East Slavic Cultural Heritage
Conservation, Restoration, Digitalisation of Historic Orthodox Churches.

Owing to the project, the renovation of the fencing wall around the church was done in the church of the Transfiguration of Christ in Lublin

Before and after

Galeria zdjęć

O parafii

The church of the Transfiguration of Christ in Lublin has a status of a cathedral, the seat of the Ordinary of the Orthodox Lublin-Chelm Diocese. The diocese was established in March 1989. The church of the Transfiguration of Christ in Lublin, in its current form, was built between 1607-1633, on the site of two older temples.

While searching for the origin of the church in Lublin one should pay attention to documented notices which, while informing about the existence of an Orthodox church in Lublin, refer to Wincent Kadlubek’s Chronicle (XIII century) which provides information about a castle and a church erected by Daniel Halicki in Lublin. However, a document from the XIV century (1390), describing the murder of two women, says that they were heading to Lublin to participate in the feast of Spasa (in the eastern, oral tradition “Spasa” is used to call the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ). Other historians claim that the Diocese of Chelm, which existed as long ago as in 1240, would not have been established if a network of Orthodox parishes hadn’t existed. Some other opinions indicate that the oldest Orthodox church in Lublin, located on the site of the present cathedral, was built in the XIV century. All the historians agree tough that it is undisputable that there was an Orthodox parish in Lublin in the XVI century which used the church located in the place of the present cathedral. The historic facts reveal the existence of the church fellowship of St Onuphrius the Great within the parish in Lublin formed in 1586 by the virtue of a privilege granted by the patriarch of Antioch. In 1607, the members of the fellowship engage themselves into building a new brick church (which continues to exist till today). The construction works last 26 years, probably due to the conflict between Orthodox community against the aggression of Uniats. The case of the belonging of the church of the Transfiguration of Christ in Lublin is the object of the hearings between The Orthodox and the Uniats in the Court of Justice in Lublin several times and then with the help comes the founder and the great defender of Orthodoxy Prince Constantine Ostrogski. It is worth noting that he was also a witness the signing of the Lublin Union.

The church of the Transfiguration of Christ in Lublin represents so called Lublin Renaissance, the late Renaissance style with local influences. It is a three nave church, oriented, constructed on a rectangular plan. From the outside, the building is hardly ornamented; only the top of the main nave is decorated with Baroque volutes. It is finished with one dome with a cross. The construction of the building is supported by buttresses, holding high entablature with a frieze. The pastophories of the church are finished with steplike peaks and pinnacles in the form of obelisks. The XVII century iconostasis, constructed with the XVII century icons and also older XVI century images of the Saints, is worth the attention. All the icons were written with tempera on lime boards. The iconostasis, made in a late Renaissance style, is a four-row construction which, in its composition, imitates a two-storey building finished with an attic. The icons in the first, lowest row are separated by Corinthian columns supported on quadrilateral plinths and decorated with ferrule ornaments and entwined with an imitation of grapevine branches.