Little Vizhnitsa is called the Jerusalem of Bukovina by the enlightened public for a reason. On a very small territory, as in the real «City of Three Religions», a huge mass of sacral, historical and cultural monuments is concentrated. Judge for yourself, by the time of the beginning of World War 1 and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the smallest town of Chernivtsi region functioned: a church, 2 Orthodox churches and about 11 Jewish chapels. Among them, the ritual bath for circumcisions and a school for boys would be of the greatest interest for a tourist. Unfortunately, they have not survived. But in the building of the former synagogue, converted into the House of Recreation and Culture, Nazariy Yaremchuk once started his career as a soloist in the VIA «Smerichka».
In addition to the monuments of Hasidic architectural thought and quality, as well as examples of wooden sacral folk architecture, Vizhnitsa shows its guests another masterpiece. It is the perfect in its harmony Petropavlovsk Church, which is the main decoration of Lukian Kobylitsa Street.
The church, dedicated to the beloved apostles of the Savior — Peter and Paul, was built in the tiny town in 1876. It was erected on the site of the first church, still wooden, which was built by Polish settlers on the land provided by the empire for colonization, cultivation and polonization of the Carpathian hinterland. Interestingly, the money for the new and luxurious stone church was allocated to the Catholic community by one Grigory Ayvas. He is an ethnic Armenian and local philanthropist, rumored to be madly in love with a beautiful Polish woman.
The Peter and Paul Church itself has become a typical sacral building in the Gothic style, whose numerous «siblings» are located in many settlements of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. It does not have the luxury and grandeur characteristic of Krakow’s Mariacki Church, Cologne or Prague’s St. Vitus Cathedral. It is a small building in the shape of a Roman cross. The facade is decorated with a porch in tone. Above the narthex rises a quadrangular bell tower topped by a pointed octagonal roof with a cross. Light enters the room through the characteristic Gothic windows — long and tall, which provide not only illumination but also create a proper impression.
In addition to the romantic background of the construction of St. Peter and Paul Church, it became the place of wedding of Yuriy Fedkovich’s parents — the noblewoman Anna Ganitskaya and the famous German climatologist Adolf Gordinski. By the way, the Armenian philanthropist Aivas was never married, but was buried near the wall of the Polish temple. His grave and the original stone tombstone can be viewed by everyone.
St. Peter and Paul Church performed its spiritual functions from 1887 to 1946. It was closed during the Soviet regime, and in the premises, illuminated by thin Gothic windows, an industrial warehouse was set up. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the church was returned to the faithful, so the small Catholic community of Vizhnica gained a treasure equal in value to the Cullinan diamond.
St. Peter and Paul Church has taken its rightful place in the cohort of attractions of Vizhnica. Especially since, unlike the others, it is a functioning temple, not a dead crypt of former regalia and dignities. When you come to Karpaty, you can visit the church and appreciate the impression it makes on neophytes.