I know that I haven't quite been up to date with posting things here, but I'm working on that. I am still in Lv'iv and have gotten the chance to see quite a bit of it. The other day I decided that I wanted to explore some of the beautiful architecture in the city, mainly of the many churches that can be found all around. Some of the churches that I visited date back to the 14th century and have since been restored or are still under restoration.
Not only did i visit these churches but I also took some photos so that the rest of the world could get a sense of how intricately build some of them actually are. Growing up as Ukrainian Orthodox boy I thought that the churches that I had been to in Toronto and other parts of Canada were really something. That was until i saw these. You'll see what I mean after looking at the pictures.
First we went to a monastery that is still active today. I forgot to get information about this place and will be re-editing this entry in include a little bit about the monastery.
What you can see here (above) is the side of the monastery. The front entrance is to the right just down next to the tower. The monastery is somewhat of a little fortress that has this fortified walls that go all the way up to the street that it is on. If you were to enter from this entrance and go to your left around the chapel that can be seen in this photo, there is quite a bit of green space and some monument back there. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to go back there as we were on a tight schedule. I may still go back to check it out, but well see.
This is the chapel (above) that you can see on the left in the photo before this one. This if just from the front view.
Once entering the church I had to be extra quite, as there was a service going on. When going around to places of religious practice it is always good to be mindful of what is acceptable and what is not. At first i wasn't sure whether or not i was allowed to take photos or not, but after asking some of the priests that were standing about outside i found out that this was not a problem, as long as i didn't cause too much noise.
 | ||
| Another shot of the inside artwork and icons. |
After leaving the monastery we headed towards the city center where some of the oldest churches can be found. The second oldest church here was the next stop. This Armenian church was built from 1360-1370 and is still standing today after some restoration. Parts of many of these churches and cathedrals are now closed off to the public dues to safety concerns. This is also the case with the Armenian church. (Below)
This next one is one of the grandest in all of Lv'iv (Below), and
technically photography is prohibited... I was still lucky enough to
sneak a shot. Ill have more info about this church after I head downtown today. Again one of the ones that we were in and out on so i didn't have time write anything down about it. The Last church that we visited was probably one the most interesting in terms of history (Below). Back during the second world war, "someone" dropped a bomb on this church. Now whether you believe in, religion, luck, fate or whatever, these guys definitely had someone, or something on their side. The bomb hit the exact target, but instead of exploding on impact, it burst through ceiling and embedded itself in the floor. That bomb has since been removed for safety reasons and i guess people didn't want to see a bomb every time the came to pray.  Its unfortunate that this church does need quite a bit of restoration in certain parts, but none the less it hold hundreds of years of history in its walls and thousands of people have walked across its floors.   Well, that's all for now. I will try to keep this thing a little more up to date with pictures and stories but until next time. Bye for now! до наступного разу!!! - John |
