“The Cathedral of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, located in Kamianets-Podilskyi, can be called the most original not only in Khmelnytskyi Oblast, but also in Ukraine.The Cathedral is a current Catholic cathedral. A landmark of the history of culture and architecture of Ukraine, one of the main tourist attractions of the city.
The architectural ensemble of the Church includes: a church, a bell tower, a triumphal arch and a minaret. Contains features of Renaissance, Baroque and Neo-Gothic architecture.

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With the establishment in Podolia in 1362 of the power of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Kamianets-Podilskyi was chosen as its administrative center. Religion, as one of the strongest levers of influence on the people, had to meet the requirements of secular power. That is why the efforts of the new authorities were directed to appeal to Catholicism — the main religion of the Lithuanian principality.

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Thanks to these events, Pope George XI founded the Catholic Diocese of Podolia (1378) in the city, which required confirmation of its high status in the form of a wooden cathedral built on the money of the Koriatovych princes.
Five years later, at the request of the Polish King, Pope Gregory XI, establishes a diocese in Kamenets and the church becomes a cathedral. The first biscoop is believed to have been the Dominican William. The construction of the stone church is associated with the bishop Jacob Buchatsky (1502-1517), who was a devout and wealthy man, also allocated funds for the fortification of Kamianetsky Castle.

Initially, the church was in the Romanesque style, was distinguished by simplicity of forms and had three naves. At that time, the altar was oriented to the west and was located where the entrance to the temple is now. By the middle of the 17th century. the church was formed as a three-nave church, with a long presbytery, several Renaissance chapels and a high portico, the western pediment of which was resolved in the forms of Mannerism.

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Despite the change of citizenship to Polish, or perhaps precisely because of this event (Poland is also a Catholic country), ten funds (a tenth of the income) of thirty-two villages of Kamianetsky, Vinnytsia and Skala elders and the labor of their peasants were allocated for the construction of a cathedral made of stone. After a fifteen-year period of construction (from 1502 to 1517), the stone fortress, which received the name in honor of Saints Peter and Paul, saw the light.

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During the 16th century, the cathedral in the process of completion acquires the finished features: the chapel of the Holy Communion, the Immaculate Conception and Consolation of the Virgin, a new altar part.The Turkish domination over the Podolsk lands, which lasted twenty-seven years (until 1699), made its own adjustments to the architecture Ensemble — near the main entrance to the cathedral, a minaret rose to heaven, because the complex itself at that time served as the main cathedral mosque of Kamianets-Podolsk.

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The return to the bosom of the Catholic Church (18th century) marked an era of prosperity for the cathedral, which took place under the sign of the transformation from Romanesque minimalism to Gothic splendor. And as a visualization of the superiority of Christianity over Islam, a sculpture of the Virgin Mary was installed on top of the minaret in 1756. Initially, the Virgin was wooden, and already during the period of the Bishopric of Nikolay Dembovsky in 1756 in Gdansk, actually by order of the biskup, a sculptural composition was made, which can now be seen on the minaret. It was covered with gilding already during the period of independence. The height of the sculpture is 4.5 meters. It is made of a metal frame, which is covered with copper and silver alloy sheets on top. Given the massiveness of the composition, here the hinged mount is designed in such a way that during strong winds the sculpture has the ability to deviate to the sides and return to a vertical position. The Virgin stands on the Earth and the Crescent and blesses the city and the land. Around her head is a halo of 12 stars.

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After the entry of Podillya into the Russian Empire (1792), despite the predominant Orthodoxy of the country, the fate of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul practically did not change — it remains the center of Catholicism of the Kamenets diocese. In 1853-1860, large-scale restoration work was carried out here.The era of prosperity ends with the Polish uprising of 1863, which resulted in repressive measures of the Russian government in relation to the Catholic Church: the status of the Kamenets diocese was reduced to apostolic administration atury.

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The declaration of independence of Ukraine in 1918 led by Hetman Pavel Petrovich Skoropadsky (1873—1945) for a short time (two months) returned the cathedral status of cathedral under the Kamenets diocese with the consent of the head of Roman Catholics.

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With the establishment of Soviet power in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, the ministers of the cult are replaced by museum workers (1930) — the “Department of the History of Religion and Atheism” of the Kamianets-Podolsk Historical Museum-Reserve was opened in its walls, where organ music concerts were also held Again, holiness reigned in the walls of the cathedral together with the return of the Catholic episcopate only in 1991 after the second declaration of independence of Ukraine.

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Architecture

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The southern facade of the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in Kamianets-PodilskyThe original stone building of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Kamianets-Podolsky (beginning of the 16th century) was made as a three-nave church in the Romanesque style with its inherent weight of vaults and minimalism in the decorative decoration of the external facades During the first century of its existence, the cathedral takes on the appearance of a finished complex: from the north the chapel of the Holy Communion is being completed, from the south - the Consolation of the Virgin and the Immaculate Conception, to the east - the presbytery.

