One of the many things that I love about Ukraine is that you will be driving along through a small village or town and come across an old structure that is just part of the landscape. I imagine that this is the case in many parts of Europe but we just don’t see this in Canada. Most of the time these buildings are not commercialized and you are free to roam at will. The Catholic Church at Turylche was such a landmark. The church is quite well preserved and the outside architecture has alcoves which contain statues of saints. The window openings are fairly unscathed except for the absence of glass. Inside, the main alter is still intact and it is evident that people still come and leave flowers. After so many years of neglect some damage is to be expected and one of the ironic victims is the severed bishop’s head of stone resting on the floor. One of the favourite parts of my trip was the little baba we met at the church who was grazing her cow. I couldn’t understand much of what she said but the expression on her face conveyed a thousand words. She was telling my friends the story of her life and the history of the town and the church. Apparently the church is over 300 years old and was built during the time of the Polish occupation of the area. The church looks like it is on a main road so should be easy to locate if you find yourself in the village of Turylche.
