« 2026. # 3 (189)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2026. № 3 (189), 769—780

UDK726:27­523.42(477.83)

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

ATTRIBUTION OF THE MONUMENT OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE OF THE CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY IN THE VILLAGE OF KUHAIV, LVIV REGION

TARAS Yaroslav

• ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000­0001­7241­9466
• Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
• Head of the Modern Ethnology Department,
• 15, Svobody Avenue, 79000, Lviv, Ukraine;
• Lviv Polytechnic National University,
• Department of Architecture and Conservation,
• 12 Banderу str., 79013, Lviv, Ukraine,
• Contacts: e­-mail: etnomod@ukr.net

PASHCHAK Yaroslav

• ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009­0007­6423­5449
• Postgraduate of the Department of Architecture and
• Conservation, Lviv Polytechnic National University,
• 12 Bandery str., 79013, Lviv, Ukraine,
• Contacts: e­-mail: yaroslav.v.pashchak@lpnu.ua

Abstract. Over the past 150 years, plenty of field research material has been collected; many hypotheses and romantic theories have been advanced regarding the origin and development of the Ukrainian wooden church; and many monographs and articles on architecture have been written, which should have put an end to the study of wooden churches. However, this is not the case.

We have this situation with the Church of the Epiphany in the village of Kuhaiv in the Lviv region, which is a monument of national importance in Ukraine. Despite this, the information we have about it is ambiguous: the date of construction, its architectural and planning solutions, the changes that occurred during repairs and restorations. Restoration work, which began in 2024, requires analyzing the historiography and its sources to write the true history of the church, determine its place in the genesis of the sacral architecture of Ukraine, and develop a restoration strategy.

The object of the research is the wooden church of Epiphany in the village of Kuhaiv, Lviv region.

The purpose of the research is to analyze the historiography and source base related to the church, to clarify its dating and place in the genesis of Ukrainian sacral wooden architecture, and its spatial planning solution.

The research used general scientific and special methods of scientific knowledge: historical, analysis and synthesis, historical­genetic, historical­comparative, as well as architectural.

Based on archival sources and scientific publications, it has been established that the Church of the Epiphany is a relic, belongs to all Ukrainian churches that were built in the 15th—17th centuries, and is a model of three­domed churches in which four­sided roofs developed due to the multiplication of folds.

The factor that preserved the authentic architecture of the church in the village of Kuhaiv for three centuries was the constant number of Greek Catholics. The antiquity of this monument is also evidenced by the size of the church, its iconostases, dedication, building materials used, and the decoration of the cornices and door frames.

Keywords: Galicia, sacred architecture, the church of Epiphany in Kuhaiv, restoration, conservation.

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