Good Friday, Church of

Good Friday, Church of (Piatnytska Tserkva; also Tserkva sv. Paraskevy). (Photo: Church of the Good Friday.) An important architectural monument of the Kievan Rus’ period in Chernihiv, built near the site of a former market in the late 12th or early 13th century. The church differs from others in Chernihiv by its finish, ornamentation, and the structure of its vault. Its general shape is square. The church has three naves (8.2 m by 12.5 m) and three apses, with four supporting pillars, which carry the weight of the vault and one cupola. The interior is distinctive for its sense of great spaciousness. Restorations in the Ukrainian Baroque style were made to the church in 1670 and in the 1690s (probably by the architect Ivan Zarudny), and paid for by the colonel of Chernihiv regiment, V. Dunin-Borkovsky. In the 17th century a convent was attached to the church, but it burned down in 1750. In the 1820s a bell tower, designed by the architect A. Kartashevsky, was built for the church; the tower was torn down during restorations. The church, damaged in 1941, was restored after the Second World War under the direction of P. Baranovsky.