The Baroque Shrine and Greek Catholic Monastery of Pochaiv

Situated in the early modern Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and more specifically in present-day western Ukraine, the originally Orthodox monastery of Pochaiv transitioned to Greek-rite Catholicism in the early 18th century. On the initiative of the Polish magnate Mikołaj Bazyli Potocki (1707–1782), who gave generous financial support to the monastery, a new main church was built in the late Baroque style in the 1770s and early 1780s. Like many other major Eastern Christian monasteries, that of Pochaiv boasted a Marian icon that attracted numerous pilgrims.

Poczajów, Ławra, black-and-white photograph on postcard, 1937, photographer: Jan Bułhak; source: Polona (Biblioteka narodowa, Poland), https://polona.pl/item-view/dc14da41-e797-4b20-875a-3ba3ea36f88a?page=0, public domain.