Cerkiew świętego Łukasza Apostoła i Ewangelisty Kunkowa

The Filial Orthodox Church of St. Luke the Apostle in Kunkowa (previously Greek Catholic)

Monuments

Na wprost drewniana cerkiew, obita ciemnym gontem z kwadratową wieżą, z pochyłymi ścianami, z izbicą i baniastym hełmem z wieżyczką z sygnaturką. Na dole wieży nieduży, zadaszony przedsionek. Za nią niższa nawa z dwoma oknami, z dachem pokrytym blachą i z baniastym hełmem z wieżyczką z sygnaturką. Z tyłu u góry widać fragment wieżyczki prezbiterium. Po prawej i lewej drewniane małe budynki z dachami pokrytymi blachą i z krzyżami. Przed niewielkie usypane wzgórze. Po prawej stronie cerkwi widać fragment betonowego krzyża. Na około drzewa i prawie bezchmurne niebo.

Kunkowa 16, 38-315 Uście Gorlickie Tourist region: Beskid Sądecki i Niski

tel. +48 183516412
tel. +48 183534304

Towering over the village, the Westminster Church was built in the mid-19th century. After 1947 and the displacement of the Lemkos, it was a Roman Catholic church, and after 1955 it was handed over to an Orthodox parish. Today, it belongs to the Gorlice deanery of the Przemyśl Diocese of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

The church was probably built in 1868, as evidenced by the date engraved above the door of the babinets, but some parts are earlier and come from a church dating from around 1771. After 1947, the Lemkos living in the village were displaced, and after 1955, they collectively returned to their homes, which was a rare occurrence in the area. With them came the return of the Orthodox parish and the traditional making of wooden objects, including wooden toys. Since then, the church has been renovated several times, first from 1969 to 1970, then at the end of the 20th century and again in 2002 and 2019.

It is an oriented tripartite church of log construction with shingled walls. The nave has a vestibule, and the narrower, three-sided closed presbytery has a vestry. The pillar-and-frame tower with granite has sloping walls and an overhanging chamber. The roofs are covered with sheet metal, tent-shaped over the nave, multi-pitched over the chancel, ridge-shaped, and gabled over part of the granary. The bottom of the roof slopes is kinked with faults; the roofs and the tower peak are crowned by turrets with blind lanterns and wrought-iron crosses.

The ceilings in the presbytery and nave are flat with a cove, and they are flat in the granary. The complete classicist iconostasis, the work of Jan Jakubowski and the polychromes, which are figural on the ceilings and architectural on the walls and imitate marble pilasters and columns, date from 1904–1905. In the presbytery is a Baroque high altar with a canopy and a tabernacle from the early 19th century, and in the nave are Baroque side altars from the 18th century. On the walls hang icons from the Baroque period, including an almost complete iconostasis from the 18th century, made in the workshops of Muszyna. The iconostases of Christ the Teacher in the chancel, Saint Luke in the nave and Saint Nicholas in the babinets are from an older iconostasis dating from 1660.

A wooden fence with a gate surrounds the church grounds. On the hillside above the temple is a village cemetery with early 20th-century gravestones.