St George's Cathedral in Lviv: Rococo on a stone terrace

St George’s Cathedral can be seen from many points in old Lviv: it stands on a hill, on a terrace, and above its portal a horseman has been striking a dragon with his spear for more than two hundred years.

In brief

History

A church stood on St George’s Hill long before the present one. According to tradition, at the end of the 13th century there was a wooden monastery here; from the middle of the 14th century, a masonry church. From that time a bell of 1341, considered the oldest in Ukraine, has been kept in the bell tower.

In 1744 the old church was taken down and construction of a new one began to a design by Bernard Meretyn. The construction was initiated by Metropolitan Atanasii Sheptytskyi and completed under Metropolitan Lev Sheptytskyi. After Meretyn’s death in 1759 the work was continued until 1764 by Fesinger — sources name either Sebastian or Klemens Fesinger; the decoration went on until 1772. Next to it rose the metropolitan’s palace, an enclosure wall with two gates and the chapter buildings.

The church became the episcopal see in 1539, and after the restoration of the Metropolitanate of Halych the cathedral became an archcathedral (1808 or 1817, depending on the source). In 1946, after the Soviet authorities liquidated the UGCC, it was handed over to the Orthodox; in 1990 it was returned to the Greek Catholics. Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi, Patriarch Josyf Slipyj and other hierarchs of the Church are buried in the crypt.

Chronology

The numbers in square brackets are the numbers of sources in the list at the bottom of the page. The note "according to …" means that the fact is confirmed by only one source. The section "Legends" contains traditions and legends: they are recorded in the sources but not confirmed by documents.

The hill and the early churches

1. Around 1280

   On St George's Hill stood a wooden church of St George and a fortified monastery. According to church tradition, they were founded by Prince Lev Danylovych; the founder has not been established from documents. ^{[1, 4, 8]}

   

2. 1340

   King Casimir III, having seized Lviv, destroyed the wooden church and the monastery. ^{[4, 8]}

3. 1341

   A bell was cast for the church of St George; its inscription dates it to the year 6849 from the creation of the world and mentions Prince Dmytro and Hegumen Yevtymii. The bell is still in the cathedral's bell tower; RISU also gives the date 1349. ^{[6, 7, 29, 30, 31]}

4. 1363

   On the site of the wooden church, construction of a masonry church began. The sources name the architect as Doring or Doré; its completion is dated to 1437. The Encyclopedia of Ukraine describes the church as a Byzantine-type basilica. ^{[1, 2, 4, 6]}

   

5. 1539

   The church became the see of the bishops of Halych and Lviv; the eparchy was headed by the monastery's hegumen Makarii Tuchapskyi. ^{[4, 7]}

6. 1663

   In Terebovlia, before Easter, an icon of the Mother of God began to weep; this is attested in the town court book. ^{[6, 25]}

7. 1673 or 1674

   Bishop Josyf Shumlianskyi moved the Terebovlia icon to the cathedral of St George (1673 according to the UGCC map, 1674 according to R. Kosiv and the English-language Wikipedia). ^{[4, 8, 25]}

8. 1700

   In July Shumlianskyi proclaimed in the old cathedral the act of union of the Lviv Eparchy with the Holy See of Rome. In the same year the Chapel of the Intercession was built for the Terebovlia icon. ^{[4, 8]}

The new cathedral

1. 1744

   The old church was taken down and construction of the new cathedral began to a design by Bernard Meretyn. The initiator was Metropolitan Atanasii Sheptytskyi. The English-language Wikipedia dates the start of the work to 1746. ^{[1, 2, 8, 29]}

   

   

2. 1746

   Atanasii Sheptytskyi died; construction was continued under Bishop Lev Sheptytskyi. According to RISU, 116,820 zlotys were allocated for it. ^{[6, 8]}

3. 1759

   On 3 or 4 January Meretyn died. The building was continued by Fesinger: according to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine (VUE), Sebastian; according to "To ye Lviv", Klemens Xavier (Sebastian, according to this source, worked on the interior). ^{[1, 7, 9]}

4. 1759

   Johann Georg Pinsel created the equestrian group "St George the Dragon-Slayer" on the attic of the main facade; the statues of Saints Athanasius and Leo on either side of the portal are also his. ^{[1, 3]}

5. 1761–1762

   The metropolitan's palace was built to a design by Klemens Fesinger (the UGCC map dates it to 1760–1762). ^{[1, 3, 4]}

   

6. 1759–1764

   The main construction was completed. The sources give the completion date differently: 1759 (Encyclopedia of Ukraine), 1760 (UGCC map), 1761 (Lviv Interactive), 1762 (NV), 1764 (VUE, "To ye Lviv"). ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 29]}

