Hoszów, Poland

This formerly Greek Catholic church sits on a hill above the village of Hoszów in Bieszczady county in the south-eastern corner of Poland, not far from the Ukrainian border. Dedicated to Saint Nicholas, the current structure is of 20th century origin, though it includes some of the building materials used in an 18th century wooden church which originally stood on this site.

Construction started in 1939, and it was not yet completed when World War Two began. The structure was used by the Germans as an ammunition storage site, and a major explosion occurred which seriously damaged the building. Construction continued after the war, and the church was completed in 1948.

However, by 1951 the building had been abandoned due to pressure from the new Communist Polish government. For the next decade it was used as a barn for keeping sheep in, but in 1971 it was given to the Roman Catholic church who began renovating it.

In 1977 the decaying wooden shingles on the roofs and the dome were replaced with tin roofs since they would last longer and protect the rest of the structure.

The floor plan of the church is laid out in the shape of a Greek cross. Above the nave the large dome rises above a supporting octagonal base. Unfortunately the interior no longer contains any elements of the original Greek Catholic design and has been fully converted to a modern Roman Catholic style. Behind the church several grave stones from a 19th-century cemetery have been preserved.

The village of Hoszów can be reached by bus from the town of Ustrzyki Dolne (six kilometres away), which has regular bus connections to the north to cities such as Sanok and Rzeszów.

Lukov-Venécia, Slovakia

This unique church dedicated to Saint Kosmos and Saint Damian stands on the top of a hill at the edge of the village of Lukov-Venécia in north-eastern Slovakia, not far from the city of Bardejov. The village was a regional centre for glass production throughout the centuries, first mentioned in records in 1410. Construction of the church started in 1708 and finished the following year.

The structure features a tall bell tower placed above an entrance area with a porch on the front and sides set on vertical pillars. The tower contains several bells cast between 1755 and 1866. The central tent-roof covers the nave which has an unusually elongated shape for a Greek Catholic church. A large stone foundation allows the structure to sit level on the side of the hill, with enough space below that a cellar is included, making it the only wooden church with a cellar in Slovakia.

Most of the interior design is influenced by the baroque style. The iconostasis contains sections painted in different periods, with the upper part dating from 1736 and the lower part from the late 18th century. A number of the icons in the nave are older than this, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries.

The key to the church is kept by the local priest who lives in a house on the opposite side of the village on the road into Lukov. On weekdays a few buses run to the village from the city of Bardejov, but hardly any on Saturdays or Sundays. It is possible to take one of the frequent buses travelling on the main road between Bardejov and Stará Ľubovňa and then get out in the village of Malcov, which is a two-kilometre walk from Lukov-Venécia.

Loučná Hora, Czech Republic

This beautiful Roman Catholic church stands in the centre of the tiny village of Loučná Hora in Eastern Bohemia. It is an unusual example of Late Baroque style built of timber, featuring elements more commonly seen only in stone buildings. Its perfectly symmetrical shape also borrows techniques generally used in the design of palaces and castles.

Construction of the present structure started in 1778 and was completed in 1782, though the church stands on the site of an older wooden church which is mentioned in records of the village.

At the time of its construction wood must have been chosen over stone as the building material for economic reasons, since other churches of this style are typically built of stone.

In front of the church stands a separate bell tower which was completely reconstructed in 1942 based on the plans of the original tower. Long ago the grassy area that surrounds the church was the village cemetery, though it has now been moved to an area at the edge of the village. In the church interior the central room serves as the nave, while the eastern end forms the chancel and the western end contains the choir.

The roof is covered with shingles and features mansard-style edging. The church was originally covered in plaster on both the exterior and interior, though this was later removed to reveal the beauty of the wooden beams beneath. The interior of the church is mostly empty nowadays and is used for occasional church services and other village functions.

The village of Loučná Hora is quite easy to reach by train, arriving at the station called Smidary which is less than one kilometre to the south-west. Smidary station is connected by local trains with the town of Chlumec Nad Cidlinou which is on the main rail line between Prague and the city of Hradec Králové.

Korejovce, Slovakia

This small church dedicated to the Protection of the Mother of God sits on a hill in the centre of the village of Korejovce in north-eastern Slovakia. It was originally built in 1764, though today only some parts of the structure and the interior are still original.

The church has a typical Greek-Catholic style of a tower and two tent roofs rising above a three-room floor plan. The tent roof over the nave and the gabled roof over the sanctuary are topped by shingled onion domes with wrought iron crosses. The highest cross is placed above the entrance door, which must face west according to tradition. The roof is covered with intricate hand-made wooden shingles. In the interior the 18th-century iconostasis is only partly original, but the remaining section has been beautifully restored.

