Watch Day was celebrated at St. Paraskewa Church on September 21. The day was organized by Muzeum Kresów in nearby Lubaczów, with a full-day program designed to engage members of the surrounding communities and demonstrate the potential of the church as a site of cultural interest. Children from a local school learned about the history and techniques of icon painting, and created their own paintings in the style of traditional icons as well as drawings of the church. Schoolchildren also performed a reenactment of the story of Katarzyna Dubniewczów, a woman who was carried away by the Tatars during a siege of the church in 1672. According to the story, the “branka,” or captive, was then sold as a slave, and later became the wife of an official in the Ottoman Empire. Many years later she managed to return to Radruż, where she used her precious jewelry to help repair the church of St. Paraskewa. As part of the Watch Day celebrations, musicians from Rzeszów performed inside the sanctuary for the enjoyment of visitors..
View of St. Paraskewa Church on Watch Day 2012. The timber-framed church dates to the late sixteenth century.
Students from the middle school of Horyniec-Zdrój create drawings and paintings inspired by the church.
The students learn about traditional icon painting and try their hand at replicating the elements of this sacred art.
Students display their artwork, interpreting the more than 400-year-old church as an important part of their heritage.
The students performed a reenactment of the story of Katarzyna Dubniewczów.
Students pose with their teachers after the performance of the famous story of the “branka.”
Watch Day ended with a string quartet concert performed by musicians from Rzeszów, which demonstrated the potential of the site to be used for similar events. The program included works by Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn, Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as arrangements of sacred music and poetry.
St. Paraskewa Church viewed through the gate of the site’s stone wall enclosure.
