AA Photo Library: Photos of Tserkvas of the Lviv region, Western Ukraine, by Byron Blakeley
A new set of photographs by Byron Blakeley, taken on a trip to Western Ukraine, has been donated to the Photo Library. These document the early Eastern orthodox wooden churches of the Lviv region. Three of these were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2013; the Church of Holy Trinity in Zhovkva (1720), the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit in Potelych (1502) and the Church of Saint George in Drohobych (1657).
The Tserkvas were constructed from the beginning of the 16th Century and were made to be transportable throughout the region with easy to assemble interlocking timber panels. The interiors are richly decorated with tempera frescoes which were painted directly onto the timber. Large Iconostasis panels were added later in the 18th Century and contain beautiful examples of Orthodox icon painting.
An exhibition of the Photographs is planned for early 2016 to publicise these relatively unknown but important buildings.
