UA-1154301 The Descent of the Holy Spirit Church in Potelych, Ukraine

In 2013, the UNESCO selected sixteen historical Wooden Tserkvas (as these peculiar churches are called), as new world heritage sites. Eight are on Polish territory and other eight in Ukraine.

These tserkvas were built between the 16th and 19th centuries to serve the Eastern Orthodox and Greek Catholic faiths and were made from the timber of the great forests which covered most lands in Europe at that time. The location of most of them are in remote rural villages in the Carpathian Region, between Poland and Ukraine. This remoteness helped them to survive centuries of plundering and fire. The Descent of the Holy Spirit Church in Potelych was built in 1502 and this is the oldest tserkva of the list.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit Church in the village of Potelych is considered to be the oldest church in Ukraine. According to the chronicle sources, the Holy Spirit Church was built in 1502 by Potelych potters in place of the previous church of Borys and Hlib. The church complex consists of a church, bell tower and two watchtowers at the entrance. All constructions were built without a single nail. The roofs and walls of the church are covered with wooden shingles. The temple houses a valuable iconostasis of the 17th century with the icon "Deesis" (1683) by Rutkovych. Most of the paintings with scenes of the Passion of Christ were made in 1620-1640. The temple was reconstructed in 1736, and restored in 1970-1972.

This postcard came from Oleksandra (7 October 2014) Postcrossing who sent two postcards from Ukraine.