Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish (Korostyshiv)

The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Korostyshiv is an eighteenth-century architectural monument of local significance in the Baroque-Renaissance style. The history of the church and parish dates to 1608, when the parish was founded and the first wooden church blessed. This was made possible by Count Adam Olizar, who converted from Orthodoxy to Catholicism, and Anna Olizar. Between 1776 and 1779, the wooden church was rebuilt in masonry, combining Baroque and Louis XVI styles, with funding from the Olizar family. In 1802, Filip Olizar added the family’s funerary chapel to the church. The Olizars held ownership rights over the Korostyshiv area. The church was consecrated in 1855.

During the Soviet period in Ukraine, the church remained open until 1936. From 1936 to 1938, it was used as a grain warehouse.

From 1938 to 1991, it was used as a cinema.

During the period of Ukrainian independence, the church was handed over to the Roman Catholic community in 1991, on 29 June. Repairs and restoration of its interior and exterior were completed in 1997.

On 9 November 1997, Stanislav Shyrokoradiuk, Auxiliary Bishop of Zhytomyr, reconsecrated the church. On 27 September 2008, during celebrations of the parish’s four-hundredth anniversary, Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič, Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, blessed the clock and chimes in the church tower. On 29 June 2017, Bishop Emeritus Jan Purwiński celebrated a solemn Holy Mass marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the church’s return to the faithful.