All modern photos on this page are taken by Rostyslav Lynnyk in April 2007

Specially for our project, Vil'khivka was visited by Rostyslav and Svitlana Lynnyk in April 2007. According to their observations the church is situated on a hill in the central part of the village; a cemetery is located nearby. The iconostasis looks new, the walls are ornamented, and there are also some anecdotal paintings on the ceiling. Wall paintings look new too (perhaps they have been "retouched").
The church functions and belongs to the UOC KP. We managed to enquire the local priest about its history, and the following information was furnished by him.
The church was built without a single nail in the forest for a hamlet that had forty houses; that's why it's not big. Officially it dates back to 1782: this date is carved on the door jamb. But not long ago during a reconstruction of the floor a new date of 1670 was found, carved on the wall.
Once, during the war, Germans with binoculars were hiding in the church but they were noticed by Soviet soldiers who hit the cupola with a shell making a big hole in it.
In the Soviet times the church was planned to be demolished in the context of the struggle against religion. A bulldozer was kept in readiness. But a village resident had time to put the Exaltation church on the architecture monuments list [this story sounds rather fishily since such lists were not compiled by whoever - WCU]. Somehow or other, the church was not disturbed anymore though at the same time nothing was done for its preservation. Later it was handed over to the UOC KP.
At one time the icons from the church were taken to the Museum of Volyn' icon in Luts'k; some of them still remain there while less valuable ones have been returned to the church.

[ПГА, т.2, с.67]: О дате строительства свидетельствует резная надпись над входом в притвор. Типичная для Волыни приземистая по своим пропорциям церковь.
Деревянная, трехсрубная, одноглавая, с частично сохранившимся поддашием на кронштейнах. Обшитые досками срубы - одной высоты, однако центральный выделен как своими размерами, так и массивной главой на восьмигранном световом барабане, увенчанной декоративной главкой.
Относится к группе памятников, наиболее полно сохранивших свои первоначальные формы. Преобладание горизонтальных членений достигнуто приемом, когда коньки крыш и карниз над барабаном находятся на одной линии, а карнизы срубов и поддашие сильно подчеркнуты. Представляет интерес в памятнике частично сохранившаяся настенная масляная живопись XIX в.
Колокольня, расположенная отдельно от церкви, деревянная, двухъярусная, завершена шатром.

© 2007, Olena Krushynska (derevkhramy@ukr.net)
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