Description of Historic Place

St. John Bohoslav Krasne Church is a Municipal Heritage Property situated on four hectares in the Rural Municipality of Big Quill No. 308, approximately 20 kilometres southeast of the Town of Wynyard. The property features a brick-clad church constructed in 1940, a freestanding belfry constructed in 1927, a parish hall constructed in 1964 and a cemetery founded in 1916, all surrounded by trees.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the St. John Bohoslav Krasne Church lies in its architecture. Constructed in 1940, the church exhibits the Byzantine Revival influence common to most Ukrainian Catholic churches constructed in Saskatchewan during the period. This style is seen in the church’s octagonal domes, rose windows, rounded windows and the building’s cruciform layout.

The heritage value of the property also lies in its status as a place of religious worship and communal gathering. The St. John Bohoslav Krasne Parish acquired the property in 1914, built their church here in 1916 and subsequently established the cemetery and constructed a belfry. The use of the property as a place for social gatherings was enhanced by the planting of trees and the construction of a parish hall.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Big Quill No. 308 Bylaw 4-89.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of St. John Bohoslav Krasne Church resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that reflect the church’s Byzantine Revival-inspired architecture, including the octagonal central dome and front domes, metal cupolas, rose windows in the gable ends, rounded archways with segmented arches, fan lights above the main entrance, semi-circular bargeboard design along the roof line, symmetrical composition and the cruciform layout;
-those elements of the belfry that reflect its association with the congregation, such as its form, massing and the bells;
-those elements of the hall that reflect its use as a place of communal gathering, including the open spaces in the hall, the open lawns and the large conifer trees that separate the hall from the church and line the central road to the church;
-those elements that reflect the cemetery’s status as Christian burial place, including the headstones and their arrangement into rows, and the partial hedgerow around the cemetery’s boundary.