Polski

Kobylany

The Orthodox Church Of The Protection Of The Holy Virgin

Owing to the project, the following works were done in the church:

  • renovation of the roof
  • renovation of the elevation
  • renovation of the interior walls and the floor
  • renovation of the woodwork
  • insulation of the foundation walls
panorama 3d

Video

Before and after

Photos show the monument before and after renovation. The slider allows to see the results of work

The outside view of the church of the Protection of The Holy Virgin in Kobylany before and after renovation
The entrance to the church of the Protection of The Holy Virgin in Kobylany showing the effects of the works

Gallery

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About

The first Orthodox church were built here before 1519 till 1539 which became the seat of a parish of Chelm Diocese. Although neighboring Orthodox parishes adopted the Union signed in 1596, the parish in Kobylany managed to guard itself against this process for 24 years. The church in Kobylany returned to Orthodoxy in 1875 as a result of return the Uniates to Orthodoxy. In this year, a cemetery next to the church was built. In 1890 a new church was erected to meet the needs of the parish in Kobylany. A new, brick church replaced the old wooden one and lasts in its shape till today. Wiktor Syczugow, the member of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, was the author of the project. The new church was consecrated by Bishop of Lublin Flawian on 25th IX 1890.

In 1917 the church of Protection of The Holy Virgin in Kobylany is going through one of the most difficult periods – it is abandoned and during the Polish-Soviet War in the years 1919-1920 the Soviet Army convert it into a stable. In spite of that, in 1919 the church was recommended as the seat of a parish in the Bialski District by the authorities of the independent Polish State. Regular services are held here from 1924. The church in Kobylany is then one of four active churches in the Bialski District and one of eight in all Warsaw-Chelm Diocese.

In the interwar period the church in Kobylany was the subject of disagreement between Orthodox Christians and the Neo-Uniat ideology which raging Podlasie at that time. The church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin in Kobylany, after all, remains faithful to Orthodoxy.

The following years bring positive experiences to the church of The Protection of The Holy Virgin in Kobylany: as one of few in the Southern Podlasie the church is endangered of destruction during the action of repossession of Orthodox churches in Poland in 1919-1939 (when over 120 Orthodox churches were demolished).

At present, in the church in Kobylany are deposited some movable properties: icons and parts of iconostases removed from the neighboring churches in Kostomloty and Kijowiec that were demolished in 1938 during the action of destruction of Orthodox churches. The church in Kobylany remains continuously open even during World War II as well as in the postwar years. The temple has a antique nineteenth-century furnishings, including a two-row iconostasis.

The church was renovated in the 80s of the XX century (when the restoration of the iconostasis was made too), and later in the beginning of the XXI century, in 2014, when Lublin-Chelm Diocese received a grant for another renovation, accomplished in 2016. The church of Protection of The Holy Virgin in Kobylany represents neo-Russian style with a three section structure and the nave constructed on a square plan, covered with a hip roof finished with one single onion shaped dome. The vestibule, constructed on a rectangular plan, is crowned with a bell tower with a helmet in the form of a tent roof which is finished with a dome in the same shape. The altar space is closed polygonally.

The church in Kobylany belongs to the group of 11 churches, which were designed for the Chelm Diocese in the 80s and 90s of the XIX century by Wiktor Syczugow. The most similar, in terms of form, to the church in Kobylany was a temple in Tarnawka (now the Catholic Church).Both churches stand out from the rest of the projects of the Russian architect due to a distinct monumentality: the greater size of the bell tower, the atrium and the almost square nave, as well as artistic rusticated plinth field and cornices.




Beneficiary:

The Orthodox Lublin-Chelm Diocese

eea grants Konserwacja i rewitalizacja dziedzictwa kulturowego Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego

Wsparcie udzielone przez

Wsparcie udzielone z funduszy EOG, pochodzących
z Islandii, Liechtensteinu i Norwegii oraz środków krajowych

Supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway
through the EEA Grants and co-financed by the Polish funds