Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, Kryvorivnia

In the village of Kryvorivni, Verkhovyna district, Ivano-Frankivsk region, in the heart of the Ukrainian Carpathians, there is the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, first mentioned in 1719, which is an architectural monument of national importance. The peculiarity of the church is that over these three centuries, despite all the trials, it has never been closed and services have always been held there. At one time, Patriarch Volodymyr Romaniuk, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, the founder of "Ukrainian Athens" (as Kryvyi Rih was called in the early twentieth century), and the village's parish priest, Alexei Volyansky, prayed and served here. Ivan Franko, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Volodymyr Hnatiuk, Yakiv Holovatsky, and many other prominent figures of Ukrainian culture attended church services in Kryvorivnia.

Today, Kryvorivnia has become a spiritual and cultural center of the Hutsul region and attracts visitors not only from Ukraine but also from all over the world. Believers of different Christian denominations and even other faiths often gather in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary to pray for Ukraine and the world.

The church is built of wood and has a cruciform layout. The structure of the temple includes short side branches and an elongated nave. The central dome of the church is covered by a tent-like dome on a low octagon that rises above the roofs of the church branches.

An additional room adjoins the eastern part of the single-domed church. The interior walls of the church are painted with tempera. At the initiative of the church rector, the roof of the church was covered with shingles, as in the old days.

The church building with all its buildings and additional premises looks very compact and organic. From the outside, the complex resembles a pyramid. On the southeastern side of the church is a small old bell tower. The church is located on a hill, so it is clearly visible even from a great distance.

The Church of the Nativity in Kryvorivnia is one of the most famous creations of the Hutsul folk architecture school . The church operates as usual and is always open to its parishioners.