   

7. 1770–1781

   Yurii Radyvylivskyi (1770–1771) and Luka Dolynskyi (1778–1781) painted icons for the cathedral. The decoration went on until 1772 according to VUE, until 1780 according to the UGCC map, and until 1790 according to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. ^{[1, 2, 3, 4]}

Seat of the metropolitans

1. 1808 or 1817

   After the restoration of the Metropolitanate of Halych the cathedral became an archcathedral: in 1808 according to the UGCC map, in 1817 according to VUE and the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. From 1808 the metropolitans began to be buried in the crypt. ^{[1, 2, 4, 7]}

2. 1826

   Franz Xaver Mozart, the composer's son, performed his father's Requiem in the cathedral; a plaque on the cathedral wall recalls this. ^{[6, 20]}

3. 1828–1829

   A masonry bell tower was built at the corner of the chapter house (according to the UGCC map, by the architect Hajek); in 1865 it was reconstructed. ^{[1, 4]}

4. 1836

   On 14 October, on the feast day of the Terebovlia icon, Markiian Shashkevych delivered a sermon in the cathedral in Ukrainian. ^{[4, 18]}

5. 1850–1911

   The cathedral was repaired and restored several times (1850, 1866, 1905–1911; the next restoration was in 1933). The interior paintings of 1876, according to Lviv Interactive, were done by E.-R. Fabiianskyi. ^{[3, 4]}

   

   

6. 1900

   Andrei Sheptytskyi became Metropolitan of Halych and Archbishop of Lviv; the cathedral was his see until 1944. ^{[12, 26]}

   

7. 1914

   On 19 September the Russian military authorities arrested Metropolitan Sheptytskyi. According to ZAXID.NET, the plaque in honour of Shashkevych, put up on the cathedral in 1911, disappeared at the same time. ^{[18, 26]}

8. 1939

   The remains that Yaroslav Pasternak found in Halych and identified as those of Prince Yaroslav Osmomysl were hidden in the cathedral crypt (31 August according to RISU). The sources give the year of the find as 1937 or 1939. ^{[6, 7, 28]}

9. 1944

   On 1 November Andrei Sheptytskyi died; he was buried in the cathedral crypt. ^{[12, 26]}

   

The ban

1. 1945

   On 11 April (in the night of 12 April) the NKVD surrounded St George's Hill; Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj and other UGCC bishops were arrested. ^{[10, 11, 13]}

2. 1946

   On 8–10 March the Lviv Synod (the pseudo-synod) was held in the cathedral, organised under the supervision of the NKGB without the participation of Greek Catholic bishops. The list included 216 priests and 19 laypeople; it was resolved to abolish the Union of Brest. ^{[10, 11]}

3. 1946

   On 10 March, on the porch of the cathedral, Metropolitan Ioann presented the participants with an icon of the Mother of God from the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. The cathedral passed to the Russian Orthodox Church. ^{[1, 4, 10]}

4. 1948

   On 20 September Fr Havryil Kostelnyk, who had chaired the pseudo-synod, was killed in Lviv; the circumstances of the killing have not been established. ^{[10, 11]}

The return

1. 1989

   On 17 September a march of many thousands went through the streets of Lviv to the cathedral of St George, demanding the legalisation of the UGCC; the participants did not enter the cathedral courtyard. ^{[5, 15]}

2. 1990

   On 19 August the cathedral was returned to the UGCC; the first Greek Catholic Liturgy in it was celebrated by Volodymyr Sterniuk. According to the English-language Wikipedia, on 12 August the cathedral was occupied by activists of Rukh, and on 14 August the regional council recognised the right of the UGCC. ^{[4, 5, 8, 27]}

   

3. 1991

   On 30 March the Head of the UGCC, Cardinal Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky, arrived in Lviv from Rome (the UGCC map gives April). In the autumn, research on the crypt began. ^{[4, 5, 6]}

4. 1992

   On 29 August Patriarch Josyf Slipyj was reburied in the cathedral crypt, in accordance with his will. ^{[4, 13]}

5. 1996

   The cathedral was restored for the 400th anniversary of the Union of Brest. ^{[4, 8]}

6. 1998

   The cathedral ensemble, as part of the historic centre of Lviv, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. ^{[6, 24]}

7. 2001

   In June, during his visit to Ukraine, Pope John Paul II stayed in the cathedral's metropolitan palace. According to the UGCC map, he prayed before the Terebovlia icon and crowned it with crowns. ^{[4, 32, 33]}

8. 2005

   On 21 August the seat of the Head of the UGCC was moved from Lviv to Kyiv; the cathedral remained the archcathedral of the Lviv Archeparchy. ^{[4, 8]}

