St George's Cathedral in Lviv, Ukraine
St George's Cathedral in Lviv, Ukraine is an Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and located on St George Hill, over-looking the city of Lviv. The baroque-rococo cathedral was constructed between 1744-1760 but it was often a target of the invaders and vandals and at least two versions of St George Cathedral were built before the present construction.
The first St George's Cathedral was built from wood around year 1280 and was destroyed by King Casimir III of Poland in year 1340. The construction of present St George's Cathedral began under Metropolitan Athanasius Sheptytsky in 1746 and was finished in 1762 when it became the heart of the Greek Catholic religion in the Ukraine. The cathedral hosted the Synod of Lviv after the World War II and was forced to renounce the union with Rome. Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was joined with Russian Orthodox Church until August 12, 1990, when members of the nationalistic People's Movement of Ukraine party occupied the St George's Cathedral. Two days later the governing council of the Lviv Oblast recognized the claim of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to the St Georges Cathedral. The restoration works of the cathedral started on the 400th anniversary of the Union of Brest in 1996.
St George's Cathedral houses tombs of many prominent figures of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church: cardinal Sylvester Sembra-tovych, metropolitan Andrei Sheptyts'kyi, patriarchy Joseph Slipyi, metropolitan Volodymyr Sterniuk and Myroslav-Ivan Cardinal Liubachivs'kyi.
