Photo Andrii Bondarenko
Location:
Chesnyky village, Rohatyn district
GPS coordinates: 49.39222336 24.72583389
St. Nicholas Church (also known as St. Michael's Church, Ascension of the Lord Church) belongs to the type of small temples of defensive character that have been preserved on the territory of Halychyna. The most famous of them is Nativity of the Virgin Mary Church in the Rozsohy village (15th-16th centuries) near an old Sambir and St. Onuphrius Church in Posada Rybotytska village (15th century) near Przemysl (now Poland). These temples are characterized by their small sizes, thick stone walls, with small windows, that look more like loopholes, and the buttresses that reinforce the walls. Some sources aver, that the Сhurch is even older - mentioning the 12th-13th centuries; it is possible that the Ascension Church was built on an ancient pagan sanctuary foundation, as it happened often at those times.
The Church is built of ash limestone, has three sections, with a rectangular nave, "babinets" (women part of the church) and a five-walled faceted altar. Three domes without cylinders cover it. The nave is completed with the shingled tent, that is square at the base, with two kinks; the alter and "babinets" are covered with a shingled roof. Doors with small windows above them are situated on the west and south facades. The interior was distinguished from others by a four-tiered carved and gilded iconostasis, with decorative painting of the 18th century, it is much destroyed now. Buttresses of the Church distinguish it from the other stone defensive temples. All buttresses were built in the 19th century. Their nature testifies about its antiquity; the steepness of the vault has features of the gothic form. The surrounding wall also indicates that the Church was a defensive stronghold.
In the ancient times there was a small cemetery around the Church, as evidenced by the stone crosses of the 17th-18th centuries.
In 2007 the restoration works were carried out - the decayed roof was replaced with ondulin one, imitating shingles, the walls were plastered over and whitewashed, the buttresses were cleaned.
An architectural monument of national significance.