| The Church of St. George in the
Polish section | Trinitatian Roman Catholic Church |
| The Church of the Exhaltation of the Cross in the
Karvasary area | The Dominican Roman Catholic Church
|
| The groundwork of the Church of John the Baptist
| A bell tower of Armenian Church of the Annunciation |
| Interioir of the Cathedral Roman Catholic Church of
St.Paul |
Kamyanets-Podilsky was inhabited by settlers who belonged to three communities: the Rutheni-ans (or Ukrainians), the Armenians and the Poles, each of them possessing a number of churches. During Kamyanets' most flourishing period the city boasted some thirty non-secular structures of which only thirteen still survive today.
Historians insist that the Orthodox monastery of the Resurrection which existed in the 12th century in the Ruthenian (Ruska) section was the oldest one. The Armenian Church of the Annunciation which dates to the 13th century is among the oldest structures preserved. Once it was the principal temple of the Armenian community and as far as the size is concerned it was in no way inferior to the giant St. Nicholas' Church which was built a century later (only a small fraction is survived). The Annunciation Church was ruined by the Turks in late 17th century, it was never restored. Only the altar section survived and this was subsequently turned into a chapel.
In the 16th-17th century St.Tri-nity Church was the cathedral church of the Ukrainian community; according to some sources its foundation dates to the reign of the Lithuanian princes Koryato-vichi in the 14th century. In 1781, the status of a cathedral was conferred on the Church of John the Baptist (15th c.) which is located on the Armenian Market. Both structures were dismantled in 1930. Of similar type was the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (16th c.) located in Karl Marx (former Tatarska) Street. A salient feature of the above-mentioned structures was the presence of stone towers for defensive purposes.
In the 19th century another three Orthodox churches were built in the city: the church of St. George in the Polish section, the church of the Intercession in the Ruthenian section, the church of St. Alexander Nevsky in the New City.
Many Orthodox churches which greatly defined the unique aspect of the medieval city are lost, among them the Church of St. Michael and the Church of the Dormition in the south of the Old City, the wooden Church of the Ascension in the Armenian Market and St. Nicholas" (Ukrainian) Church on the south border of the island, three churches (of the Savior, of St. Onuphrius and of the Nativity of Christ) in the canyon of the Smotrich River and a church in the Castle. These churcnes were among the city's inherited glories in the latter half of the 17th century.
The western part of the medieval Old City boasted numerous Roman Catholic churches and monasteries: the Monastery of the Jesuits (not survived), the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Church of St. Catherine, the monasteries of the Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites (not survived), Trinitarians. In the city centre there are the precincts of the Dominican monastery (the oldest in Kamyanets), which was founded as early as the 14th century but the Baroque-style architecture was accomplished by Jan de Witt in the mid-18th century.
The cathedral Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter and St. Paul was located in the north-west of the Central Square. Its construction was started in the 15th century, and considerable alterations were added to the building in the centuries that followed. In the years of Turkish yoke, in late 17th century, a minaret was attached to the structure. The general aspect of Kamyanets presents a kind of encyclopaedia of architecture of various styles and epochs.
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