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The National Gallery of Armenia with the support of the Embassy of Poland in Armenia organizes an exhibition entitled “The Revival of the Armenian Cathedral of Lviv”. As the National Gallery reports in a released statement, one of Europe’s largest and most impressive Armenian colonies was established in Lviv in the 13th-14th centuries. It has long been the spiritual and administrative center of Polish-Armenian people.

The cathedral is a vaulted basilica with a cruciform plan and outwardly decorated arches with frescoes inside it. The cathedral has much common with churches of Ani. According to the researchers it was built by Armenian constructors directed by master Doring.

According to the source, the cathedral of the Assumption of Mary is one of Lviv’s oldest buildings and has been included into UNESCO’s World Heritage list. Later it was extended, as new buildings appeared around, including tower-belfry, the nunnery, the school, the two-storied dwelling of the bishop and congregation members, the printing-house, the cemetery and others.

From the 17th century to the first half of the 20th century the monastery was the residence of Lviv Diocese of Armenian Catholic Church.

In the soviet years after the liquidation of the diocese the depositories of Lviv museums were placed in the cathedral. In 2001, the latter was returned to the Armenian community and Armenian Apostolic Church.

The Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary reflects the whole life period of Armenian colony settled in Poland in the 11th-12th centuries. It became the new and unique image obtained in the result of close cultural and spiritual relations with Eastern European countries.

With the financial support of Polish authorities, the Alumni Association of the Kraków Heritage Academy carried out the restoration and conservation work of the cathedral’s interior design in 2008-2015. Several exhibitions dedicated to the Armenian cathedral and its creators were organized in Lviv and in different cities of Poland.

The exhibition representing the cathedral will open in Armenia on Wednesday to be open till May 27, 2017.