St. John's Church, Mamayivtsi

In the village of Mamayivka near Chernivtsi, the old wooden St. John's Church has been preserved. Although it has suffered from modern restorations and repairs, it is still of interest as a monument of wooden architecture in Bukovyna.

The first mention of a church in the village dates back to 1773. The document referred to the existence of a wooden church, which was also named after St. John. However, it is unknown whether it has survived to this day. The modern wooden church is officially dated 1863.

St. Ivan's Church remained the only church in the large village until the beginning of the 20th century, when a new church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in the village of Novyi Kut. The church has undergone several modern restorations, as a result of which it has largely lost its authentic appearance. The roof was covered with tin, and the outside was repainted dark green.

The church also has a certain historical significance, as the outstanding Ukrainian opera singer Dmytro Hnatiuk began his musical career there, and was taught music by a local priest. You can easily recognize his voice in the songs "My Kyiv" and "Two Colors".

The church is an example of transitional architecture from archaic Bukovinian forms to the more modern ones that prevailed in the mid-19th century. St. John's Church is a three-domed church with one small dome in the middle. The wooden shrine is three-story, with a wider nave and narrower altar and narthex. The latter has a narrower extension in the western direction, and vestries are attached to the altar on both sides. The four-pitched roof of the nave is crowned with a large lantern with a top.

There were probably two wooden churches in Mamayivtsi: this one, St. Ivan's, on the corner of Stari Mamayivtsi, and the Church of the Intercession from 1773 in Novi Mamayivtsi. The second one has not survived to this day. It burned down in 1944. The bell tower is also wooden and stands to the southwest of the church.

A new St. John's Church was built opposite the church in 1996 after Ukraine gained independence.

St. John's Church is located in the center of the village on the H-10 Ivano-Frankivsk-Chernivtsi highway. It is very convenient to visit the church if you are traveling by car. The distance to the regional center is about 12 kilometers. There are regular buses from Chernivtsi. The suburban electric trains Chernivtsi-Kolomyia and Chernivtsi-Stefanesti (Mamaiesti stop) stop in the village.

Mamayivtsi got their name from the landowner Mamayeskul; folk legends say that the name comes from a woman from Galicia called Mamanna who settled in a monastery there, and there is also a legend that claims the name of the village came from the famous khan Mamai, who allegedly stopped here with his horde before venturing across the Carpathian Mountains. The first mention of the village dates back to 1580. Hetman Pylyp Orlyk was passing through here in 1722. Kyn. XVIII - early XIX centuries.

The village of Mamayivtsi was divided into two parts: New and Old Mamayivtsi. Mamayivtsi, as an integral settlement, was revived in the first year of independence. Mamayivtsi is located on the left bank of the Prut River.

There is a railroad, Chernivtsi-Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk highways passing through the village. Mamayivtsi is a village located in Kitsman district, Chernivtsi region. The distance to the regional center of Chernivtsi is 10 km. The population is 5830 people. It is known that in the part called Novi Mamayivtsi, there were two monasteries that were branches of the Manyavsky (Great) Skete. Today in Novi Mamaievtsi, the large Orthodox Church of the Intercession, built in 1906 with a combination of Neo-Byzantine and Romanian architectural traditions, is striking in its colorfulness from a car window. But even more striking are the numerous roadside private hotels and restaurants.

The village's location on a national highway near the regional center contributes to the development of tourist services. Mamaievtsi is said to be the richest village in Bukovyna. In the part of Mamayivka that used to be called Staroselia, to the left of the road next to the new stone church, there is a small wooden church painted green with a tin roof and porch. This is St. Ivan's Church, built in 1863 (according to other sources, in 1773), which acquired its modern appearance after a recent restoration. The church is three-domed, one-story with a small octagonal dome growing out of the nave's quadrangle. It was in this church in the 1930s that the future great Ukrainian singer, academician of the Academy of Arts of Ukraine, chief director of the Taras Shevchenko National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, professor of the Tchaikovsky Music Academy Dmytro Hnatiuk took his first singing lessons from a local priest. A large stone church was built next to the wooden church in 1996, which was also consecrated in the name of John the Baptist.

There are the following institutions in the village: post office, medical institution, educational institution, club, library, local history museum, police, banking institutions. The main population is Ukrainians. The villagers are engaged in farming and animal husbandry, entrepreneurial activity and work in various institutions.