Friday, November 25, 2011

Hoszów, Poland

This formerly Greek Catholic church sits on a hill above the village of Hoszów in Bieszczady county in the south-eastern corner of Poland, not far from the Ukrainian border. Dedicated to Saint Nicholas, the current structure is of 20th century origin, though it includes some of the building materials used in an 18th century wooden church which originally stood on this site.
Construction started in 1939, and it was not yet completed when World War Two began. The structure was used by the Germans as an ammunition storage site, and a major explosion occurred which seriously damaged the building. Construction continued after the war, and the church was completed in 1948.
However, by 1951 the building had been abandoned due to pressure from the new Communist Polish government. For the next decade it was used as a barn for keeping sheep in, but in 1971 it was given to the Roman Catholic church who began renovating it.
In 1977 the decaying wooden shingles on the roofs and the dome were replaced with tin roofs since they would last longer and protect the rest of the structure.
The floor plan of the church is laid out in the shape of a Greek cross. Above the nave the large dome rises above a supporting octagonal base. Unfortunately the interior no longer contains any elements of the original Greek Catholic design and has been fully converted to a modern Roman Catholic style. Behind the church several grave stones from a 19th-century cemetery have been preserved.
The village of Hoszów can be reached by bus from the town of Ustrzyki Dolne (six kilometres away), which has regular bus connections to the north to cities such as Sanok and Rzeszów.

4 comments:

  1. Greetings!
    I am trying to find a Greek Catholic church called phil. Theophanius in Basziw,Poland which no longer is called that. This was where my father was born and baptized. If anyone knows anything, I would so appreciate it.

    Thank you!
    Karen Smigelska

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  2. Hi Karen,

    I've made a quick search to try and identify what Basziw (pronounced 'Bashiv') might be called now. Can I assume that he was born there between 1918 and 1945, during the Second Polish Republic? If so, Basziw is probably in western Ukraine now if the church there was Greek Catholic. The most likely town name I can find while searching in western Ukraine is Bashova (башова), a village which is 19 kilometres northwest of Lutsk. There is also Bakhiv (6 kilometres northeast of Kovel), and Bachiv (55 kilometres southeast of Lviv), but I think Bashova is the most likely, the change from -iv to -ova between Polish and Ukrainian is quite possible.

    Basziw could also now be in eastern Lithuania (also part of Poland from 1918-1939), if so the current town name could be very different since Lithuanian isn't a Slavic language.

    If you have any other information about the village or the church itself it could help narrow the search.

    cheers,
    Geoff

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    Replies
    1. Hello Geoff, hope you & yours are safe & well in light of everything going on. Out of extreme curiosity, could you please tell us which of these church's hv not survived 8all the bombings

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  3. Sorry about that, once more, we were wondering if any of these beauties have been damaged or destroyed with Putin in 'charge'. Thank you for doing such amazing work & traveling to all of these gorgeous spots! I'm highly impressed with such great work. You sir,must be an angel! Once again- thank you so much & God bless

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