Bernardine Monastery in Lutsk, Eastern Orthodox cathedral in Theatre Square, Lutsk, Ukraine.

The Bernardine Monastery in Lutsk is a brick building with a central dome and bell tower that shows 18th-century religious architecture in Eastern Europe. The complex sits at Theatre Square and displays different architectural layers from various periods.

A Church of the Holy Cross stood on the hill by the 15th century. In the 1640s Agnieszka Staniszewska funded the Bernardines, who received the church; in 1648 Cossacks sacked it, and in 1696 the wooden church burned. The Radziwiłł family gave 40,000 złoty for a brick monastery (built 1721) and Paweł Giżycki designed the Baroque church, completed in 1789. In 1853 the monastery closed and the church passed to the Orthodox community.

The church keeps its former Catholic name in local memory: it was built as the Church of the Holy Cross and given to the Bernardines in the 1640s. Inside, eight small altars stand by the columns dividing the three naves, and a gilded oak iconostasis in pseudo-Russian style closes the altar, with the royal doors carved in two sections.

You can enter the building and see various religious objects and architectural details from different time periods inside. It works best to visit during regular services when the community is most active.

Major modifications were made in the 1870s when Orthodox architectural features were added while keeping the original Baroque foundation. This blend of old and new elements makes the building architecturally interesting to observe.