Lviv is rightly called the cultural capital of Ukraine. In this city, exhibitions, festivals, and concerts are constantly held. This is a major tourist center. And Lviv can be called the spiritual capital of the country. Due to the fact that this city once visited the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Poland, its architectural ensemble captivates tourists with Western European charm. Locals call their city little Paris, and there is something in it. The top 10 places to visit in Lviv include: Market Square with the cathedral Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary and the Boimov Chapel, opera house, Armyanskaya Street, Lychakiv Cemetery, High Castle and St. Jura Church. The Cathedral dedicated to St. George the Victorious will be the focus of our article. Where is the shrine of the Greek Catholic Church and who built it - read below.
History
Church of St. George - new cathedral. But the place on which he stands has long been considered holy. The city itself was built in the middle of the XIII century by the Galician-Volyn king Danil and was transferred to the reign of his son Leo (for which he received his name). Initially, the settlement was located on the slope of Castle Hill. On the other side of the Poltva river a hill rose on which Prince Leo ordered the construction of a monastery for his uncle, Prince Vasylk, who, in his declining years, decided to devote himself to God. Already at the end of the XIII century there was a wooden church "with many cells." Fifty years later, the top of a high hill crowned with a whole monastery complex. From that time only a bell came to us. It reads: “6849 summer (1341) under Prince Dmitry, Father Superior Euthymius”. The complex that we see today arose in 1750. He, like the historical center of Lviv, is listed by UNESCO as a historical and cultural heritage of mankind.
Greek Catholic Shrine
What is included in the complex of St. Jura? The cathedral, the bell tower, the chambers of the metropolitan, the house of the chapel, the terrace and the Sovereign Garden. The monastery of the Order of St. Basil ceased to exist in 1817. A year earlier, St. George's Cathedral was transferred to the Greek Catholic community of the city. Since then, the temple has been the shrine of the faithful of this Christian denomination. In 1946, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was outlawed. Metropolitan Joseph Slipy was imprisoned, and the complex of St. George's Cathedral was transferred to the Orthodox community. In August 1990, the forbidden Church returned from foreign exile and again began to act. Then the original confession and liturgy were returned to the cathedral. The Greek Catholic (also called the Uniate) church maintains the Orthodox rite, but considers the Pope to be its pontiff.
Cathedral building
The main architect of the temple and other sacred buildings is Bernard Meretin, an architect of German origin, who arrived in Lviv and settled in it in 1738. He was not part of the builders workshop, so he had several lawsuits with him (two lawsuits are stored in the city archive). However, in 1744, Meretin, as they would say now, won the tender for the construction of a new St. Jura complex. The cathedral is his brainchild made in the Baroque and Rococo style. After the death of Metropolitan Athanasius of Sheptytsky, the order was prolonged in 1750 by his successor Leon of the same kind. When Bernard Meretin died (and this happened in 1759), the cathedral was completed by Clementius Xavier Fesinger. The sculptures of two founders of the temple complex - Atanasius and Leon Sheptitsky, as well as the equestrian status of St. George, striking a serpent with a spear, belong to the incisor of John George Pinzel.
What tourists need to know
Due to its elevated position, from almost all points of the center of Lviv you can see the Cathedral of St. George. The address of this complex is very simple. It is located on St. George's Square, 5. You can get there from the center by tram number 6 (stop of Yaroslav the Wise). Many city minibuses go to St. George's Square, leading to the station market and the neo-Gothic St. Elizabeth Cathedral. It should be remembered that the Church of St. George is not a museum, but an existing church. It symbolizes the shrine, which on Ukrainian soil has become a bridge of unity of the great heritage of Christian spirituality and culture of two branches - the Byzantine East and the Latin West. First, you should inspect the exterior of the cathedral. Admire the view of Lviv from the eastern terrace, walk under the openwork gate, look at the chambers of the Metropolitan.
Exterior
In its layout, the Cathedral of St. George (Lviv) is laid on an equal Greek cross. Between the crossbeams there are four chapels with miniature baths under the roof. In the center of the structure, on a wide drum and supporting arches, lies a large round dome. Numerous pilasters are crowned with stone lanterns in the Rococo style. It is they who give the squat structure the harmony and elevation of the Gothic cathedral. A long staircase with a delicate balustrade decorated with vases and twigs leads to the entrance to the temple. The courtyard in front of the cathedral is closed by two gateways decorated with allegorical sculptures of Faith and Hope, as well as the Roman and Greek Churches. You should pay attention to the figures of the founders of the temple of Athanasius and Leon Sheptitsky and the beautiful sculpture of St. George by Pinzel.
Interior
The Cathedral of St. Jura (Lviv) owes its interior decoration to the artist S. Fabyansky (1876). Of course, various creators worked on the painting of the temple. But all of them, over a long historical period, managed to achieve the organic coexistence of styles. Baroque, Rococo, classicism in the interior of the cathedral look like a whole. The sculptures at the entrance and at the altar are in harmony with the canvases “Appearance to the Apostles”, “Bishop” (painted by Radivilovsky), the altar composition “The Sermon of Christ” (works by Smuglevich). You should pay attention to the oval icons of the prophets, baroque sculptures of angels and the elegant decoration of the main altar.
Crypt
According to the chronicles, Prince Leo buried the body of his father in the underground chamber of the cathedral, which he transported from Galich. However, in 1991 these remains were identified as Yaroslav Osmomysl. When the temple became the throne of the Galician Orthodox diocese, bishops were buried in the crypt. Since 1700, the Greco-Catholic Cathedral of Lviv has been the tomb of the primates of this Church. In the crypt are the graves of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, Patriarch Joseph Slipy, Cardinals Miroslav Ivan Lyubachivsky and Sylvester Sembratovich, Bishop Vladimir Sternyuk. The cellar-tomb of the temple is open to the public. It will be interesting for believers to learn that two miraculous icons (Kiev and Terebovlyanskaya), the relics of saints, as well as a copy of the Shroud of Turin are stored in the Church of St. Jura.