Latin Cathedral of the XV century

The Latin Cathedral in Lviv is the main Roman Catholic church in Ukraine. It is officially called the Archcathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The original wooden church of the Holy Trinity burned down in 1350. The current building (Latin Cathedral) is the oldest Roman Catholic church. Its first builder was Lviv master Nychko. The church was built 138 years ago. In 1415 the church became a cathedral.

The original structure was Gothic, traces of it remain in the presbytery. The forms of the cathedral are stern, majestic. The interior with four tall slender columns, on which arrow arches and vaults with Gothic ribs rest, makes a special impression. Until the XVIII century the facades had open brickwork.

The church suffered great damage during the restoration of 1760-80 – many ancient altars and other monuments were destroyed, which “outlined” the church during the XV-XVIII centuries. Only the eight most valuable chapels remain. In all chapels there are many tombstones, epitaphs, images, carvings. There is a separate chapel of the Boims, the second prominent bourgeois family.

In 1765, the then Archbishop Serakovsky rebuilt the cathedral in the late Baroque and Rococo style. The building has changed not only externally but also internally. Since then, the tower is 64 m high, with a beautiful baroque helmet. In 1629, Uniate bishops, among them the glorious Meletius Smotrytsky, conducted services in the cathedral for the first time.

On June 25, 2011, the Holy Father John Paul II visited the cathedral. At the entrance to the temple in his memory is a table with a bas-relief of the Pontiff. It is interesting that you will be able to enter only from the side invisible entrance, because the main entrance has been walled up since 1772.