Marshyntsi. The Bukovinian Rublyovka

One of the unique monuments that are not listed in the register of architectural and historical monuments is St. Nicholas Church in the village of Marshyntsi, Novoselytsia district, Chernivtsi region.

Marshyntsi, Novoselytsia district, Chernivtsi region. St. Nicholas Church

The dates of the church's construction vary within an interval of 50 years. Probably the date 1887 is the start of building the church on the site of an earlier wooden one from 1710. According to the villagers, the 100th anniversary of the shrine was celebrated in 2014.

From an artistic point of view the raised brickwork, its colour and expressive pattern have not lost their beauty over more than a century of history.

The parishioners told me that a special works was built to produce the brick. Eggs were added to the mortar. The relief brickwork and the decorative joints were done by masters of a high class. Six kinds of windows — vaulted, round, cross-shaped — are framed by stone patterns.

The residents recall that the design of the railway station in Novoselytsia and the design of the church in Marshyntsi were done by one and the same architect. Since 2000 the community has made every effort to repair the shrine and renew the iconostasis. The adjoining area was paved with paving slabs.

In December 2017 the bell was replaced — the one that for over a hundred years had announced to the village the beginning of the service, joyful and sorrowful events, and was a talisman against misfortunes. It has been set up in the church yard as a monument. A native of Marshyntsi, the People's Artist of Ukraine Sofia Rotaru, began her ascent to the vocal Olympus in the church choir of St. Nicholas Church, of which she remains a benefactress to this day. The service in the church is conducted in the Moldovan language.

To the border with Romania it is only 5 kilometres, and in Romanian the name Marşeniţa sounds like margenita and means "outskirts". There is another version, too, which recalls that a trade route and state borders once passed here, and merchants and soldiers gallantly traversed this part of the land.

A chapel on the corner of Tsentralna and Sviato-Mykolaivska streets

Those who wish can step into the roadside chapel

Following tradition, I walked almost at a march through the whole village along Tsentralna Street, which is part of the H-10 highway connecting Stryi in the Lviv region, the Ivano-Frankivsk region, Chernivtsi and Moldova.

Tsentralna Street. The H-10 highway

The village has been known since 1611 and belonged to the Principality of Moldavia. Following the negotiations of 1812 between the Russian and Ottoman Empires, these lands came to belong to Bessarabia, which after the First World War became part of Romania. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact dismembered, annexed and once again cut off the Moldovan villages.

The monument to the fellow villagers who fell during the Second World War

From 1940 northern Bukovina belonged to the USSR. You can learn about the history and cultural traditions in the museum housed in the village council building.

Marshyntsi adjoins the district centre of Novoselytsia right up close.

For the beauty of its houses and the tidiness of its streets, the village could be called the Bukovinian Rublyovka.

There are 1,802 households and a little over five thousand residents, whose main occupations are agriculture and private business.

Many work abroad.

The "Sofia" shop. In the village where the most talented Sofia of all was born, this name is very popular

The "Janos" shop — in Ukrainian, "Ivan"

The "Izvorash" cafe. The name means a variety of grape and a brand of wine

I always pay attention to the wells, which can tell a great deal about their owners.

Marshyntsi. The wells

In Marshyntsi the wells are works of art and are dug beside almost every house. People share the priceless gift of nature with the passing traveller.

The House of Culture still remains in the old building, because the new Palace of Culture cannot yet open its doors for lack of funds to finish the construction work. In the village where the famous performers the Rotaru sisters and Lilia Sandulesu were born, people love to sing and know how. The amateur ensembles are unfailing participants in concerts and laureates of various contests.

The House of Culture

The first page of my journey through Bukovina was a great success, and at the turn to Hertsa I said goodbye to Marshyntsi.

Marshyntsi. St. Nicholas Church

That day I was lucky, quite by chance and on the tip of the locals, to see the old churches in Lunka and Velykosillia, to visit Hertsa and the Holy Ascension Monastery in Bancheny, and only then to make my planned trips to Luzhany and Chernivtsi. Marshyntsi, thank you for a successful start and wonderful impressions!