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Holy Intercession Church, Sutkivtsi

The Holy Intercession Church is a stone fortified church, built in honor of the feast of the Intercession. It is located in the village of Sutkivtsi, Khmelnytskyi Raion, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Ukraine. It functions as both a fortress and a church. The Intercession Church is a unique example of defensive construction in Podillia, and is now a functioning church and museum. It is one of the oldest defensive churches in Ukraine and the only medieval defensive temple of the tetraconch type. Its closest analogue is the keep church of the castle in Étampes, France.

History
Originally, the Intercession Church was constructed as a defensive structure, as the village was located on the (part of the Black Trail), which was periodically raided by Tatars. In 1476 the fortress was rebuilt into a church with a brick ribbed vault on the first tier and Gothic nervures above the second tier of the central space. In the 16th century, the walls of the first tier were painted with frescoes; fragments of them have survived to this day. In the second half of the 18th century, a two-tiered wooden bell tower with a Baroque spire was erected above the porch. It is likely that at the same time the western facade of the building was converted into a front façade and the entrance to the church was arranged there. == Architecture ==
Architecture
In its spatial planning, the Sutkivtsi Intercession Church belongs to the type of tetraconch structures with a central volume (10 x 11 m) and four semi-cylindrical towers adjacent to it. The western semicircle along the façade and the entire height of the walls is highlighted by a straight section of 3.8 m. The walls are 1.5–1.8 m thick and made of small stone filled with limestone mortar. The ceilings above the first tier are a system of brick cross and conch vaults with formwork on the nervures. In the central space they rest on a pillar, forming fan-shaped bundles of nervures at its corners; in the semicircles, separated from the central space by arches, there is some semblance of a star vault. In the places where the nervures rest, cantilever blocks of various designs are laid, and the rock blocks with heraldic shields are located along the upper line of the vault. The stairs to the second floor are internal and made of stone. The façades were originally covered with ochre-colored grout mixed with crushed brick. On the second tier, machicules (for foot combat) have been preserved: the central machicule is above the entrance, the lower part of the pillar that rose from the basement tier and supported the hipped roof (the base of the pillar can be seen in the basement floor). The lower parts of the gables, disassembled and leveled with the roof, have been preserved. On the second tier, the corner turrets-bartisans at the corners of the central volume of the church are of interest. The roof is made of shingles. The frescoes are partially preserved under the cement plaster. They date back to the 16th century, and above them are the remains of a 19th-century oil painting, lost during amateur renovations in the 1990s. There were cellars under the church where many human remains were discovered. In addition, an underground passage led to the . The monument is a work of architectural art of the 14th–18th centuries, and has no analogues in its architecture and planning in the country. As of July 2011, the state has allocated 5.5 million hryvnias for restoration work, but its start is still awaited. == Gallery ==
Gallery
File:Fortified Church in Sutkivtsi.jpg|View of a semicircular side File:Покровська церква-фортеця (мур.) 14-15 ст.,д.п.18 ст..JPG|Corner view File:Оборонна церква в с. Сутківці, Аерофото 01.jpg|Top view File:Sutkivtsi̠Church̠Drone.jpg|Bird's eye view File:Sutkivtsi 2 2.webm|360° view File:Покровська церква-фортеця Сутківці 05.jpg|Interior File:Сходи на другий поверх11.jpg|Stairs to the second floor File:Стовп15.jpg|Pillar File:Бойовий парапет з бійницями-машикулями.jpg|Parapet with machicolations File:Вхід до підвалу.jpg|Entrance to the basement File:Могила в підвалі.jpg|Grave in the basement File:186!--orda ~398.jpg|The church in 1861 == References ==
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