We are glad to welcome our travelers on the location "Holy Transfiguration Monastery". As you have already understood, Lev Halytsky adored the Stary Sambir region so much that he spent the last years of his life here. In his old age, the prince withdrew from the world and became a monk. He lived in Spasky Men's Monastery, but considered it too crowded. Lev liked to visit the Monastery of Holy Onufry in Lavriv, because it was more peaceful.
From the falsified Prince’s document that is issued in Lviv on January 12, 1292, we learn that Lev built not only the Church in Spas in the place of the wooden one, but also with the consent of Przemyśl bishop Hilarion, turned it into the Sambir cathedral. Later the monastery was the winter residence of the Przemyśl bishops and a training school of priests.
The territory of the monastery consisted of two parts, the first of which was the household yard. To the left of the gate was a palisade, to the right, a defensive tower, built of good stone and brick, covered with shingles, enclosed the yard. It had a quadrangular shape and contained a belfry with four bells on the second floor. This powerful defensive structure also served as a prison for clergy. The second courtyard was surrounded by a stone wall, behind which the monastery premises and the church were located.
On May 14, 1772, Austrian troops set foot on the land of Galicia. From that time, it began the elimination of all typical features of the Middle Ages. One of them was the monastery in Spas, abolished by imperial patent in 1786. The monastery church stood for another 30 years. Before it was dismantled in 1816, the engineer Ritner made a plan of the temple, which is preserved in the second photo.
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