POTELYCH / ПОТЕЛИЧ
Tserkva of the Descent of the Holy Spirit
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
(Ukraine, Lviv region, Zhovkva district )

An old Halych-type church, one of the oldest wooden churches in Eastern Europe.

It was built in 1502 on a hill above the pond and the village as a tripartite church, with two pastophories (sacristes) of mortise and tenon (log) construction. It is accompanied by a free-standing post-and-frame bell tower from 1736 and a cemetery.

Above the nave there is a dominant tent singe-pitch roof, topped with an octagonal lantern with a round-shape bead, above the sanctuary there is an octagonal cupola with an mortise and tenon (log) finial, and above the ”babiniec” (matroneum), a gabled roof. The entire church is covered with shingles. All its three parts are connected by wide arcades supported by styled columns.

In the interior, a figural-ornamental polychrome from 1628 and the early 18th century. The decoration is complemented by a three-panel iconostasis from the 17th century with icons from the 16th-18th centuries and pews with floral ornaments from the 17th century.