high gable roof. The tower on the main facade has a baroque finish and is located asymmetrically, since the second bell tower was left unfinished. In the interior, high beam columns support lancet arches and a vault with Gothic ribs; the walls and vault are covered with frescoes. Many works of memorial sculpture have been preserved in the interior and exterior decor of the building.
The dead were buried in the square around the Roman Catholic Cathedral for a long time. Only in 1765, all the burials, except for the chapel of the Boims, as well as tombstones and crypts, were demolished from the square, and further burials on it were prohibited. A number of chapels of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries remained, which were attached to the main volume of the Latin Cathedral:
* Milevski Chapel, also called Archbishop Józef Bilczewski Chapel. Built in the 16th century, modified in the style of modernism in 1904;
* Chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa with a marble tombstone of the commandant of Lvov Pavel Grodzitsky (died in 1634);
* Chapel of the Crucifixion, in the Rococo style, XVIII century, with relics of Yakub Strepa, Archbishop of Lviv-Lublin (died 1411);
* Zamoyski Chapel with two alabaster crypts of Archbishops Jan Zamoyski (died 1614) and Jan Tarnowski (died 1669);
* Buchatsky Chapel with a copy of the painting by Peter Paul Rubens and the image of the "Son of the Marnot" in the manner of Luca Giordano;
* Chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament, in the Rococo style, XVIII century, with frescoes by Stanislav Stroinsky;
* Chapel of Our Lady;
* Chapel of the Campians, the most famous of the chapels of the Latin Cathedral.
In the Latin Cathedral, Polish soldiers who fell in numerous wars waged by the Polish state were also buried. Here, from the war against the Moldavian ruler Bogdan in 1450, the bodies of the Russian voivode Petr Odrovonzh, Mikolay Porava, Michal Buchansky and the commanders of the Lviv volunteers Janusz and Adam Zamkhov were brought. Here were buried those who died in 1506 in the battle against the Tatars Szczesny and Grzegorz Strusi; those who died in the battle of Sokal on August 2, 1519 are representatives of the most noble families: Herburtf, Boratinsky, Fredry. The bodies of the fallen were placed in coffins covered with bright red velvet "as a sign of shed blood."
All stained-glass windows were made at the end of the 19th century on the basis of competitions by famous artists.
* On the left, north side there are stained-glass windows:
* “The Consecration of Gregory of Syanok as the Archbishop of Lviv” by Tadeusz Popiel.
* "The Wedding of Jan Casimir" Jozef Mechhofer.
* "Founder of the Cathedral Casimir the Great" by Eduard Lepshy.
* In the middle window above the main altar there is a stained-glass window “The Most Holy Lady Mary crowned with a Polish crown”, made in 1902 according to the project of E. Lepshy.
* On the right, south side there are five windows with stained-glass windows:
* "Defense of Lviv by St. John of Dukla" by Stanislav Kachor Batovsky.
* “Patron Saints of Poland” by Jan Matejko and Tomasz Lisiewicz.
* The Holy Family by Ferdinand Laufberger.
* "Our Lady of Podkamenets" Tadeusz Krushevsky.
* "St. Kostantin and St. Helena" by Julian Makarevich.
