Wooden Church
Connoisseurs of ancient architecture and just travelers should definitely visit Transcarpathia, where almost every village has buildings that are local attractions. One of them is the wooden Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin , located in the village of Pylypets, Mizhhirya district, Zakarpattia region. One of the best examples of the Baroque style of wooden church architecture, an architectural monument of national importance (№ 221). The temple building, built of spruce logs, darkened over time. This gave it a very mysterious and even mystical look, which further attracts and fascinates tourists.
The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a real monument to the Transcarpathian Middle Ages. The church is built of spruce. However, the prevailing version is that the magnificent baroque church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin was built of spruce beams from 1759 to 1762. In 1841 the church was restored, as evidenced by a plaque on the south wall of the church. You can get inside through the open porch on the west side (only during the service or on holidays). The church tower has a decorative dial. The interior of the church and the iconostasis (18th century) are compact. To the south-east of the church there is a wooden two-tiered, square bell tower, covered with an octagonal tent finish.
In 1979 the church was closed with new shingles. The forms of the building are austere and majestic. Equally wide Babinets and Nava form a larger frame, and the altar – a smaller one. Both log cabins are covered with steep gabled roofs. The main decorative load is borne by the western facade and the tower, topped with baroque forms. It is said that in 1939 the Hungarian district leadership offered the community to build a brick church in exchange for linden, ash and poplar wood that grew around the church, but the people refused.
The church is unique in that the original iconostasis of the 18th century has been preserved. The wooden two-story bell tower is even a little older than the main building, it was built in 1758.
The church was renovated in the twentieth century, so it has survived to this day in an almost authentic form. Dressed in shingles and shingles. Only the lower column gallery has disappeared, turned into a kind of “country veranda”. The Hungarian government offered the villagers to build a new church for them in exchange for old church lindens, ashes and sycamores. The peasants refused.
The forms of the building are austere and majestic. The same width of the nave and nave form a large frame, and the altar – a smaller one. Both log cabins are covered with steep gabled roofs. The main decorative load is borne by the western facade and the tower, topped with baroque forms. We meet here a new phenomenon in comparison with the baroque churches of neighboring Volovets – an exquisite arcade of lower vowels and a magnificent architectural element – a porch with profiled columns, now, unfortunately, closed by a new cladding of boards and glass.
The iconostasis, which is also an architectural monument, resembles in shape as if it was made by modern Transcarpathian masters, but the carving indicates the work of ancient masters. Probably the work was carried out by masters from Galicia. At the top of the babinka there is an image of a clock, the time on the clock shows the time of the beginning of the liturgy in the church. The crosses on the temple deserve special attention. They are unusually shaped, preserved from ancient times. In Verkhovyna there is such a feature: the temples have a double consecration, the second holiday of this church, in addition to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, is the Holy Annunciation.
Until 1947, the church belonged to the Greek Catholic parish, and then, after the liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church, it was annexed to the ROC. In the early 90’s. this church became the object of conflicts of peasants, when one Sunday in the church prayed Orthodox, and the second – Greek Catholics. Then the Orthodox community decided to build its own church. Since then, two parts of the village – Greek Catholic and Orthodox – have lived peacefully.
On the south-eastern side of the church a two-tiered bell tower was built, covered with an octagonal tent roof, built at the same time as the church. It is built in the top style, has massive walls, despite its size, two-story. The old bells were taken away in the First World War, three new ones were cast in the foundry of Ferenc Egri in 1924.