Mezhiritsky Holy Trinity Monastery - monastery complex structures XVI-XVII centuries in the village Mezhirich Volyn. In its layout, composition, compound secular, religious and defensive features Renaissance decor belongs to the greatest architectural monuments of Ukraine.

Is run by the Diocese of Rivne and Ostrog village Mezhirich Ostrog district. According to legend, here , three kilometers from the Jail Rivne region , Orthodox monastery was destroyed by the Tartars in 1241 .

In 1386, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas diploma confirmed right on Prince Theodore of Ostrog Mezhirich . That Fedor Ostrog was in those days, the local owner of a small wooden castle , later burned by the Tatars .

Descendant of Prince Fedor Basil of Ostrog (Red) erected on the site of the wooden castle stone castle walls polutorametrovoy thickness , and his son Ivan Ostrog builds wooden Trinity Church .

But in times of continuous Tatar raids on the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania wooden buildings could not count on a long life. Standing for a few years , the church was burned during one of the raids. But Ostroz'ki not left without mezhirichi temple : in the middle of the XV century. here begins the construction of the stone church , which survives to this day . At the time of their construction and the Trinity Church of the Epiphany ( the latter is in jail ) were the largest stone temples Volyn. That the enemy could not again destroy Slavic shrine princes ordered strengthen Kafka high ramparts . Their traces are still visible around the complex : initially length shafts exceed two kilometers.

According to the inventory in 1571 it is known that the then fort had stone walls covered with teeth - merlons . On the inside of the walls was a defensive wooden gallery . Nearby is a stone bell tower and a wooden bridge . A fortified castle where there is calm and life more vividly , develop crafts and trade . In 1605 Mezhirich received the Magdeburg Law , and townspeople officially receive royal permission to build a town hall , shops and bath , as well as organize fairs twice a year and trading on Sundays. And it's all thanks to the monastery , which at the beginning of the XVII century. moved to the Catholics .

The name of the last member Ostrozhsky , Janusz , castellan of Kraków , he converted to Catholicism , linked an important stage in the development of Kafka . In 1612, on his orders , work began on the reconstruction of the castle and the church of the Franciscan monastery. From the north and south of the church were added to two storey buildings with cells . In their outer corners rose round three-tiered tower with battlements and conical roofs that give even more similarities with the lock. It is possible that reconstruction spending renowned architect Paul Grozditsky (d. 1645 ) , who at the time was building in Lviv royal arsenal. In 1648 Kafka stayed Bohdan Khmelnytsky . Cossacks almost completely destroyed the city in 1708 by the description here recorded the destruction of embankments , and the residence of the gentry have only two fireplaces . But the monastery survived.

Later Mezhirich transition from one to the other lords , more impoverished . In 1820 the monastery was a fire , burned the monastery library , which numbered more than 1,900 volumes. In 1866 the Franciscan monastery was reorganized , and its church was again the Orthodox Church - the parish .

In the early twentieth century. Cathedral overhauled and re- painted under the guidance of artist Ermakova . The architecture of the church continued noticeably ancient traditions, but there is also another character proportions Church adaptation to defensive problems .

In the 1930s . monastery was closed . Reopened in 1991 , when it became the spiritual and pastoral work school.

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Межирицкий_монастырь