Dendrochronological dating of St. George’s Orthodox Church in Drohobych, Ukraine

Abstract

St. George’s Orthodox Church in Drohobych is a wooden monument of sacral architecture, recently registered in the UNESCO World Heritage List. However, clear, unequivocal written sources about the origins of the structure are lacking. Absolute dating was attempted with the dendrochronological method, and it was carried out in a noninvasive way due to the status and value of the object. Construction elements of the church were documented with over 40 macrophotographs. The studies were made for selected elements, displaying distinct perpendicular or tangential cross sections. Most of the elements examined represented fir wood. It turned out that the wood used for the construction of this church was contemporaneous and most likely represented a single construction phase. The 124-year chronology based on correlated curves covers the period 1464–1598 AD. Construction elements with the outermost rings retained indicate that the timber was harvested in the 1590s. In most cases, the outermost rings were lacking, which allowed only for dating terminus post quem. The youngest preserved rings (1598 AD) from the church wood apparently reveal the dates of both the wood harvesting and the structure’s construction. Such a dating may indicate that the church mentioned in the sources as purchased in Nadiyevo in 1657 AD could be the basis for the rebuilding of Drohobych St. George’s Orthodox Church, only adapted to the new conditions. The church later underwent renovation, consisting in reconstruction of the dome in 1821 AD.