Even though the church was subsequently remodelled and some of its original stylistic features are no longer readable, it has retained some details and the basic interior layout. The most valuable monument is the late Renaissance iconostasis – a work of Lublin woodcarving and painting studios from the second quarter of the 17th century.

History

The construction of a brick Orthodox church in the Czwartek suburb on the so-called Straw Market Square started in 1607. It was finally completed around 1620 and consecrated in 1633 by the Metropolitan of Kiev, Piotr Mohyła. It replaced a pre-existing church, which was probably wooden. It had been built in 1598 after the oldest wooden church (probably dating back to the mid-15th century), replacing an earlier church destroyed by a fire (1587). Its shape, visible on Hogenberg's engraving from the beginning of the 17th century, resembles typical wooden Catholic churches.

The brick church too was given the general form of a one-nave church with a single-tower and elements of “Lublin type” architectural décor (pilaster frieze, decoration of half-gables), however, the bipartite, transverse arrangement of the interior of the nave with a dome hidden under the roof in the front part is reminiscent of the 16th century Orthodox churches which were typical for the western part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The main body was decorated with two gables. the western gable consisted of two half-gables separated by the body of the tower.

The third, smaller gable separated the rectangular part of the chancel with a pair of side chapels (pastophoria) from the apsydal section. After 1560, a small Orthodox monastery was established next to the church. In the late 17th century, it was finally taken over by the Uniate order of Basilians.  The first attempts to subordinate the Lublin Union Church of Brest were made in 1635, but until 1695 its formal affiliation changed repeatedly. For almost two centuries, the church functioned as a Uniate church (until 1875). During that period, the roof was covered with shingles and the tower was decorated with a Baroque spherical cupola topped with a lantern.  The second lantern of a brick ridge turret stood on the roof above the dome hidden in it.

The increasing number of cracks on the walls of the nave and its vaults, and on the dome, made it necessary for the Basilians to carry out a thorough renovation of the church in 1837. As envisaged in the design created by the architect Jakub Hempel, the dome was demolished and replaced with a flat ceiling, whereas the Baroque spire of the tower was replaced with a Classicist canopy topped with an obelisk. After having been taken over by the Moscow Orthodox Church, the church was renovated again in 1867. The side altars were removed then and the Basilian monastery was demolished.

The church underwent a major remodelling in 1881, during which the roof was lowered significantly over the main body and the chancel. In addition, the upper part of the gable above the chancel was removed.  In 1907, the interiors were repainted in an academic style with elements of Art Nouveau. After 1875, the side Baroque altars were removed too and the interiors regained their initial Orthodox character. Between 1915 and 1920, the church was disused. Subsequent renovations were only carried out for conservation-related reasons.  Between 1986 and 1992, the late Renaissance iconostasis was restored and in 2000-2002 the church underwent a full-scale renovation. In 2015, a part of the retaining perimeter wall around the church cemetery was demolished and reconstructed. Since 1989, the Orthodox church of the Transfiguration of Jesus has been used as the Orthodox cathedral church of the Lublin-Chełm diocese.

Description

Orthodox church together with a cemetery and a perimeter wall surrounding the cemetery is situated to the north of the Old Town and to the south of the Czwartek hill. Today, a new, straight section of Ruska Street runs across that hill. The old section of the street encloses the cemetery from the south. From the west, the cemetery faces the new Cerkiewna street, which connects both sections of Ruska street. The oriented Orthodox church stands in the central part of the former cemetery, surrounded by a high wall.

The Orthodox church is made of stone (limestone) and brick and covered with plaster. Ceramic floors. The main body is erected on a square-shaped floor plan and is covered with a flattened gable roof, preceded by a large square four-storey tower with a women's gallery. The tower is topped with a domed cupola. On its top, there is a square spire with a ball and a cross. The rectangular chancel is terminated by a semi-circular apse. On both sides of the apse, there are lower, slightly protruding spaces, jointly covered with one flattened gable roof clad with copper sheets. 

