Pidkamin

Pidkamin ( _uk. Підкамінь, _pl. Podkamień) is a town in the Brody district, Lviv oblast in Ukraine. It has a population of about 2 500 and is located at around coord|49|57|N|25|19|E|type:city(2500)_region:UA-46|display=title, 23km SE of Brody, 32 km SW of Kremenets and 30 km NE of Zolochiv.

The village takes its name (translatable into English as "below the rock") from an inselberg, called the "devils rock", located on the adjacent hill. Pidkamin became know for a Dominican monastery. It was first established, by twelve monks from a monastery established by Saint Hyacinth in Kyiv, who were forced to flee from the city when it was ravaged by Mongols. They were martyred by Tatars in 1245, however the monastery was reestablished in 1464 by the Latin Archbishop of Lviv Gregory of Sanok. During the 17th century a fortified abbey was constructed. Pidkamin hosted a wonder working icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary (a copy of the famous Protectress of the Roman People from the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome), crowned in 1727 by the Latin Rite bishop of Lutsk Stefan Rupniewski, assisted by other Roman and Greek Catholic bishops, with a crown conferred by Pope Benedict XIII. The icon was again crowned in 1927 by the Latin Rite Metropolitan of Lviv Bolesław Twardowski and in 1959 by the Primate of Poland Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński. After World War II the icon was removed from Pidkamin to rescue it from communists and today remains in the Dominican church of St. Adalbert in Wrocław, Poland. After the region came under Austrian rule in 1772 the monastery suffered from the policies of Emperor Joseph II, and although it was saved by the emperors death, it never regained its former significance. During World War I Pidkamin was largely destroyed by Russian artillery in 1915. After World War II in 1946 the monastery was closed by the soviets and turned into a jail. Among the inmates was the Blessed Priest and Martyr Nicholas Tsehelskyj. Later the monastery was used as psychiatric hospital, which still exists, and the church was turned into a stable. After the collapse of the soviet union and the emergence of independent Ukraine, the ruins of the monastery were given to Ukrainian Greek Catholic Studite Monks.

Famous People associated with Pidkamin

Leopold Buchkowski (1905-1989), polish writer, artist

Near-by towns

* Brody

External links

* [http://pidkamin.ridne.net/ Ethnographical festival in Pidkamin]
* [http://pidkamin.ridne.net/pidkamin About Pidkamin (in Ukrainian)]
* [http://pidkamin.ridne.net/history History of Pidkamin (in Ukrainian)]
* [http://pidkamin.ridne.net/image/tid/12 Photos of Pidkamin]