The Church of St. Paraskeva in Hołuczkowo is a wooden Greek Catholic temple located in the municipality of Tyrawa Wołoska in the Subcarpathian region. It was built in 1858 by local carpenter Konstantin Mielnik and today is an important part of the local cultural heritage. It underwent reconstruction in 1912 and was extensively renovated in 1969. After the deportation of the Ukrainian population in 1946, the church began to serve as a branch church of the Roman Catholic Church of St. Nicholas, reporting to the parish in Tyrawa Wołoska.
The Church of St. Paraskeva is an example of folk architecture with elements of classicism. The timber-framed structure of the building is tripartite, with a presbytery closed at three sides and two sacristies. The gable roof with a little bell turret gives the building a distinctive appearance. The steeple of pole construction, covered by a tent roof with a helmet, has a vestibule in the ground floor.
The church after renovation. Photo: Henryk Bielamowicz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Inside the church, a complete iconostasis from the period of its construction has been preserved, with late-Baroque decoration. The flat ceilings inside the church are decorated with paintings – in the nave a representation of the Ascension, and in the narthex the Annunciation. The nave is separated from the narthex by a profiled arcade in the shape of a donkey’s back. The architectural iconostasis dates from 1908, and on the doors to both sacristies are elements of an older iconostasis with a vine motif and images of prophets.
The building has not been extensively renovated over the years and has therefore lost much of its former charm. In 2019, the renovation of the wooden facades and the roof was completed. Today, the former Orthodox church impresses with blue walls with green elements and a roof and turrets covered with sheet metal. The whole is complemented by a renovated stone foundation, lightning protection system, new guttering and other flashing elements. Its refreshed appearance harks back to the fashion that prevailed in the countryside at the end of the 19th century. At that time, relatively cheap coloured paints were on the market, making it possible to decorate churches in this colourful style.
The church before and after renovation. Photo: Gorofil, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons and Henryk Bielamowicz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Next to the church is the parish cemetery with a dozen stone gravestones and a sandstone sculpture of the praying Virgin Mary on a column. Residents of Holuchkov found it thrown on the bank of the overflowing Tyravka stream and placed it by the church, surrounding it with great respect. The cemetery was restored in 2008 by the Carpathian Minority Heritage Association in cooperation with Magurycz and One World. About 500 metres from the church there is a second, abandoned Greek Catholic cemetery.
The presbytery before and after renovation. Gorofil, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons and Henryk Bielamowicz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Church of St. Paraskeva in Hołuczkowo is part of the Subcarpathian Route of Wooden Architecture, which includes many valuable monuments of this type in the region. Thanks to this, the church attracts tourists and lovers of wooden architecture, being an important point on the cultural map of Podkarpacie.
Source: sad.podkarpackie.travel, bieszczady.net.pl
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