One of the most famous and recognizable sights of Ivano-Frankivsk is the Greek Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection, formerly a Jesuit church. This church is located on Andriy Sheptytskyi Square 22, in the center of the city, and is a fine example of the Austro-Bavarian school of architecture with some features of classicism.
The history of the church is quite interesting. In 1720 they started digging a foundation pit for the church, and during the construction work they found a treasure — 14 thousand zlotys, half of which was used for the construction of the church. The church also received financial support from Victoria Leszczynska, wife of Joseph Potocki. The first Jesuit church was opened on St. Victoria’s Day in 1729, but due to problems with weak foundations, the walls began to crack, and the church had to be completely dismantled in 1752. A year later the construction of a new church began, which lasted 10 years. The project of the military engineer from Kamyanets-Podolsky Christian Dahlke and architect Y. Karshitsky was more thoughtful than their predecessors, and as a result their creation took a worthy place among the sights of Ivano-Frankivsk. Most likely, the quality of the construction was also affected by the supervision of Stanislav Potocki, who was the owner of the city at that time. The founder of the church personally took care of the blueprints of the church, and every year he allocated for the construction more than a substantial sum of 6 thousand zlotys. Unfortunately, a year after the construction of the church was completed, during the next war, the town was besieged by the Russian army. During the siege and shelling of Ivano-Frankivsk, one of the two towers of the church was damaged, which was repaired only nine years later.
In 1772, after the first partition of Poland, Ivano-Frankivsk came under the rule of Austria-Hungary. The Jesuit order was banned in the territory of the Habsburg Empire and the new administration of the city in 1773 closed the Jesuit monastery, handing over its premises to the city community, and closed the church as well.
After quite a long time, in 1849, the church was handed over to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. During the great fire of 1868 the cathedral was miraculously not damaged. A little later, in 1885, the Stanislaviv Greek Catholic Diocese was founded, and the former church received its modern name — the Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection. In the same year of 1885 the first large-scale reconstruction of the building took place due to the fact that the church had not been used for a long time. Among the leaders of the Diocese was the most famous Ukrainian figure — Andriy Sheptytsky. His financial donations greatly accelerated the restoration and artistic decoration of the cathedral. In honor of Metropolitan Sheptytskyi, a memorial plaque was placed on the facade of the church.
On the facade of the church, on both sides of the entrance, there are statues of the Baptist of Russia, St. Vladimir the Great, and Princess Olga, the first Russian saint. The interiors of the cathedral can be characterized as made in the Byzantine style, and the five-tier iconostasis, installed back in 1901, is striking in its beauty and craftsmanship. The icons and paintings on the walls of the cathedral belong to the famous artists Juliusz Makarowski and Modest Sosenko, while the iconostasis was painted by Anton Monastyrski. The bishop’s choir «CREDO» of the cathedral is also widely known, which performs on Sundays and holidays during divine services. This group has repeatedly performed abroad at various choral singing competitions and received awards up to gold diplomas. Lovers of spiritual and folk music should visit this marvelous attraction of Ivano-Frankovsk during the performances of the Archbishop’s choir and enjoy their skills.