While traveling through the Czech lands, one cannot ignore the Ukrainian architectural monuments. These meticulous wooden structures primarily stand on natural hills, delighting the eye with intricate carvings and impeccable proportions of domes and bell towers. We are talking about the monuments of Ukrainian folk sacred architecture in the Czech Republic, which are listed in the national registry and are under state protection. Among them, unique houses built using a frame technology stand out.
In 1919, when Transcarpathia became part of the new Czechoslovak Republic, Czech specialists were the first to notice the beauty of Ukrainian folk wooden architecture in the Transcarpathian region. Over the decades, thanks to the efforts of Czech patrons, writers, and scholars, five churches from different corners of the Transcarpathian region were transported to the Czech Republic.
The oldest Ukrainian architectural landmark in the Czech lands is the Church of St. Paraskeva in the town of Blansko in southern Moravia. The Orthodox church was built in 1601. The Ukrainian church was supposed to adorn the exhibition of contemporary culture in Brno in 1928. However, the funds for its purchase and transportation were allocated by the Ministry of Education of Czechoslovakia only in 1936. From the archives, it is known that the talented Transcarpathian carpenter, Mikhail Salaychuk, helped to install the dismantled church in fragments. Nowadays, the church serves the Czechoslovak Church.
The uniqueness of Ukrainian wooden churches also attracts the attention of Martin Shtepan, a Czech researcher of Ukrainian folk architecture and an employee of the regional museum in Vysoké Mýto. "The uniqueness lies in the fact that we are dealing with structures that were completely dismantled in their original location, transported to a new place, and reassembled," he says. Thanks to their transportation to the Czech Republic, these sacred buildings were preserved. Some of their original interiors, adorned with beautiful iconostases, have partially survived to this day."