About the object
Building type: religious building
Location: Ukraine, Cherkasy region, Uman city
Address: Andrii Kyzylo street, 2
Construction start date: 1780
Founder: Funds for construction were provided at different times by S. Pototskyi, A. Pototskyi
Heritage Status: Architectural Landmark of National Importance
Condition: the Uman Art Gallery is located in the building, and every Sunday the Roman Catholic community of the city holds a service in it.
FUE status: fundraising stage
Correspondent: Vasyl Melnichenko
Historical excursion
In 1748, a wooden church of St. Anthony was built on the territory of the old Polish cemetery in Uman. During the uprising of Koliivshchyna in 1768-1769. he was damaged. And in 1780, in the same old cemetery, the construction of a stone church began under the foundation of Stanislav Feliks (Szczensny) Pototskyi. However, after the stone foundation was laid, the construction of the church stopped for a long time.
And only in 1820, continuing the work of his father, the construction work was extended and completed 6 years later by his son Oleksandr Stanislavovych Pototskyi. On July 15, 1826, a solemn act of consecration of a new temple in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary took place. The street passing near the building was called Kostelna and still it is.
Having established itself as the center of the religious life of the Roman Catholics of Uman, the church with the establishment of Soviet power as a result of the Bolshevik policy of militant atheism began to decline and in 1934 ceased its activities. Crosses were removed from the closed church and two towers were dismantled. At one time, the religious building was considered a branch of the Uman Museum of Local Lore, and then it was used as a warehouse.
After a major overhaul since March 1974, the church housed the Uman Art Gallery as a department of the Uman Museum of Local Lore.
During the years of independence, there were intentions to completely transfer the premises to believers, but due to financial difficulties, this was not possible and the church is used for worship only partially. In October 1991, the parish of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was registered in Uman. For her, a permanent priest is appointed by the bishop of the Zhytomyr diocese.
Since 1998, design and research work has been carried out to restore the lost elements of the church premises – towers and baths with crosses.
The majestic construction of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the architectural dominants of the city of Uman today. Located in the center, it recalls the history of the city, the common past and present of Uman residents of different nationalities and beliefs, including the Polish community.
Exterior
The building of the temple is brick, rectangular, with eight pillars, with a semicircular apse and rectangular, symmetrically arranged christs. The main eastern façade is punctuated by a 4-column portico of the Tuscan order, which is raised on a stepped stylobate and bears an entablature with triglyphs along the frieze and modulons under the cornice. Finished with a triangular pediment. The walls of the side façades are rhythmically divided by window openings with semicircular lintels and completed with an entablature similar to the main façade.
The decorative design of the facades is reduced to simple platbands framing window openings, tape rustication of the eastern part of the building and partly side facades, rectangular sandriks of a classic profile above the entrance door.
Interior
The inner space is revealed deeply. Eight supporting pylons, connected by semicircular arches with semi-columns of the Ionic order, carry a powerful entablature on which the vaults rest. The wide central nave is covered with a semicircular vault, which turns into conchs in the apse, the narrow side naves are covered with the same vaults, the side rooms are covered with semicircular vaults with formworks converging into sheligs. The frieze is decorated with stucco floral ornaments with rocaille motifs, imposts of arches, archivolts and capitals of columns – ionics and motifs of acanthus and palmettes.
News of the Fund's activity on the object
A meeting with the leadership of the Cherkasy regional organization of the National Union of Local Historians of Ukraine took place
0 (0) On October 27, a working meeting of the delegation of the Fund “Ukrainian Europe XXMMII” was held with the leadership of the local branch of the National Union of Local Historians of Ukraine: the Head of the Cherkasy Branch of the National Union of Local Historians of Ukraine, Vice-Rector for Humanities and Education… Read More »A meeting with the leadership of the Cherkasy regional organization of the National Union of Local Historians of Ukraine took place