Polski

About the project

The project "East Slavic Cultural Heritage – Conservation, Restoration, Digitalisation of Historic Orthodox Churches."

The Project was co-financed from the resources of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism 2009-2014 within the programme "Preservation and Revitalisation of the Cultural Heritage."

The aim of this project was the reconstruction of the lost Orthodox Church tradition in Europe, while supporting the development of cultural and religious tourism.
Owing to the project, 7 unique historic churches of the European interest, located in Lublin and Podlaskie Voivodeships were restored to their former glory and combined in a common trail of religious tourism in the framework of the currently built system of trails "Following the East Slavic Tradition."

The investment included the unique churches and the following ones are the main points of the trail:

  • The Orthodx Church of St. Nicholas in Bialowieza with an iconostasis made of porcelain, the only one in Europe and one of two in the world;
  • The Orthodox Church of the Joy of All the Afflicted on the Holy Mount of Grabarka, belonging to the historic churchmonastic complex, a commonly revered pilgrimage site of the Orthodox Church in Poland,
  • The Orthdox Church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin in Kobylany, designed by Victor Syczugow, an architect and a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts;
  • The Orthodox Church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin in Slawatycze, designed by Aleksander Puring, as one of the few churches containing icons on the external façade;
  • The Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration of Christ in Lublin, which is also a cathedral church of the Lublin-Chelm Diocese;
  • The Orthodox Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Hrubieszow, the only Orthodox church in Poland with thirteen domes;
  • The Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker in Tomaszow Lubelski was constructed in an eclectic style, combining elements of late classicism with Byzantine-Russian style, developed by Konstantin Thon.
Within the framework of the project, several tasks have been carried out, such as digitalisation of the churches during their restoration, as well as digital records of numerous movable properties of the refurbished churches.

Depending on the condition of the churches, varied scope of conservation-restoration works was required.

Under this project the following tasks were accomplished:
  • restoration of St. Nicholas Church in Bialowieza and its surroundings (the scope of work: restoration of the church's roof, restoration of the façade - I stage, preservation of the iconostasis, renovation of the church's fence (northern and eastern side), soil hardening around the church;
  • restoration of the Orthodox Church of the Joy of All the Afflicted on the Holy Mount of Grabarka and its surroundings (the scope of work: restoration of stairs, woodwork, bell tower, interior walls, floors and choir);
  • restoration of the Orthdox Church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin in Kobylany and its surroundings (the scope of work: restoration of roof, façade, interior walls and floors, woodwork, insulation of the foundation walls);
  • restoration of the Orthodox Church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin in Slawatycze and its surroundings (the scope of work: vertical insulation of the church, roof restoration, renovation of façade, plasters, internal floors, stairs and woodwork, soil hardening around the church, maintenance of internal and external polychrome, presevation of the iconostasis, repair of the electrical installations);
  • restoration of the fencing wall around the Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration of Christ in Lublin, (the scope of work: restoration of the fencing wall around the church)
  • restoration of the Orthodox Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Hrubieszow (the scope of work: restoration of the façade of the bell tower and the roof, maintenance of internal and external polychrome, restoration of stairs, floors, window and door frames, repair of electrical and teletechnical installations);
  • restoration of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker Ortodox Church in Tomaszow Lubelski (the scope of work: vertical and horizontal insulation, façade restoration, replacement of the woodwork, restoration of internal walls, maintenance of the interior: the lantern of the main dome and the coping of the presbytery.
This project was realised in cooperation with particular host parishes of the renovated churches, as well as with the Orthodox Lublin-Chelm Diocese

Beneficiary of the project: the Orthodox Lublin-Chelm Diocese

The project execution time: April 2014 – April 2016




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