Modern Church Architecture in East Galicia as a Search for New Forms and National Style

Abstract

The article highlights some of the results of the scientific work on the study of sacral architecture in Western Ukraine, conducted by the Institute of Architecture and Design of Lviv Polytechnic National University in conjunction with the Department of Fine Arts and Design of Volodymyr Hnatiuk Ternopil National Pedagogical University. The purpose of the article is to investigate the process of revival of sacral construction in the territory of East Galicia and to determine the role of the leading Ternopil architects in this process. It has been established that due to the long-term ban of temple construction by communist regime, sacral construction skills have been lost in Ukraine, as in other post-Soviet countries. The task was complicated by the low technological level of the construction industry. Architects and builders often had to experimentally revive construction techniques to create vaults, domes, sails and other architectural elements that were widely used in the creation of temples. Therefore, the first sacral buildings on the territory of the region were marked by a tendency to reproduce forms and images that historically took place at the end of 19-th – beginning of 20-th centuries. The process of transition from the tendency of reproduction of historical forms and images of Ukrainian sacral architecture of the late 19-th - early 20-th centuries to modern experiments in the construction of temples is traced. An analysis of the creativity of the leading Ternopil architects showed that many of them were involved in this process. Using national heritage in architecture, architects have become actively involved in the world’s processes of cultural development and in the search for Ukrainian identity in temple architecture. Usually, using traditional plans in the form of an elongated cross at the request of parish customers, architects after 1995 design modern buildings, the image of which is in harmony with the new trends in world sacral architecture. For the first time, data about some modern architects of Ternopil and new major temples in the territory of the region, created by their projects, have been introduced into the scientific circulation. Thus, the architecture of Ukrainian temples reflects ancient national traditions in combination with contemporary world trends in temple building.