Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Roztoky

TheChurch of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Roztoky, Chernivtsi Oblast, was built in 1846 from spruce beams in the style of the Bukovyna school of folk architecture. The village of Roztoky is located on the left bank of the Cheremosh River, 25 km from the district center. It is mentioned in written sources as far back as the 15th century and is one of the cultural and creative centers of the Carpathian region. The church stands in the center of the village to the left (south) of the main street. The Church of the Assumption in Roztoky is the main church of the village, located in the central part of the village, built exclusively of wood. The temple is one of the architectural monuments of national importance.

The wooden Church of the Assumption is a three-domed, three-story church built on a stone foundation, consisting of a rectangular nave and narthex and a pentagonal presbytery. It resembles churches in Vyzhnytsia or Marynychi. The temple is characterized by a wide circular roof. Its log cabins are crowned with pyramidal, octagonal domes that end in cupolas and are now covered with tin, just like the roofs of the church. The edges of the coating are decorated with embossing and metal cuts. The walls above the dread, like the drums, are covered with shingles and painted bright yellow. The tall drums reinforce the high-rise composition of the temple's structure.

The temple combines the high-rise and depth principles of revealing the interior space. The interior still contains examples of wooden carvings and paintings of the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. The wooden carved iconostasis with gilding, as well as some examples of sacred painting, attracts great attention. The entrance to the church is decorated with a shallow porch in the full width of the narthex of a typical house model, which is somewhat discordant with the general appearance of the church. It is worth paying attention to the commemorative plaque on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Emperor Franz Joseph, which is mounted on the side wall of the building.

On the northwest side of the church, near the road, a wooden, three-tiered bell tower was built, the end of which follows the shape of the temple baths, its walls are painted in the same yellow color. Thus, the bell tower and the church form a harmonious architectural ensemble. The entire large church territory is surrounded by an ancient miniature wall of "wild" stone, the top of which is decorated with a roof. There are no trees nearby, so nothing hinders the view of the building.

The wooden Church of the Assumption in Roztoky, Putyla district, is a functioning church, striking in its beauty, considered an early example of a three-story church of the Bukovyna school of wooden architecture and belongs to the architectural monuments of national importance. While in Roztoky, be sure to take a hike to the Smuhariv waterfalls, and if the weather is good and you have more free time, you can also visit the Protyati Kameni.

Roztoky is located 80 km west of Chernivtsi. You can get here both by private car and by buses that depart from the Chernivtsi bus station and whose route passes through Roztoky.

The Bukovynian village of Roztoky in Putyla district , sung by Maria Matios, is located on the left bank of the Cheremosh River, 25 km from the district center, 15 km from the railway station Vyzhnytsia. The population is 2043 people. The height above sea level of the central part is 400 meters. Roztoky has been known since the XV century. The old-timers have preserved many legends, songs, and stories about their village. One of them says that one summer in the early fifteenth century, it allegedly rained heavily. So much so that all the streams began to flood the valley. The residents had to move to the mountains for a while. And when the rains subsided and people returned, a miracle awaited them - the valley was divided in half by a small but turbulent river. People tried to walk home by the ford and asked: "Is it possible to cross the river?" - "Maybe, maybe!" said the pioneers on the other side. That's how the transparent river was named Cheremosh. And the village it split in two was called Roztoky. Before that, the village, surrounded by yew forests, was called Tysova Rivnia. By the way, the border between Poland and Moldova used to run right along the Cheremosh, and Roztoky was part of the latter.

Due to its beautiful nature, the village is called "Bukovyna Switzerland". There is a natural monument here - Dovbush's Stone. In addition, the village has preserved a monument of wooden architecture - the Church of the Assumption (1846) with samples of wooden carvings and paintings of the XVIII-XIX centuries. In 1863, 1865, and 1866, the Ukrainian writer Yurii Fedkovych visited the village and wrote the story "Opryshok" based on local materials.

Lesia Ukrainka mentioned the village during her vacation in the Carpathians in 1901 in a letter to Olha Koblianska: "Once we came to the high mountain of Nimchych and saw from here at sunset something as beautiful and silver as a dream - they say it is called Roztoky..." In 1970, Ivan Mykolaychuk and Yurii Illienko filmed the legendary movie "White Bird with a Black Mark" in the village. A young composer Volodymyr Ivasiuk came here with the Viterets dance ensemble. Here he tried to find a mysterious flower, the red ruta, which he sang in his unforgettable song. In 1975, the musical film "The Song is Always with Us" was filmed in Roztoky with the participation of Sofia Rotaru, in which the singer performed six songs by Ivasyuk. The writer Maria Matios and the famous linguist Kostiantyn Herman were born in Roztoky.

"Roztoky's "highlights" include, for example, the Smuharski (Bukovynian) Waterfalls landscape reserve, where there is an interesting cascade of seven waterfalls. In Roztoks, it is worth stopping at the rock group "Stretched Stones". If only because its history began 60 million years ago!

The village of Roztoky in the Putyla region is recognized as one of the best tourist villages in Ukraine.