Attractions of Belz

The Jewish prayer house of the "Ishre Lev" society on the southeastern edge of the Rynok Square in Belz attracts attention with its expressive architecture with a wooden bay window, completed by an oriental-style bulbous bathhouse.

The building was built on the corner of the former Torhova and Kushnirska streets in 1909 at the expense of an influential Belz resident Faivel Taube. It was he who founded the Society for the Support of the Sick and the Poor in Belz, which was called "Ishre Lev".

The "Ishre Lev" prayer house got its modern appearance as a result of reconstruction caused by damage during the First World War. Restored at the expense of the Rokakh family.

The Arian Tower in Belz, also known as the Snopkovsky Chapel, is the oldest surviving architectural monument in the city. It was built in 1606, as evidenced by a stone tablet with the Ravych coat of arms on the facade.

A low brick hexagonal structure is located on the old cemetery at the entrance to the center of Belz. According to one of the versions, it was built by the Belz trumpeter Andriy Snopkovsky as a burial chapel. A large basement with a separate entrance, covered by a barrel vault, is obviously the burial crypt of the Snopkovsky family. It is possible that the structure could also perform defensive functions as part of the city fortifications.

The unusual architecture of the chapel is explained by the fact that its founder could have been a supporter of Arianism - one of the currents of early Christianity, which was revived in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th and 17th centuries in the form of Socinianism. Hence the common name - Arian tower.

From the beginning of the 19th century, the building was used as a flour and salt warehouse. It is now partially restored. It is one of the objects of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve in the city of Belz.

The monastery of the Catholic Dominican order in Belz was founded in 1394 on the initiative of Prince Zemovyt IV of Belz and Polotsk, but its first wooden buildings have not survived to our time.

The modern complex of the monastery of the Dominican fathers began to be built in the middle of the 16th century. The central building was the Dominican church, built as a three-nave basilica with a transept and an elongated circular altar. The walls were reinforced with buttresses. During its existence, the building underwent reconstructions, the largest of which occurred at the beginning of the 18th century. At that time, a two-story monastery bell tower was erected, which has survived to our time. The church itself was destroyed during the Second World War and has reached our days in the form of ruins.

The northern cell block with a four-tiered bell tower in the Baroque style has also been preserved, which now serves as the city hall. The Museum of History and Local Lore is also located there.

The State Historical and Cultural Reserve in Belz Town unites a complex of architectural monuments in the city center, a castle of the princely era, churches of various denominations, Christian and Jewish cemeteries.

The main object of the reserve is the Historical and Local Lore Museum, located in the premises of the town hall. Since the original town hall on the market square was destroyed during the Second World War, the 17th-century Dominican monastery cell building with a four-tiered baroque clock tower has been adapted for the magistrate. In 2004, the only surviving wall paintings of the monastery were found on the third tier of the tower.

The museum collection reflects the history and culture of the ancient population of Belz. In particular, the archaeological department presents materials from annual archaeological excavations, the most interesting of which are an arrowhead of the 1st millennium BC and an encolpion cross of the 11th century.

The collection of ancient men's and women's clothing, embroideries and household items related to weaving and embroidery form the basis of the Department of Folk Art and Ethnography of Belz region. The culture of the town's Jewish community is told by the ancient Torah, the clothing of the Belz Hasids, and old photographs.

Among the sacred monuments, the most valuable is the wooden sculpture of the Apostle Peter from the Church of Saint Paraskeva, dated to the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century.

The ensemble of the Dominican Sisters Monastery in the city of Belz consists of the majestic Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is now the Greek Catholic Church of Saint Nicholas, and a dilapidated complex of monastic cells. An architectural monument of national importance.

The monastery of the female catholic order of the Dominican Sisters in Belz was founded in 1635 by the wife of the Vilnius castellan, Sofiya Khodkevych. The baroque brick church with two symmetrical towers was built in 1653. Four sculptures of saints are installed in niches on the facade: Ursula, Catherine of Siena, Rosaliya and another unknown saint. In 1743, the wooden cells were replaced by brick ones.

Under the power of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1785, the monastery was liquidated, the church was handed over to the Greek-Catholic community of the city and renamed the Church of Saint Nicholas. In 1893, a new iconostasis was installed, made by Peremyshl painters. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Lviv painter Mykhaylo Boyarsky painted the church, a mosaic image of Saint Nicholas was placed on the pediment.

For a short time after the Second World War, the temple became a Polish church again, but after the eviction of the Poles, it was closed, and the premises began to be used as a warehouse.

In 1991, the building was returned to the Greek-Catholic community of the city and restored. Now it belongs to the parish of the Transfer of the Relics of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker of the UGCC.

The wooden church of Saint Paraskeva Pyatnytsia in Belz in the Lviv region is an architectural monument of national importance. Perhaps this is the oldest surviving architectural structure of the city. It is located in the old cemetery in the Lublinske suburbs.

Information about the date of construction of the church is contradictory. According to some data, it dates back to the 15th century. The tax register of 1515 clearly testifies to the existence of the Pyatnytska Church in Belz, but it is not known whether it is this building in question. In the documents of the UGCC of the first half of the 20th century, it is mentioned that the church was originally built in the village of Prusyniv and moved to its current location in the 18th century.

According to the official data of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve in Belz Town, the present church of Paraskeva Pyatnytsia was built between 1762 and 1766. It was built on the order of the parish priest, Father Danylo Zborovsky, from pine beams on oak foundations. At the end of the 18th century, the church was transformed into a burial chapel at the city cemetery.

The building was rebuilt many times. During the times of the USSR, it was a wasteland. It was restored only in 1977, although, unfortunately, its original appearance was changed. Babinets was dismantled, which turned the church into a two-part chapel-type.

The oldest part of Belz, at the confluence of the Rechytsya stream with the Solokiya river at the entrance to the city from the Velyki Mosty side, is called Zamochok, because it was here that the historic Belz castle was located. Its first wooden fortifications were erected in the 11th century, but soon the city was destroyed by the Mongol-Tatars.

During the Lithuanian-Polish times, the castle was revived. It remained wooden, but was strengthened by powerful earth ramparts and protected by a defensive moat, the traces of which can still be traced. The castle has not been preserved to this day, but later religious buildings remind of it, giving the territory of the Zamochok a romantic look.

In 1906-1911, the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built on the castle grounds in the Art Nouveau style with Neo-Gothic elements, according to the project of the architect Kalikst Krzyzhanowski (now it is the church of Saint Nicholas of the OCU).

In 1933-1938, the architect Witold Rawski completed the complex of sacred buildings at the Zamochok. Next to the church, he built a belfry in the form of a castle tower in the Art Nouveau style with elements of romanticism. One of the historical coats of arms of Belz in the form of a griffin is placed on its facade. Another coat of arms of Belz - a harmash with a cannon - can be seen on the triarch entrance gate. The chapel of Saint Valentyn and the Way of the Cross were also built in the modern style in the form of a brick fence with small chapel towers resembling defensive walls.

The complex of sacred buildings of the Zamochok tract is part of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve in the city of Belz.