Art Museum (Ivano-Frankivsk)
Encyclopedia
Art Museum is the contemporary name for the oldest former church of the city, the Collegiate Church
Collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...

 of Virgin Mary. Together with the city rathaus the building is the oldest in Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality....

.

History

The exact date of the church's founding is not known. It is known that when the fortress of Stanislawow was erected together with it Andrzej Potocki started to build out wood the Catholic parish church as well. The pastor and chaplain Wojcech Bialachewski helped him as the old friend. The newly erected church was named after the Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, Saint Stanislaus, and Saint Anna. On June 14, 1669 Andrzej Potocki
Andrzej Potocki
Andrzej Potocki was a Polish szlachcic, magnate.Great Chorąży of the Crown since 1660, voivode of Kijów Voivodship since 1668, voivode of Kraków Voivodship since 1682, castellan of Kraków since 1682, Field Crown Hetman since 1684....

 was able to acquire the status of collegiate for the church. It was baptized by Archbishop Jan Tarnowski. Here was opened a campus of the Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....

 (Krakow
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

).
Soon after that sometime in 1670s Andrzej Potocki financed redesign of the wooden church into limestone by designs of Francua Korassini and Karlo Benoe. In 1703 the redesigned temple was baptized again by Archbishop Konstanty Zelinski. In 1737 Jozef Potocki
Józef Potocki
Józef Potocki was a Polish nobleman , magnate, Great Hetman of the Crown.Józef was considered as the richest magnate at that time...

 continued to improve the church. The bell assembly next to the former building of a church was erected in 1774. During 1782-1799 the status of the church was lowered by the Austrian authorities to a parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

. In the second half of the 19th century the building required some renovations and the current church pastor Father Joan Krasowski hired Erazm-Rudolf Fabianski to conduct the restoration works. All that was destroyed during the fire in 1882 and was again restored only ten years later in 1892. Since that time in the church was established a music school as well.

With establishment of the Soviet power in the region the church as most other cult buildings went into decline. The anticipated promotion of the church to cathedral in December 1939 failed and soon most of the Latin Rite Catholics who mostly were the Polish nationals left the city with the end of the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. In 1962 the temple was closed down and the next year the bell assembly was destroyed. In 1965 the building was passed in possession to the Institute of Oil and Gaz as a geological museum. On May 18, 1980 after a substantial restoration works in the building was opened an exposition of the Regional Art Museum.

Currently the building is the only cult structure in the city that is used for other than religious purposes.

External links

Brief profile Hours of operation Quick overview Temple's historical overview at Virtual Ivano-Frankivsk
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