St Nicholas Church in Galway

The veneration of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Lycia in both the Eastern and Western traditions is so great that churches, chapels and monasteries consecrated in his name can be found in different parts of the Christian world. There is such a temple in Irish Galway, which is rightfully considered the cultural capital of this island state, famous for its centuries-old history and rich spiritual traditions.

To visit Ireland and not to visit Galway, located on its west coast, means to see almost nothing in the country. In any case, local residents think so, and their opinion is not without foundation. Moorlands, majestic mountains, mysterious bogs, stunning views of the sea - all this is the port city of Galway.
I must say that many of the names here are marked with a kind of Irish humor. For example, the Spanish Arch, built in 1584, is so named only because wine and brandy, which came by sea from this continental European country, spread through it throughout Ireland.
Galway, which is the center of the county of the same name, is otherwise called the bilingual capital of Ireland. The concentration of Gaelic speakers is the highest in the country. And not only in the city itself, but also on the islands that are also included in County Galway. Many road signs and signs here are also bilingual: English and Gaelic. On some of them you can read that this street leads to the church of St. Nicholas of Myrrh - of course, this means St. Nicholas, the miracle worker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia.
Today this church, named after the great saint, is the largest medieval temple in all of Ireland. It was in it that Christopher Columbus offered up a prayer for the last time, before setting off on a voyage to the west, to unknown shores - which he found, one must think, not without the help of Saint Nicholas, revered as the patron saint of seafarers.
The church was built in 1320 by a member of the influential local Lynch family — however, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it was expanded because it could not accommodate worshipers. Interestingly, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, when the main part of the current building was erected, Galway was still a very small city - however, the ambitions of its inhabitants were such that they needed a temple larger than many cathedrals in Ireland.
In 1484, St. Nicholas' Church in Galway was given collegiate status. Finally, in the sixteenth century, Lynchies, along with representatives of another famous family - French - were attached to the main nave has two side chapels. Because of this, the building received an unusual, at first glance, memorable appearance: its three gabled roofs are connected together. The figures of the mythical creatures outside, which were so loved to decorate temples in the Middle Ages, also add to the distinctiveness of the building. And, of course, one cannot fail to mention two historical bells, cast for the Galway church at the end of the Middle Ages, in 1590 and 1630.
As in many other European churches, the Church of St. Nicholas contains burial places where you can study local history. The oldest of them dates back to the thirteenth century and belongs to a participant in the crusade.
In the southern part of the transept, there are burials of representatives of different generations of the Lynch family. Including James Lynch, who, according to local legend, hanged his own son in the window of his house for committing iniquities. Whether it was exactly the same or not - now it is difficult to judge. However, the Church of St. Nicholas played an important role in the social and political life of medieval Galway. For example, it was in it that the mayor and members of the city council were elected - it is interesting to note that only representatives of the fourteen richest and most powerful local clans had the right to vote.
There is a special one in the church, a column that differs from others in appearance is the southeastern one in the nave, which is called the 'disciple's column'. Allegedly, the student-Mason had to create something worthy of the title of a master - and the one who made the column coped with the task.
Despite the fact that the construction of the temple, as already mentioned, is attributed to the beginning of the fourteenth century, it was not erected from scratch. According to local legend, earlier there was a chapel of the Templars - the Knights of the Order of the Temple. What remained of it, the architects who built the church, inscribed in its altar part.
The Church of St. Nicholas in Galway is active and regularly hosts services. Although the building is under the jurisdiction of the Protestant Church of Ireland, both Catholics and Orthodox Christians of the Russian and Romanian churches perform services in it.
You can write a letter to God or light a candle in the temple .