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Heart of Jesus Church

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The neo-Gothic church was built between 1891 and 1894 according to the plans of the architect Josef Laizner, director of the Chernivtsi Trade School. The foundation stone was laid on 7 June 1891 and the church bells came from Scotland. The church was named after the largest bell, the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1857 the Roman Catholic community in Chernivtsi numbered 7,347. By 1900 it had grown to 18,696. The Roman Catholic community was the second largest in the city after the Jewish community. The Catholic Church in Bukovina was run by the Jesuit order, which was mainly active in Galicia in the 19th century. As the community in Chernivtsi grew, so did the demand for a new church for Catholics. With the approval of the provincial government, a site was chosen in what was then Ferdinand Square, in the south of the city.

Religious buildings & cemeteries

built

1891 - 1894

The church was consecrated on 25 October 1894 by the Archbishop of Lviv, Seweryn Ritter von Morawski. Its size and capacity were reported in the local press: “The church, built in pure Gothic style, is 14 metres high inside, 60 metres high with the tower, and has a capacity of 2,000 people in the nave, which is 26 metres long and 17 metres wide.” (Bukowinaer Rundschau, 23 October 1894, p. 3).

During the inter-war period, there was a daily service in the church at 9 a.m., and even twice on Sundays: at 9 a.m. in German and at 11.30 a.m. in Polish. When the Soviet army returned to Chernivtsi in 1944, the church was confiscated by the Soviet authorities. All the Catholic clergy left the town. The building was initially given to the Orthodox Church but lost its function as a place of worship in 1960. The Soviet administration established a state archive here. The interior of the building was completely rebuilt: several ceilings and walls were demolished. The valuable church organ was dismantled and is now considered lost.

Over the following decades, the condition of the church building gradually deteriorated. In 2010, the city of Chernivtsi returned the building to the Catholic community. Following the relocation of the State Archives, the church is being restored. The floor and the fence around the building are still in their original state. Two Sunday services have recently been held there. (http://www.serceisusa.org/).

Text: Kateryna Stetsevych und Oksana Herheliinyk