BASILIAN ORDER MONASTERY IN SCHEPLOTY. HISTORY, ARCHITECTURE AND PROBLEMS OF PRESERVATION

Monasteries in the XVII–XVIII centuries to a greater or lesser extent were the cultural centers of the country, centers of theological thought, spiritual and intellectual activity. It is worth noting that the sacred buildings of that time are a sign of the presence of a certain people in the territory. The monastery in Shcheploty was a small Ukrainian monastery that played its own role in this process. This Monastery is little known, and the surviving relics are not included in the register of monuments and are not protected by the law, which threatens the preservation of part of the history of sacred architecture of Ukraine.
The monastery in Shcheploty is poorly studied. There are work of Slobodyan (Slobodyan V., 1998.) in the context of wooden sacred architecture with exploration of the main historical aspects of the monastery and the first attempt of the author to conduct architectural research in 2017 (Khokhon M., 2017). On the basis of measurements, the analysis of historical data the graphic reconstruction of the lost monastery is carried out. It is worth noting that the fortifications could have different shapes and combinations. Including for the fence there are two options: 1) the fence was arranged on the crown of the shaft; 2) the fence was arranged on the outer perimeter of the defensive moat (Bogdanowski, J., 1996). Both scenarios were possible, the reconstruction was carried out for the first option and is designed to open a discussion in the scientific community and stimulate further research of the monastery.
As a result of the research It is determined that the monastery consisted of two wooden churches of different times, a bell tower with a fence of the sacred territory and monastic cells with an economic part and fortifications. Archaeological excavations should determine the presence of burials near the former churches. The territory of the monastery occupied about 0.7 hectares. The overall dimensions of the fortifications in the widest part were 115x80 m. The defensive perimeter consisted of an earthen rampart, a moat, bastions on the corners, a fence and a gate. The configuration had an irregular layout close to an irregular trapezoid. It has been determined that the historic territory is privately owned and has an inappropriate purpose, which creates certain legal complications in the museification of shafts at the initiative of local authorities. The defensive relics of the monastery in Shcheploty are an important element of the history of Ukrainian defensive sacred architecture. Despite the relatively small size of the monastery, the defense system was designed in the spirit of the European fortification schools. The remains of fortifications and monasteries need to be included in the register of monuments of Ukraine.