In front of the church near the road is a separate wooden bell tower with a shingle roof. It contains three bells which were cast in 1769, 1771 and 1835, and the bells are decorated with images of the Holy Family, a cross and a pattern of oak leaves. Since 1968 the church has been a protected national cultural monument. The church and bell tower both underwent major repairs in 2002, and new wooden shingles and siding were added in 2008.

The keys to the church are kept by a family who live in a house across the road and a few doors down. They are willing to open the church to let visitors see the interior but they will expect you to leave a donation (about 2 Euros is enough).

Many local buses from the nearby town of Svidník stop in the village of Hunkovce on the main road to the Polish border, and from there it is a walk of about 2 kilometres north on a small sideroad to reach the church in Korejovce.

Potoky, Slovakia

The tiny village of Potoky, near the town of Svidník in the north-eastern part of Slovakia, contains a beautiful example of the Lemko-Rusyn style of architecture. The church, dedicated to Saint Paraskieva, was originally constructed in 1773. A large bell tower was built in front of the church at a later date, and it contains a bell cast in 1839.

The most unique feature of the church is the height of the three narrow steeples, since they are significantly taller than those found on most of the other wooden churches in this region. In keeping with Rusyn building customs, the tallest steeple and the front entrance face towards the west. Unfortunately the original interior of the church, including the wall paintings, icons and the iconostasis, have not survived to the present day. A modern replacement of the iconostasis was added during restoration work conducted in 2010, but the appearance is thoroughly modern and lacks the traditional appearance of Greek-Catholic church interiors.

The exterior wooden shingles and wall panels were also restored in the summer of 2010, with the finished wood being treated with a preserving coat of brown varnish. This remains a controversial point among conservationists who feel that the churches of the region should be restored and left in their traditionally intended form with untreated wood. The original plans for the church site included a low stone wall that surrounded the church and the bell tower, and this feature was also restored during the renovations of 2010.

An electronic device was added to the bell tower which automatically rings the bell twice daily without the need for human involvement. Potoky is off the main road between Svidník and Stropkov, making it rather difficult to reach by public transport directly. A few buses from Svidník head to the village daily, with fewer operating on Saturdays and Sundays. Many more buses follow the Svidník to Stropkov main road, and it is possible to take one of these buses and ask to be dropped off at the turnoff towards Potoky and then walk the remaining two kilometres in along the road to reach the church.

To see the interior of the church you will need to find the key keeper in the village. The family which has it lives in a house on the same side of the road as the church, three houses further along the road from the church when you are coming from the beginning of the village.

Ruská Bystrá, Slovakia

This small Greek Catholic wooden church is found in the tiny village of Ruská Bystrá, located in a remote region of eastern Slovakia a few kilometres from the Ukrainian border. The church has been inscribed on the UNESCO world heritage list, largely because of its extremely well-preserved iconostasis paintings and icons.

The Baroque iconostasis dates from the 18th century, while the Czar door at the centre of the panel is from the 17th century. The highly decorative door has small round paintings depicting scenes from the lives of four evangelists and an image of the annunciation. An unusual feature is that the side icons are placed on the walls because of the narrow space for the iconostasis panel.

The church is a three-roomed structure with a high sloped roof which is also unusual for this type of Greek Catholic design. The nave is divided from the entrance room by a wall of wooden beams which is decorated with carved columns. The key for the church is kept by the family who live in the house opposite the pub in the centre of the village. When visiting churches like these you should always leave a donation of a few Euros in front of the icons.

Ruská Bystrá is quite difficult to reach by public transport, but there are two or three buses per day from the town of Michalovce, which has frequent train and bus connections to Košice and the rest of the country.

Šemetkovce, Slovakia

This pretty little church is found on a small wooded hill above the village of Šemetkovce in the Svidník region of eastern Slovakia. It is a Greek-Catholic church named for St. Michael the Archangel, and dates from the year 1752. Like most wooden churches in the region, the structure was built without the use of metal nails using an ingenious woodcut pattern with wooden pegs inserted at the end of each log to hold the beams in place.

Another typical feature of Greek-Catholic churches which is found in the Šemetkovce church is the emphasis placed on the number three, symbolising the Holy Trinity. Three domes, three crosses, three rooms in the interior and three doors leading below the iconostasis are all typical features. The three domes rise in height from east to west, with the doorway facing west, also a typical feature of Greek-Catholic design. The iconostasis is of baroque style, designed in the late 18th century, while some of the icons date from the 17th century.

The church was badly damaged in World War Two, and extensive reconstruction work was undertaken in 1969 and 1970, and further renovations were necessary in 2001. Standing next to the church there is a tall wooden belfry with bells that are rung daily. The church and belfry were originally surrounded by a log fence, though today there is a more modern metal fence. The village of Šemetkovce is set in lovely hilly scenery and has a few old-fashioned folk cottages along its laneways.

