St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church
50 kilometers east from Edmonton; 50 kilometers west from Vegreville
Lamont County
To date, very little information is available about this church's history. According to the Lamont County booklet - "This church was built in 1912 in the rural community of Buczacz. In 1917 Peter Lipinski painted the interior of the church with traditional images of the Easterm Byzantine rite."(1)
The church is currently located at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, 50 kilometers east of Edmonton along Highway 16, and just 3 kilometers east of Elk Island National Park.
Oriented on the east-west axis, the church is designed on a central longitudinal cruciform plan following Byzantine traditions. The church has one large dome plus 2 smaller domes. One enters the narthex through a small vestibule under the choir loft. The narthex leads into the nave with north and south transepts. There are no individual entrances from the exterior for each transept. Within the chancel there is the sanctuary that surrounds the altar. In addition, there are two identical sacristies located north and south of the crossing with individual entrances from the exterior. There is an iconostasis.
A large drum fixture rises from the intersection of the roofs over the nave. The structure then supports a high octagonal (onion-shaped) dome. A large wrought iron cross sits on top of the dome. There are two (2) smaller domes at each end of the church.