Church of the Holy Spirit of 1598 in Rohatyn

The Church of the Holy Spirit is one of the oldest Orthodox shrines in Ukraine. It is located in the homeland of the legendary Roksolana, in the city of Rohatyn (Ivano-Frankivsk region). It is a unique monument of wooden architecture and painting of the XVI-XVII centuries. It is rightfully included in the top ten most valuable wooden religious buildings in Ukraine.

In 2009, the National Bank of Ukraine even issued a silver ten-hryvnia coin depicting the Church of the Holy Spirit. Anyone who is interested in numismatics probably knows about it. The official date of the wooden church in Rohatyn is 1598. This is evidenced by an inscription on the north side of the central log house. The Church of the Holy Spirit is built of smoothly hewn oak beams. Architecturally, the Church of the Holy Spirit is a three-story church with a square central log house. Its top is decorated with a signature (a small tower with a bell) with a high spire.

The real decoration of the church is the altar, decorated with an authentic five-tiered iconostasis from 1650. This iconostasis is a true masterpiece, the result of the joint work of local craftsmen and masters of the Lviv school of painting. It is made in the Renaissance and Baroque styles. It is the oldest five-tiered iconostasis in Ukraine that has survived to this day.

For four centuries, the Church of the Holy Spirit has not changed dramatically. In the nineteenth century, a bell tower was added to the church. Later, during the reconstruction, changes were made to the shape of the roof of the central log house - an arcade signature topped with an octagonal tent was built. Other parts of the church retained their original appearance. There is even a cemetery on the church grounds, as old as the church itself.

Since 1983, the Church of the Holy Spirit has become a museum, a branch of the Ivano-Frankivsk Art Museum. Today, visitors can see exhibitions of iconography, sculpture, and carvings from Galicia of the 16th to 19th centuries. The most interesting are the icon "John the Baptist with the Life" dating from the middle of the 16th century, old prints, wooden sculptures, and candlesticks.

There are legends about every ancient building. The Church of the Holy Spirit is no exception. According to the legend, it was in this church that Roksolana's father Gavrilo Lisovsky (Luka's father) preached, and Nastia herself prayed in it from an early age.

The legend is beautiful, of course, but it can be easily destroyed like a house of cards, if you just compare the dates. Nastya Lisovska was born in the early sixteenth century, around 1506, and the Church of the Holy Spirit, as we know, was built in 1598, i.e. only ninety-two years later. After the girl was kidnapped at an early age, she never visited her native land. It is also doubtful that her father could have served as a priest in this church. Even if we assume that Lisovsky was 20 years old at the time of his daughter's birth, he would have been over 110 years old at the time of the church's opening. It is unlikely that he lived to that age. But everyone believes what they want to believe.

Despite the fact that the Church of the Holy Spirit is a museum, it is not uncommon for various church rites (baptisms, weddings, etc.) to be held here, of course, by prior arrangement with the museum administration.

Opening hours: 9.00-18.00. Working days: Tuesday through Sunday.