The village can be reached by bus from Svidník just a few times a day from Monday to Friday, and there are no buses on Saturday or Sunday. Another option if you are without your own vehicle is to take the bus from Svidník to Ladomirová (be sure to stop and see the wooden church in that village as well) and then try to hitch-hike the last seven kilometres to Šemetkovce. That's how I did it when I visited, there were no problems getting a lift from some of the locals since the roads are small and everybody knows everybody else in this region. There are hiking trails which connect together many of the villages with wooden churches in the Svidník region, and it is possible to hike from Šemetkovce across to Kožuchovce village, close to Miroľa village with its wonderful wooden church.

Równia, Poland

This former Greek-Catholic wooden church is found on a small hill in the village of Równia, located south of the town of Ustrzyki Dolne and a few kilometres from the Ukrainian border. It features a three-domed architectural style which is very rare on Polish territory, being more typical of Boyko-style churches found further east in Ukraine.

The church is thought to have been built in the early 18th century, and it would later suffer extensive damage during World War Two. Following the war, the Lemko and Boyko inhabitants of the village were accused of aiding the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which was fighting the Polish government.

They were expelled from the region along with most of the Lemko and Boyko population of south-eastern Poland, and were sent to become new settlers in the recently-claimed former German territories granted to Poland at the end of the war. Thus the village of Równia lost its Greek-Catholic population, and the church was converted for use as a Roman Catholic church when Catholic Poles were resettled in the village.

This is one of the most unique wooden churches in the region of Małopolska (Little Poland), though the interior is much less remarkable than the exterior. The village is difficult to reach directly by public transport as it has very limited bus connections, but it is possible to walk to the village in about one hour by taking a hiking trail that begins at the edge of the town of Ustrzyki Dolne. There are also interesting wooden churches worth taking a look at in the surrounding villages of Ustjanowa Górna, Hoszowczyk and Hoszów.

Frička, Slovakia

This church stands on a small hill in the centre of the village of Frička, in a remote corner of eastern Slovakia close to the Polish border. The church is dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, who is present in several of the icons that grace the interior. The iconostasis dates from 1830, while most of the icons are from the late nineteenth century. The ceiling of the nave is decorated with a colourful painting of St. Trinity, completed in 1933 by a local artist from the city of Prešov. The tower contains three different bells, the oldest from 1697.

The church is surrounded by a low wooden fence and contains an entrance gate which is typical of the Rusyn churches of the region. The church was fully renovated inside and out in the spring and summer of 2010, returning the structure to its original appearance. The use of a coating of protective varnish on the wood surface of the exterior has been criticised by some historians as not in keeping with the pledge to preserve the original integrity of the building, and this coating will not be used in other renovation projects of Rusyn churches in Slovakia (although it has already been used in the restoration of the church in Potoky). However, the varnish does give a very impressive appearance to the wood because of its shiny finish.

Frička is one of the most isolated villages in the region, but it can be reached by bus from the town of Bardejov with a few connections per day. It is also possible to follow a trail that leads up and over the hill into Poland, as the border is less than one kilometre from the village.

Ulucz, Poland

This formerly Greek Orthodox church located in Poland's far south-eastern corner sits on a steep wooded hillside above the small village of Ulucz. Thought to be one of the oldest Eastern Rite churches in the country, the tserkva was constructed in 1659 as part of a monastery complex with surrounding fortifications. The monks closed the monastery and left the region in 1744, but the church continued to serve the local Orthodox population until the 20th century.

At the end of the Second World War, the Boyko ethnic group who lived in the village were forcibly resettled to other parts of Poland, and Catholic Poles were encouraged to settle in the region. As a result, the Greek Orthodox church was converted for use as a Roman Catholic church for the second half of the 20th century. It has recently been taken over by the Museum of Folk Architecture in the nearby town of Sanok and is now used only as a museum. A mass is held in the church just once each year, on Ascension Day (40 days after Easter).

The church interior is nearly empty, as the Greek Orthodox iconostasis and icons are now on permanent display in the Sanok museum. A few badly faded painted frescoes can be seen on the wooden walls, including one depicting the crucifixion of Christ. The key to the church is kept by the family who live in house number 16 at the opposite end of the village. They are happy to come and open the church for visitors who come by car, as the distance to the church is about two kilometres along the road.

The village of Ulucz is best reached with your own transport, though there are infrequent buses which run to the village from the town of Sanok. Another excellent option is renting a bicycle in Sanok in order to travel to Ulucz and to have the opportunity to visit other villages in the region as well.