Bernardine Church, Lviv

Bernardine monastery and church

The Bernardine church and monastery in Lviv, Ukraine, is located in the city's Old Town, south of the market square. It was designed by Paolo Dominici. The monastery along with the church of St. Andrew now belong to the Order of St. Basil the Great of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The Franciscan Observantists, known in the region as Bernardines after their monastery in Kraków in order to distinguish them from Franciscan Conventuals, were invited to Lviv by Andrzej Odrowąż in 1460. In 1509 the monastery was plundered by the Moldovan hospodar Bogdan III cel Orb. In the 17th century the present day church and monastery were constructed in the same place in the style of Italian mannerism and consecrated in 1630, after 30 years of construction. As the complex was located outside Lviv's city walls it was equipped with its own fortifications from the east and south, mostly taken apart at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1733 a square belfry was added to the complex and in 1736 a monument to Saint John of Dukla, who died in the monastery in 1484, was built in front of the church.

The interior was refurbished in the Baroque style in the years 1738–1740. The church managed to avoid being closed by the Austrian emperor Joseph II, although part of the monastery was taken over for the city archive. After the Second World War the church was closed by the Soviets and fell into disuse until the collapse of the Soviet Union when it was returned to the faithful. Since 1991 the complex is under the care of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Basilian Order and has undergone thorough renovation. Just around the corner stands the Hlyniany Gate.

External links

• Media related to Bernardine church, Lviv at Wikimedia Commons