The Uniate Cathedral of Chełm

Founded as an Orthodox church in the 13th century, this cathedral became Catholic when the Greek-rite diocese of Chełm (in present-day southeastern Poland) joined the Union of Brest with the papacy in 1596. Under Bishop Felicjan Wołodkowicz (1731–56), the church was rebuilt in the Baroque style, taking on an appearance similar to that of many Roman Catholic churches. This cathedral was also an important shrine, thanks to a Marian image venerated by Christians of different rites and confessions across the region. This engraving accompanied an account of the image's coronation in 1765, a characteristically Baroque and Catholic ceremony.

Façade of the Uniate cathedral of Chełm, engraving, ca. 1780, artist: Teodor Rakowiecki; source: Koronacya cudownego obrazu nayswiętszey Maryi Panny w chełmskiey katedrze obrządku greckiego […] odprawiona, s.l. 1780, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%A2%D0%B5%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BE%D1%80_%D0%A0%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%86%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9._%D0%A4%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%B4_%D0%A1%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%83_%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%B2%D1%8F%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%97_%D0%91%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%86%D1%96_%D1%83_%D0%A5%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BC%D1%96.png, public domain.