Manitoba Municipal Heritage Site No. 44

St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church
SW 36-19-23W
Olha

St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church, one of the first of its type built to serve the growing Ukrainian settlement around Olha, is an excellent example of a substantial, early twentieth-century rural church that blends Ukrainian and Western European architectural influences. The building’s distinctive cruciform shape, twin-towered front, high central dome, Gothic windows and elaborate interior iconography, hand-painted by Jacob Maydanyk, demonstrate the priority settlers placed on overcoming pioneer-era challenges to maintain their religious traditions. These attributes also are in keeping with a facility that for a period was the seat and central church of its pastoral district and, as such, an influential religious and cultural centre. Situated on a tranquil site next to the farmland that first drew Ukrainian immigrants to the area, the well-preserved structure, along with a bell tower and cemetery, continue to be cherished links to the homeland, as well as to the pioneers who settled here.