Oct/25

The Fortified Monastery of the Barefoot Carmelites in Berdychiv

No comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Architecture, Photos, Travel

Berdychiv, a historic city with a population of about 73 thousand people, is located 41 km south of Zhytomyr. In total, there are more than 90 monuments of history, architecture and monumental art here.

One of the most interesting architectural monuments of Berdychiv is the monastery-fortress of the Barefoot Carmelites – the Sanctuary of the Mother of God of the Holy Scapular. For Roman Catholics in Ukraine, it is the main pilgrimage site. Berdychiv on Google Maps. Photos by: Maxim Ritus.

This magnificent architectural complex with defensive walls, towers and a magnificent baroque Catholic church was laid in the 16th century as a castle of the Tyszkiewicz family, the owners of this land since the 14th century.

In 1630, Janusz Tyszkiewicz Lohojski, a magnate and politician of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, after his miraculous rescue from the Crimean Tatar captivity, gave the fortress to the Catholic Order of the Barefoot Carmelites. The construction of the monastery continued from 1634 to 1642.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Berdychiv Monastery became a center not only of religious life and the cult of Mary in Ukraine, but also a center of culture and charity. Using its printing press and school, it made significant contributions to the spread of education.

The monastery published theological and religious books, sermons, dictionaries, school textbooks, secular books on historical, political, and economic topics, and the famous Berdychiv calendars.

In 1866, the monastery was abolished by a decision of the authorities of the Russian Empire. The premises were used by various government agencies.

In 1918, the Carmelites regained ownership of the monastery. They managed the parish and were guardians of the sanctuary until 1926, in the difficult post-revolutionary conditions.

After the death of the last Carmelite, Father Teresius Bolesław Sztobryn, the communist authorities nationalized the monastery. A museum was established in the upper church, and an atheistic cinema in the lower one.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the administrative authorities of Berdychiv, under the supervision of architectural monument restorers from Kyiv, ensured the preservation of the church by restoring the vaults and installing a new roof covering of galvanized iron on the church and its dome.

In 1992, the church buildings were leased to the Catholic community, which began restoration at its own expense. By 1997, the monastic cells, the tower, and the lower church had been restored and were in use. The abbot’s house and the facades of the upper church and its eastern tower were also restored.

In 1998, the All-Ukrainian Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Holy Scapular (Sanctuary of Our Lady of Berdychiv) was established in the church, and was consecrated and crowned by Pope John Paul II. In 2015, a monument to Saint John Paul II was consecrated next to the monastery.