The village of Rozluch is the first settlement in the Turkivshchyna region to receive the status of a «spa». It got this title thanks to several springs of mineral water, one of which produces a liquid like «Naftusya». The village itself was founded by Soltis Boris. In 1511 he moved here several families from nearby Jasenica Zamkova. Interestingly, the soltis named his new settlement Boris’s Will, and the separated families — Rozluch.
Today’s spa village has an extremely picturesque appearance. It boasts a small population of bison, two ski elevators at 400 and 600 meters, a developed infrastructure for providing «green tourism» services, as well as two churches — the Bojkov Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built by master craftsman Gabriel Roman in 1876, and the Church of St. Francis Borgia.
How did the church appear in the village of Boykovo? Why a fairly young church looks as if it is the same age as the Cologne Cathedral, the age of which exceeded seven hundred years. Let’s begin to deal with this attraction of the Turkivsky district.
After the Austro-Hungarian Empire took over this territory of present-day Western Ukraine, the Swabian Germans moved here. Their mountainous regions were overpopulated, and the picturesque section of the Carpathians was relatively sparsely populated. It reminded the colonists of their native lands. The descendants of the Swabian Forest took up their traditional crafts and types of agriculture here. Once settled, the settlers built a wooden chapel.
At the beginning of the XX century the community collected money and together with the Boni Pastoris brotherhood built the church. The initiator of the construction was the parish priest Ignacy Kulakovsky. The work was completed in 1902. The temple was named after St. Francis Borgia. It is made of wood, in neo-Gothic style. It is very similar to those sacral buildings that have survived in many cities in Poland, Bohemia and Germany. It was as good as St. Mary’s Basilica in Gdansk or St. Witt’s Cathedral in Prague. The only difference was the size of the structures and the building material. The walls of the temple in Rozlucz are decorated with paintings and artistic inlays, and the ceiling was inspired by the torture chair of the inquisitors. The ceiling of the temple is prickly, it is stabbed with spears-pins, aimed at the flock. The Church of St. Francis Borgia has become a true ornament of the Turks Parish.
When in 1939 these places «smelled» of war, devastation and Soviets, all Catholic churches of the surrounding villages were destroyed. Only this one — Francisca Borgia — survived. But! The church after the war fell under the jurisdiction of the local collective farm. The church was lucky that it was not turned into a vegetable warehouse. It preserved the remains of the altar, fragments of paintings, «original» ceiling, ambo and wooden confessional. Unlike Boykivska’s pusatnoe church, the church is not functioning, blackening and dying before our eyes. It doesn’t even have an address. To find it, you have to go from the center of the village to the railway bridge. After passing under it, turn left. There, behind a swift mountain river, the gothic gem of the Carpathians is living out its life.
Staying on vacation in Turka, do not spare time to overcome 14 km and visit Rozluch. The local church of St. Francis can outshine many of the sights of this settlement and cause the most contradictory feelings in your soul.