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Turkish rule (end of 17th century) brings the last big touch to the complex of the now existing monastery — a mosque located in the western part next to the main entrance.
In the XVIII-XIX centuries, the church was reconstructed in the Baroque and pseudo-Gothic style. During the renovation of 1853 — 1862, the artist D.Sampini, with the participation of the Lviv artist M.Yablonski, made tempera frescoes on the walls of the south chapel. At the same time, stained glass windows made of Bohemian glass, a floor of Terebovlian sandstone and Karar marble appeared, a new 20-register organ of work by the Viennese master Hesse was installed. The reconstruction of the 18th century gives the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul a transformation in the Gothic style. Changes affected the external decoration of the buildings — the main facade was decorated with sculptures, pilasters and cornices, and the internal structure — a new main altar is being built with wooden gilded columns decorated with sculpture, a pulpit and chairs of advisers are installed, a throne of yen bishop, confessional.

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The last major reconstruction of the Catholic cathedral (mid-19th century) in Kamianets-Podilskyi mainly affected its appearance, which acquired the features of Neo-Gothic with Baroque elements: the altar was renewed, stained glass windows were installed, the walls and ceiling were decorated with frescoes, and the floor was decorated with marble brick tiles, in the main hall is installed an organ made to order in Vienna.The current Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Kamenka is a building 24 m high, 49 m long and width (with annexes) - 36 m, the central entrance to which opens the way to the main nave with circular arch. The right (southern) side nave with the altar of the Holy Trinity is connected with the chapels of the Immaculate Conception and the Consolation of the Virgin. Left (north) — with the altar of St. John leads to the chapel of the Holy Communion and connects the temple with the minaret, as well as access to the choirs. In nine basements, prominent figures of the Catholic Diocese of Podolsk found their last earthly refuge.

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Attractions

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The triumphal arch of Stanislav Augustus in Kamianets-PodilskyCathedral (XVI — XIX) is a work of art in itself, because the symbiosis of styles and times gave rise to a unique, incomparable architecture. In every element of the complex, even in such a small as a door, which is a unique creation of cold steel with bronze coats of arms of the Pope and Kamianets-Podilskyi on the keys and swords of Peter and Paul, the inspiration with which the artist worked can be traced.

And in the church you can see a sculptural composition of amazing beauty - the marble tombstone of Laura, which historians call a real masterpiece. Laura's story begins with the village of Chorny Ostrov, near Khmelnitsky. She was the youngest daughter of Count Karol Przezdecki. The Przeszczki had a horse factory, were fond of horseback riding. During a walk on horseback, the girl fell from the horse and damaged her spine. She was treated by various doctors, and she died. Her body was buried in the family crypt. After Laura's death, the aunt of the Marquis de Noel commissioned this monument from one of the best sculptors of that time, Victor Brodsky. The master worked on Laura's tombstone in the Vatican all 1876. Therefore, he created an unprecedented masterpiece from a solid marble four-tone plate. The work is so delicate, jeweled, that art critics compare it with a rare work of art.Laura's tombstone with a white marble beauty under a sheet of eternal sleep with a book on the twenty-first page (time of death when falling during a horseback ride) with an extinguished angel The torch of life fascinates with the realism of the picture. 
It is clear that initially Laura's tombstone adorned her burial in the Black Island Church. Since the Przeszczki were magnates and owners of the Black Island and supported the temple in every possible way, therefore they also had such a family privilege as burial in the crypts of the church. But in 1936 the church was closed. The burials were looted, and the memorial tombstone was simply thrown out into the street. In the Soviet years, the sculpture survived by a miracle, its local inhabitants hid it in a chest with grain. Two years later, the tombstones were transferred to the Kamenets-Podolsk Cathedral Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.

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The triumphal arch of Stanisław Augustus (1781) at the entrance to the courtyard of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, decorated with sculptures of St. John and four angels, is installed in honor of the visit of the temple by the last king of Poland during his visit to the Podolsk Land The Turkish minaret (1672) and the Statue of the Virgin (1756) are a symbiosis of two beliefs that gave the world a masterpiece, where at the top of the minaret thirty-six and a half meters high (145 degrees up) “... a great sign appeared in the sky: A woman dressed in the sun: under the night with her moon, and on her head a wreath of twelve stars. She was small in the womb, and cried out from the pain and torment of birth...” (“Revelation” of John the Theologian) with the signature at the foot “Virgin Immaculate Lady Patroness of the City”. The garden near the cathedral is a small corner of mourning, drowning in flowers, with stone crosses and a memorial pillar of Jerzy Volodovsky, who died during the explosion of the powder warehouse of the Black Tower of the Kamianets-Podolsk fortress and a side puddle with an eternal inscription-reminder “Respect The customs of the ancestors.”


Within the framework of the regional cultural action Seven Wonders of Kamianets-Podolsky, which lasted in 2007-2008, the Cathedral Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul was included among the 7 finalists of miracles of the region. Now the Cathedral Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Kamianets-Podilskyi is one of the best preserved large spiritual centers on the territory of Ukraine.