Exaltation of the Holy Cross Parish (Zviahel)

The older Roman Catholic churches in Zviahel, one dating from the first third of the seventeenth century and another from 1726, were destroyed. The masonry Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, built between 1753 and 1766, was closed by the Soviet authorities and blown up in 1935.

Religious life revived in the town, then known as Novohrad-Volynskyi, in 1989. Through the efforts of local faithful, notably Mrs Yadviha Yakubovska, Catholics obtained permission to build a new masonry Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Construction began that year under Fr Vikentii Vitko, who had been appointed pastor in 1983. With the help of local residents, who raised funds and personally took part in the work, the church was built by autumn 1992. Construction was fully completed that autumn, and Bishop Jan Purwiński consecrated the church on 17 October.