In one of the corners of the Ukrainian Carpathians not far from the Uzhotsk Pass is one of the priceless sights of the region — The Wooden Church of St. Michael the Archangel. For several hundred years this church has served as a spiritual home for the inhabitants of the village of Uzhok and today attracts many connoisseurs of the beauty of ancient cult architecture.
The Church of St. Michael the Archangel is located on the slope of the hill north of Uzhocki Pass. Since its opening in 1745 and to this day, even in Soviet times, this church has been and remains the only spiritual monastery for the inhabitants of the village of Uzhok, who preserve and maintain it with their own funds, keeping it as a priceless heritage of their ancestors. The church has been in operation for almost three centuries without interruption, and it is not surprising that it has a very special atmosphere, which every guest of this amazing place is imbued with.
The construction of this outstanding landmark of the Carpathians was carried out by masters I. Tsyganin and P. Tonov, it was built in the Boikovsky style of wooden folk architecture without a single nail and represents one of the most interesting examples of it. Everyone who sees the temple for the first time is struck not only by the authenticity of the church, the antiquity that each plank breathes, but also by the fact that its forms resemble the surrounding natural landscape. The central tent top dominates over the other towers, a small tower above the church altar plays along with it, and another tower rising above the babinets completes the whole composition. The exterior of the building has not undergone any changes since the completion of construction until today, only the interior and internal structures have been restored, but the carved decorations on the walls and ceiling of the temple today are only hidden behind plastic and cardboard, but have not been lost. The main altar, iconostasis, icons and even old printed books of the XVII century were preserved! Another relic kept here is the bell, which is older than the temple by a whole century.
Everyone who managed to see with his own eyes the unique St. Michael’s Church in the village of Uzhok, is penetrated by its atmosphere, the light and pure energy of this wonderful place charges a good mood, restores the strength of spirit. This is truly one of the priceless architectural treasures that Ukraine is rich in — it is not without reason that since 2013 the Church of St. Michael the Archangel became a part of the world heritage protected by UNESCO. It’s hard to believe, but this landmark has survived through the centuries virtually unchanged. Only its location has changed dramatically, but even this happened in times far from us (originally the temple stood on a hill a few hundred meters higher, but because of this inconvenient location it was rolled down on wooden stakes). One of the hidden corners of the Ukrainian Carpathians protected this spiritual abode for centuries and, fortunately, now it will be preserved and protected even more carefully, so that we ourselves and our descendants can touch a part of such an ancient history, forever gone to the past era.