St Barbara's Church is regarded as a Ukrainian national architectural monument, being one of the most recognizable buildings in Berdychiv.

The church was first built on its present site in 1759 by Countess Barbara Tyszkiewicz, daughter and heiress of a wealthy Lithuanian magnate whose dowry included Berdychiv.

St Barbara's Church has attracted a number of distinguished people throughout its history, in view of the Polish state's staunch adherence to the Catholic faith.

Further fame was brought to Berdychiv's main catholic church by the celebrated marriage of French author Honoré de Balzac to his Polish aristocratic bride and landowner Countess Ewelina Hańska in 1850.

All churches throughout Russia were suppressed by the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics with Berdychiv's basilica being no exception; it was later converted into a People's Sports College for Children.