Rogatin Orthodox church of the Birth of God's Mother in the context of the architecture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Ukrainos rajono centras Rogatinas yra Ivano-Frankovsko srities šiaurinėje dalyje. Miestas žinomas iš senų laikų – rašytiniuose dokumentuose jis pirmą kartą paminėtas 1184 m. Miesto centro – kvadratinės turgaus aikštės pietryčių pusėje stovi Šv. Mikalojaus, o šiaurės vakarų – Dievo Motinos gimimo cerkvės. Pastaroji cerkvė nuo seno traukė tyrinėtojų dėmesį. Vienas pirmųjų ja susidomėjusių architektų buvo Janas Sas-Zubrzickis. Ukrainos žemėje Rogatino cerkvė tikriausiai yra pirmas dvistulpis halinis pastatas, kuriame išsaugotas tradicinis cerkvės planas, bet pats pastatas liudija apie gotikinę formų sampratą. Būdingiausi gotikos bruožai – halinis navų dalies tūris, smailiaarkiai langai. Svarbus Rogatino Dievo Motinos dangun ėmimo cerkvės tūrio elementas yra vakarų fasado bokštas. Jis trijų aukštų: pirmajame yra prienavis, antrajame – choras, o trečiajame – kabo varpai. Bokšto viršų dengia kupolas. Rogatino cerkvės autorystės klausimas tebėra atviras. Atsižvelgiant į tai, kad vietinė brolija palaikė įvairialypius ryšius su Lvovu, o taip pat į Rogatino cerkvės stilinius ryšius su tuometine Lvovo architektūra, logiška būtų cerkvės autoriaus ieškoti tarp meistrų, dirbusių valsčiaus cerkvės statyboje. Lietuvos Didžiojoje Kunigaikštystėje XVI a. pirmojoje pusėje buvo susiformavusi ryški ir savita stačiatikių architektūros mokykla, sujungusi bizantines ir gotikines formas. Todėl nenuostabu, kad susikūrus Jungtinei Respublikai ir joje pripažinus stačiatikių teises, XVI a. pabaigoje statytos Rogatino cerkvės architektūroje sekta LDK pavyzdžiais.Rogatin is in the Northern part of Ivan Frankovsk region. On the Northern part of a square market place there is The Birth of the God's Mother's Orthodox church. The church was considered to be built in the end of the 14th and in the beginning of the 15th century. But in this article it is affirmed that the time when the church was built was between 1415 and 1419. In 1509 it burnt down. In 1533 a timber church was rebuilt and the brick one was built between 1589 and 1604. It was restored in 1783. After the fire of 1827 and in the second half of the 19th century it was reconstructed. After having been damaged a lot during the Second World War it was restored up until 1952. The building of the church consists of an altar part, a nave and a tower. The part of the altar consists of three apses. The middle apse is semicircle, lower than it the side ones are of a form of a quarter of a circle, double narrower than the middle apse. I he central and the side apses are connected by the arches. The high central apse is crowned with a cupola with a drum. The form of a nave is irregular, similar to the form of a square. Two pillars divide the interior space into three naves. The pointed arches are on four sides of every pillar; the vault is divided into bays. The pillars dividing the naves are octagonal, with square pedestals. Octagonal pillars were popular in the Gothic architecture of North Europe and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Also they may be found in Volyn, which was considered to be a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania till 1569. The nave of a square layout is a characteristic feature of the Late Gothics of the Orthodox and Catholic sacral buildings of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Two pillar hall-type sacral buildings could be rarely seen in the land of the Ukraine in the 16th century. This type became more popular in the first half of the 17th century. The facade of Rogatin Orthodox church consists of three wide, outstanding pilaster strips, connected by the arches of an outline of a cylinder vaults. High and narrow windows were point-arched. The pilaster strips of the Southern facade were divided by niches with semicircle lintels. The idea of decorating the facades by niches came from the Gothics of the Northern Europe. An important element of the Rogatin Orthodox church was a tower of a Western facade. It is three-storied, with a cupola. Two rectangular sacristies are connected to the tower on the Northern and Southern sides. The traditions of the Orthodox churches building didn't come because of the unfavourable political circumstances. Meanwhile in the Grand -Duchy of Lithuania in the first half of the 16th century a distinct and original Orthodox school of architecture was founded, which had both Gothics and Byzantine forms. So, it is not surprising that when the United Republic was formed, Rogatin Orthodox church that was built in the end of the 16th century followed the example of the architecture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and especially the architecture of Orthodox churches of Volyn, which bordered on the land of Halich