MATKIV / МАТКІВ
Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
(Ukraine, Lviv region, Turchin district)

With its distinctive shape, the tserkva is a regional landmark is considered a unique example of tserkva architecture from the Boyko region.

It was built in 1838 as a mortise and tenon (log) structure on an elongated-shape ground plan close to a rectangle. It had a clear tripartite division, with a separate sanctuary to the east, a wider nave, and a narrower ”babiniec” (matroneum) to the west. Above each of the church’s sections are the so-called ‘rows,’ i.e., high, towering, stepped domes with a polygonal outline. The tallest one, centrally located, accentuates the nave. The pulpit roof supported on profiled lynxes features the western porch and two vestries added in the 1930s. The interior is covered with 20th-century paintings patterned on an earlier design. The furnishings from 1844 have survived – the iconostasis, side altars, and pews. Next to the church is a three-story wooden bell tower, of mortise and tenon (log) construction, with an openwork clearance under a flattened, sheet-steel-covered domed cupola crowning the whole structure.