St. Michael the Archangel Church in Turzańsk

The Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Turzańsk is a wooden Orthodox parish church built between 1801 and 1803. It belongs to the Sanok deanery of the Przemyśl-Gorlice diocese of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church and is part of the Subcarpathian Wooden Architecture Trail. The history of the church dates back to 1526, when it was first mentioned as Orthodox and later as a Uniate church. The current building, erected in the 19th century, underwent several renovations, including in 1896 and 1913, as well as in the post-war period. After Operation "Vistula", from 1947 to 1961, it served Catholics, and since 1963 it has been returned to the Orthodox faithful. Interestingly, the church was repeatedly renovated in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as after 2000. In 1985, it was entered into the register of historical monuments, and in 2013 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Architecturally, it is a Lemko-style church of the northeastern type, tripartite and without a tower, covered with a single-ridge roof. Inside, there are eight-field tented domes, a preserved iconostasis, and polychrome paintings by Josyp Bukovczyk. The surrounding three-tier bell tower from 1817 stands out with its tented roof and a stylized turret. It is worth noting that the church cemetery contains tombstones from the late 19th century. The church in Turzańsk is not only an important architectural monument but also a symbol of the region's multiculturalism, where various denominations initially coexisted, and its history reflects the complex past of this part of Poland.