Byzantine architecture is an important reminder of the Eastern European settlers who arrived in Edmonton beginning in the 1890s.
Ukrainians began arriving in Edmonton in the 1890s, and many homesteaded north of the city. These new immigrants required clergy familiar with their language, culture, and liturgy, and in 1902, the Ukrainian Basilian Fathers arrived to tend to their needs. They represented some of the earliest Ukrainian Catholic missionaries in western Canada. With a large and devoted flock, substantial and important churches were built in the Byzantine style, which was originally influenced by Roman, Jewish, and Syrian architecture. As a result, Edmonton's Ukrainian churches have an architectural lineage dating back thousands of years.