9. 2015

   On 29 July a monument to Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi was unveiled on the square in front of the cathedral. ^[19]

10. 2021

    On 11 October the restoration of the ensemble began: the courtyards, the bell tower, the metropolitan's palace (about UAH 15 million from the regional budget). According to Focus, in November 2023 a tender was announced for the continuation of the work. ^{[21, 22]}

11. 2023

    In September the historic centre of Lviv, together with the cathedral ensemble, was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger because of the war. ^{[23, 24]}

12. 2025

    In March the Lower Metropolitan Gardens (2.3 ha on the slope behind the cathedral) were returned to the ownership of the Church; a grant from the Interreg NEXT Poland – Ukraine programme was allocated for their revitalisation. ^{[16, 17]}

Lost and restored

Architecture

The cathedral has a cross-shaped plan: three naves, four pillars, a central dome on a lit drum; the central nave and the transept are raised. The walls are articulated by pilasters, with a cornice above them. But the main thing in this architecture is not the plan but the setting: the church is raised on a high terrace, and one has to climb up to it.

The drawings show the form, not exact dimensions.

The portal and attic: sculpture as the crown of the facade

The main entrance is framed by two pylons joined by an arch. On them stand the figures of Saints Athanasius and Leo by Pinsel; these saints were chosen as the name-day patrons of the founding metropolitans Atanasii and Lev Sheptytskyi. Above the entrance is a balcony, and higher still a pyramidal attic crowned by the equestrian group “St George the Dragon-Slayer” (1759). The facade ends not with a cross or a dome but with movement.

The terrace and the double staircase

The terrace was formed by levelling the natural rocky platform of the hill. In front of the main entrance a double staircase leads up to it, with an openwork Rococo balustrade, vases and figures of winged genii. The staircase here is part of the facade: as a person climbs, they see the cathedral now on the left, now on the right, and only at the top face on.

Stone lanterns and balustrades

Several craftsmen worked on the lanterns, openwork balustrades and attics: sources name Petro Bilostotskyi and Onufrii Stefanskyi, as well as Mykhailo Filevych and Sebastian Stazhevskyi. This is a fine sculptural layer that, in the sun, makes the heavy masonry mass lighter.

Stone and material

The cathedral is of masonry; according to tradition and researchers’ data, its 14th–15th-century predecessor was also of stone. Stone works here on three levels: the rocky base of the hill, which became the terrace; the staircase with the balustrade by which one climbs to the church; and the carved decoration — lanterns, attics, the sculpture of the facade. The sources mostly do not specify the material of particular elements, so more detail will come after an on-site inspection.

Inside is a carved iconostasis; its local-tier icons, images of the prophets and feast icons were painted by Luka Dolynskyi. How to read the tiers of an iconostasis we explain in the article “Tiers of the iconostasis”, and pilasters and capitals in stone are covered on the page of the line “Columns, pilasters, capitals”.

Did you know

Legends

Figures

• Lev Danylovych — prince; according to tradition, the founder of the first church and monastery.
• Makarii Tuchapskyi — hegumen, from 1539 the first bishop of the restored eparchy with its see at the church of St George.
• Josyf Shumlianskyi — bishop; moved the Terebovlia icon (1673/1674), proclaimed the union in 1700.
• Atanasii Sheptytskyi — metropolitan, initiator of the new cathedral (†1746).
• Lev Sheptytskyi — Bishop of Lviv from 1749 (metropolitan from 1778), under whom the construction was completed.
• Bernard Meretyn — author of the design, royal architect (†1759).
• Sebastian and Klemens Xavier Fesinger — continued the building after Meretyn; the palace, the altar, the garden.
• Johann Georg Pinsel — sculptor of the facade (the equestrian group “St George the Dragon-Slayer”, Saints Athanasius and Leo).
• Yurii Radyvylivskyi, Luka Dolynskyi — icon painters of the cathedral.
• Mykhailo Filevych, S. Stazhevskyi — carvers of the iconostasis and of the stone decoration.
• Bartholomaeus Zimorowicz — chronicler, author of “Triple Lviv”, who recorded the legends about the hill.
• Markiian Shashkevych — in 1836 delivered a sermon in the cathedral in Ukrainian.
• Andrei Sheptytskyi — metropolitan (1900–1944), buried in the crypt.
• Josyf Slipyj — metropolitan, later Patriarch; arrested in 1945, reburied in the crypt in 1992.
• Havryil Kostelnyk — head of the Initiative Group and chairman of the pseudo-synod of 1946.
• Volodymyr Sterniuk, Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky — hierarchs who returned the cathedral to UGCC worship; buried in the crypt.

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