Green Velo

Over the valley of the Wiar River, Posada Rybotycka boasts one of the most interesting sacral monuments of the Carpathian Plateau. The Orthodox church of St. Onuphrius is the oldest defensive Orthodox church in Poland.

It was built between the mid-14^th and the 15^th centuries. The oldest part is its presbytery with gables dating back to the 14^th century. Built out of raw stone and lime mortar, the church is divided into three parts. Until 1692, it was an Orthodox church, later taken over by Roman Catholics. On the walls, one can see preserved polychrome paintings with Latin inscriptions from the beginning of the 16^th century. Up until the 18^th century, the church was used by the Basilian Order, and later became a parish church. According to local lore, the last Przemyśl ruler, Michał Kopystański, who died in 1642, is buried in the crypt underneath the church. After the forced resettlement of the Ukrainian population during the Vistula Operation in 1947, the building began to fall into disrepair. It was only in 1966 when the 16^th century polychrome paintings in the Byzantine style were discovered that a renovation of the building started. In 1977, the church became property of the National Museum of the Przemyśl Region. After efforts undertaken in the 1990s, it was returned to its original function and became a church of the Greek Catholic Archcathedral parish. Since 2011, visitors can admire the reconstructed polychrome paintings and the interior of the church.