Potelych

Potelych or Potylych [Потелич or Потилич; Potelyč or Potylyč]. See Google Map; EU map: III-4. A former Galician town, now a village (1968 pop 2,500) in Lviv raion, Lviv oblast. It was first mentioned (under the name Telych) in the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle under the year 1262. In 1498 it was granted Magdeburg law. The zenith of Potelych’s development occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was noted for its pottery and glassworks. Notable examples of wooden church architecture in Potylych are: the Potelych Church of the Holy Ghost, the fortified Trinity Church (built 1593), and the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God (1607). The latter two churches were destroyed during the Second World War, but 50 works of religious art from all three churches are preserved at the National Museum in Lviv.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]