Saint Basil’s Church (Церква св. Василія; Tserkva sv. Vasyliia). An architectural monument of the Princely era in Ovruch (now in Zhytomyr oblast). Built in the second half of the 12th century in a Byzantine style influenced strongly by the Romanesque, it was a square, three-nave structure with two towers at its western end. In 1321 the church was destroyed during the siege of Ovruch by the Lithuanian grand duke Gediminas. In 1734 a small wooden church was raised within the neglected building, and thereby saved it from complete destruction. During restoration work in 1842, the ceiling and cupolas caved in. In 1907–9 the church was restored in the pseudo-Byzantine style by A. Vesnin and V. Maksimov, using A. Shchusev’s design, and many of its original features were obliterated.

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