Drewniane cerkwie w polskim i ukraińskim regionie Karpat (2013)

• Authors: CZUBA MARIUSZ

Title variants

EN

Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region in Poland and Ukraine (2013)

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

The sixteen tserkvas constitute an outstanding example of an ecclesiastical timber-building that reflects the requirements of the Eastern liturgy, cultural traditions of the local communities, which evolved in relative isolation due to the mountainous terrain. The architectural forms of the tserkvas, with tri-partite plans, pyramidal domes, as well as their interior decoration and furnishings, represent four distinct architectural types on either side of the Polish-Ukrainian border: Hutsul types (Nyzhniy Verbizh and Yasynia); Halych types (Rohatyn, Drohobych, Zhovkva, Potelych, Radruż and Chotyniec); Boyko types (Smolnik, Uzhok and Matkiv), and western Lemko types (Powroźnik, Brunary Wyżne, Owczary, Kwiatoń Turzańsk). Surrounded by trees and bounded by perimeter walls or fences, the tserkvas with their associated graveyards and free-standing bell towers constitute landmarks of the region. Criteria: (iii), (iv) transboundary property (Poland / Ukraine) Wooden tserkvas – common heritage In 2009, the National Heritage Board of Poland, acting within its statutory responsibilities and in collaboration with its Ukrainian partners from the International Cultural Heritage Protection Centre in Zhovkva, began work on the nomination file for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List of a complex of wooden tserkvas located in the area of the broadly understood Polish-Ukrainian cultural borderland. This nomination was intended to contribute to the popularisation on a worldwide scale of the rich and unique art of ecclesiastical timber-building in this part of Europe while at the same time providing an influence towards ensuring adequate protection of the tserkvas. The site was also thought to supplement and complement earlier similar inscriptions of historic ecclesiastical timber-building heritage in the Carpathian Region. Eventually, after a multi-stage selection process, 16 monuments were chosen, eight on either side of the Polish-Ukrainian border, and a joint Polish- Ukrainian transboundary nomination entitled ‘The Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region in Poland and Ukraine’ was submitted to the World Heritage Committee in Paris in 2012. The nomination was intended to reflect the centuries-old evolution of ecclesiastical architecture as preserved in the Carpathian region of Poland and Ukraine, pointing to its extraordinary stylistic and regional diversity and the mutual interpenetration of the Western-, and Eastern- European architectural traditions as evidenced in the construction and ornamental techniques. It was precisely the adaptation of universal patterns to the local building and artistic, traditions and, at the same time, the adjusting of timber-buildings based on log frame construction, so characteristic of this part of Europe, to forms derived from the monumental ecclesiastical architecture of Greek and Byzantine origin – that constituted the unique and extraordinary feature of the tserkvas of the Polish- Ukrainian cultural borderland. In addition, this process was accompanied by the constant development and incessant improvement of the construction techniques, architectural forms, and ornamental patterns that reflected the advancements in the monumental architecture. In the course of time, the tserkvas of the Carpathian region evolved from the relatively simple tri-partite, cuboidal buildings covered with pyramidal roofs into extremely complex and technologically advanced multi-section structures with wooden cupolas or hipped curb roofs of extraordinarily picturesque outlines. Another exceptional feature of those constructions – quite extraordinary in the tradition of Eastern Christianity – was their susceptibility to the assimilation of forms derived directly from the architecture of Roman Catholic churches. This was the result of both the gradual tightening of the bonds between the Churches of the Western and Eastern rite within the boundaries of the modern Polish state, where the tserkvas were actually built, and the interdependence relations between various workshops and founders prevailing in Poland at that time. The wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region of Poland and Ukraine are also a perfect illustration of the centuries-old coexistence of the local communities. Intended for the followers of the Eastern rite – though often founded by Roman Catholic landowners – they were erected by builders from municipal architects’ guilds and remain a reflection of the prevailing contemporary social, and cultural, relations in that area. In spite of the tendencies towards modernisation that grew stronger at the turn of the 20th century and often resulted in the substitution of wooden temples with new stone or brick churches, until the end of the 1930’s the stock of preserved wooden tserkvas, within the area included in the nomination, could have been counted in thousands. It is only following the tragic events of the World War II and the resulting socio-political transformations that the situation changed dramatically. Both the foundations of the development of the ecclesiastical timber-building and the prospects of its proper and effective protection were then disrupted. Due to the forced displacement of populations, a large part of the tserkvas lost their religious function and guardians, thus being deprived of any form of legal protection. Often the only chance to preserve a tserkva within the new post-war borders of Poland consisted in it being taken over by Roman Catholics and adapted to the requirements of their liturgy. In the area under the direct rule of the Soviet Union, where the official state policy was hostile to religion and the forced atheisation of society was in progress, the wooden temples were commonly used as stores and warehouses. Only a few that were deemed particularly valuable works of art were turned into socalled ‘museums of religion and atheism’ impregnated with atheistic propaganda. A large part of those invaluable monuments on either side of the new post-war border were devastated or utterly destroyed. The upshot of all the events outlined above was that the ecclesiastical timber-building which, for centuries, had been the most distinct landmark in the cultural landscape of the Eastern Carpathians, found itself on the verge of physical annihilation. This situation has been gradually improving since the late 1980’s. The revival of the structures of the Greek Catholic Church and uninhibited religious freedom enabled the restoration of the religious function to a considerable proportion of the neglected temples, thus allowing them to reassume their proper social role. In spite of numerous new threats, the wooden tserkvas, both in Poland and in Ukraine, found themselves included in the group of monuments under special protection, becoming, at the same time, a highly appreciated ‘tourist product’, which has undoubtedly contributed to their popularisation. The wooden tserkvas, as fruits of the centuries- old coexistence of the local communities, had also become another plane for an unusual and unprecedented collaboration between Polish and Ukrainian monument protection experts and officers, which found its most emphatic expression in the jointly submitted nomination for the inscription of the representative group of those monuments on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This collaboration has, in turn, considerably contributed to the emergence of a new view of the essence of the cultural community and the process of building relations between the present-day societies of Poland and Ukraine in a spirit of tolerance and mutual respect.

Keywords

PL

drewniane cerkwie; budownictwo sakralne; cerkwie w regionie Karpat; polsko-ukraińskie pogranicze kul¬turowe; zabytki drewnianego budow¬nictwa sakralnego w Karpatach; karpackie cerkwie

• Publisher: Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa
• Journal: Ochrona Zabytków
• Year: 2017
• Issue: Dodatek Specjalny. Dziedzictwo w Polsce.
• Pages: 141-147

Dates

published

2017

Contributors

author

CZUBA MARIUSZ

• Zastępca dyrektora Narodowego Instytutu Dziedzictwa
• Deputy Director of National Heritage Board of Poland

Identifiers

ISSN

0029-8247