The Church of Our Lady of Victory (Matki Boskiej Zwycięskiej) at 14 Mickiewicza Street in Chełm is an unusual building: it was originally a cinema. Today it is a parish church of the Polish Catholic Church — a small Old Catholic denomination independent of the Vatican. The building, dating from 1928, is listed as a historic monument and stands a few hundred meters from the Church of the Apostles’ Mission.
Corso Cinema
The brick Corso cinema opened in 1928, when interwar Chełm was rapidly growing: the Eastern District Directorate of State Railways was relocated here, and a large modernist district, Nowe Miasto, began to be built near the Old Town. The hall accommodated 600 spectators. In 1930 the cinema was renamed Słońce (Sun), and in 1936 — Apollo. Besides films, amateur theatre groups also performed here.
A Parish Without a Church
The Polish Catholic parish in Chełm was founded in 1926; local socialists and activists of the peasant movement helped establish it. For over twenty years the community had no church of its own and prayed in rented premises. Only in 1947, using funds from the mission fund, did it buy the former cinema building and adapt it for worship; a rectory and garden were arranged nearby. In 1952 the parish had 385 faithful, in 1959 — 200, and in 1965 — 250.
What Kind of Church Is This
The Polish Catholic Church grew out of a movement of Polish emigrants in the USA who founded the Polish National Catholic Church at the end of the 19th century. It belongs to the Old Catholic churches, does not recognize the authority of the Pope, conducts services in Polish, and its priests may have families. The Chełm parish belongs to the Lublin-Chełm deanery of the Warsaw diocese. Sunday service is at 10:00, and the parish cemetery is on Zawadówka Street. From the outside, the building is still easily recognizable as an interwar cinema.
How to Get There
The church is at 14 Mickiewicza Street, in the centre of Chełm, a few minutes’ walk from Lubelska Street. Chełm lies on route No. 12 Lublin — Dorohusk: about 70 km from Lublin, about 25 km from the Dorohusk–Yahodyn border crossing with Volyn. Nearby are the Church of the Apostles’ Mission, the Chełm chalk underground, the Church of Saint Andrew, and on the hill — the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God and Wysoka Górka. The easiest way to enter is before the Sunday service. Ukrainian citizens need a foreign passport.