The interior of the main body is transversely divided by an arcaded wall with two pillars into two main parts – the western transverse nave with a barrel-cross vault and the eastern part, consisting of a square-shaped central bay separated by a pair of lower, longitudinal arcades, which rest on the central pair of pillars and on the imposts at the eastern wall with a low arcade opening onto the chancel. In front of the arcade, there is an iconostasis with the tsarist gate on the main axis. Both sides of the central bay, covered with a ceiling now, are enclosed by a pair of narrow, rectangular and slightly lower, barrel vaulted bays with narrow lunettes.  

From them, one can enter the chancel through the deacon gate. The walls have no architectural divisions. Architectural details include impost cornices under the head of the vaults and a pair of pillars divided by frames decorated with an interlacing pattern, which incorporates figures of saints and biblical scenes. The pillars are decorated with stucco marble.  On the vaults, there is a trompe l'œil painting of the sky with figures of angels and saints. The painting on the ceiling of the central part (former dome) depicts the Deesis. 

The interior of the chancel is not divided architecturally. It is covered with a barrel-cross vault with plaques in the form of rosettes and winged heads instead of impost blocks. On the walls, there is a polychrome with motifs of pilasters, garlands, plant twigs and angels. On the side walls of the chancel, there are a couple of entrances to the former lateral pastoforia – today, there is the sacristy and treasury there. The floors are made from ceramic tiles.

In the front tower, there is a cross-vaulted women's gallery. Above the women's gallery, there is another room with an arcaded passage to a wooden triforium in the nave. In the north-western corner of the nave, there are spiral stairs leading to the crypts and the upper storey of the tower. 

The façade is preceded by a four-storey front tower, surmounted by volute-shaped half-gables which crown the side sections of the façade wall of the main body.  The ground floor of the tower (women's gallery) is terminated with an eaves cornice – the walls of the upper storeys have no architectural divisions and are topped with a crowning cornice.  

The main entrance is placed on the axis of the front wall in an arcaded portal terminated with an arched aedicule, which contains a painting in the niche. ON the side walls, there is a pair of segmental-arch vaulted windows. Above them, there are the rectangular windows of the second storey. Its front wall follows the same design, with a niche enclosed by a surround and containing a painting inside.  On both upper storeys of the tower, the openings are arranged on three sides and topped with segmental arches. On the fourth storey, there are elongated openings.  

The tower ends with a sheet metal cupola in the form of a hemispherical dome topped with an octagonal spire. On top of the spire, there is a gilded sphere and an Orthodox cross.   

The side elevations of the main body of the church and of the chancel are covered with a smooth layer of plaster. The four corners of the main body are extended by short walls, terminated with an incomplete entablature with a pilaster frieze encircling the main body. The side walls have two high, semi-circularly arched windows, separated in the middle by a single stepped buttress. The walls of both pastophoria are rusticated in the corners and are terminated with a cornice, with two half-gables divided by pilasters on the eastern side, and with wavy volutes and pinnacles used as finials. On the axis of both eastern walls, there are single windows terminated with a segmental arch. On the axis of the high, semi-circular wall of the apse, there is a larger single window, placed above the slat of the half-shaft dividing the wall at half its height – it is terminated with an incomplete entablature with a smooth strip of frieze panels.   

The most noteworthy furnishings of the Orthodox church include the iconostasis from the second quarter of the 17th century.

Access is limited – the Orthodox church may only be visited during services

Compiled by Roman Zwierzchowski, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Branch Office in Lublin, 30.06.2017

Bibliography

• E. Mitrus, Cerkiew prawosławna Przemienienia Pańskiego w Lublinie w świetle wyników nadzorów archeologicznych, “Lubelszczyzna”, special issue, September 1996, pp. 181-189 

• http://www.lublin.cerkiew.pl/parafie.php?id_n=4&id=190&type=history