Probably in every city there are places, the existence of which is unknown to a wide range of residents. In Moscow, it is hidden in the courtyards of the Arbat, or, spread out a hundred meters from Prospekt Mira, even Muscovites do not know about these architectural monuments, not to mention the guests of the capital. Minsk also has such an invisible monument, it is located in the very center of the city, fifty meters from the main avenue of the capital, while many Minskers do not even know about its existence.
Around 1390, the Polish king Jagiello founded the first Catholic parish in Minsk and named it in honor of the Holy Trinity. A wooden temple was built on the left bank of the Svisloch on a mountain, later named after that Trinity Church. Today the Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater stands on it:
And nearby is the famous Trinity Suburb:
In 1409, the wooden church built by Jagiello burned down, and a new one was built in its place. He stood for exactly 400 years and in August 1809 died in a devastating fire that destroyed most of the Trinity suburb. Five years later, a project was developed to restore the temple, but there were not enough funds for its construction. For more than 20 years, the community did not have its own building and eventually settled in the Golden Hill area:
Here, since the end of the 18th century, there was a large Catholic cemetery, in the middle of which, in 1796, the first wooden chapel was installed. In its place, in 1832, a small wooden church was built, into which the parish of the Holy Trinity moved. By the middle of the 19th century, the cemetery on the Golden Hill had grown greatly - the cause was two cholera epidemics that raged in Minsk in 1848 and 1853. The wooden building of the church could no longer accommodate all the parishioners, so it was decided to build a stone church in its place:
The construction began in 1861 and, thanks to the active donations of the flock, it was completed quite quickly - on November 1, 1864, the first mass was held in the church:
In addition to the historical name in honor of the Holy Trinity, the temple received a new one - in honor of St. Roch, the patron saint of plague and cholera patients:
Today, the Church of the Holy Trinity is located at Independence Avenue 44a, while it is not visible from the avenue itself. Many residents of the capital have been passing by for years and are unaware of what a unique piece of pre-revolutionary Minsk has been preserved in the neighboring courtyard. The fastest way to get to the temple is to enter the passage between the building of the Palace of Art and the editorial office of "Evening Minsk" from the side of Kozlova Street:
The only way to the territory of the church lies through this staircase:
Already from its steps, a wonderful view of the wonderful neo-Gothic temple opens up:
The fact that this building has survived to this day is a miracle in itself:
By the beginning of the 20th century, the population of Minsk had tripled compared to what it was at the time of the construction of the temple, the number of parishioners by that time had increased to 7000, there was not enough space for everyone. In 1910, a project was developed for a new church, significantly larger than the old one in size:
Its construction was interrupted by the First World War, and the revolution that followed finally buried the project. The old temple remained standing in its original place:
In 1922, the interior decoration was completely looted, and in the atheist 30s the church was closed:
Divine services resumed briefly during the Nazi occupation:
But after the end of the war, the church was finally closed and converted into a book depository:
The old Catholic cemetery was destroyed, residential buildings were built in its place:
So the church ended up in the inner courtyard, sandwiched between the garage massif and the Palace of Art:
The facade of the building is directed towards Independence Avenue, but is completely hidden from it by a residential building:
Once upon a time, on the site of the modern avenue, the Borisovsky tract passed - the main road from Minsk to Moscow:
In those days, travelers entering the city saw from afar the two-tiered tower of the Zolotogorsk church crowning its main facade:
In the early 1980s, the book depository was closed, the building was restored, converted into a chamber music hall and transferred to the jurisdiction of the Belarusian State Philharmonic Society. In 1986, a large organ was installed in the apse, around the same time, stained-glass windows returned to the window openings:
In 1991, in the time free from concerts, divine services were resumed in the temple:
The chamber music hall was closed only in 2006, in the same year the building was returned to the Catholic Church:
The interior began to be filled with Catholic symbols, the walls of the temple were decorated with bronze bas-reliefs "The Way of Christ to Calvary":
In the left altar, where before the revolution there was an icon of the Mother of God with a baby, a sculpture of the Virgin Mary was installed:
The statue of Saint Roch was returned to the right altar:
The Zolotogorsk church is unique in that its altar part is almost completely occupied by an organ:
This is the wrong location, there should be an altar in the altar part, but in the 1980s, when the organ appeared in the temple, no one thought about it:
It is impossible to move it because of its size, it is not advisable to change it to a new one - this is one of the best organs in Belarus, thanks to it the international festival of organ music "Zolotogorsk Lira" is held annually in the church:
By the end of the 2000s, the temple was on the verge of collapse - due to a leaky roof, the ceiling of the building cracked:
Through the efforts of parishioners, funds were raised for which the builders completely renovated the roof and replaced the truss system. The load on the vaults decreased, the temple was saved:
The boards left after the repair lie today in the backyard of the temple:
Replacing the roof is only the first step in the restoration of the building; serious work has not been carried out here since the 1980s:
It is also necessary to strengthen the foundation and walls, restore the decoration:
A memorial was organized on the territory around the church in memory of the demolished cemetery:
The old tombstones that were found and preserved were laid out along the fence:
On some tombstones, you can still read the names and years of life of people who once lay under them:
The community of the temple is not yet fully formed, the parish was restored only 10 years ago, but there is potential for its growth - a six-century history and the status of the first Catholic community in Minsk attract people. The rectors of the church conduct active educational work, organize events, the organ music festival is covered in the media. The temple, like a Phoenix bird, has once again been reborn from the ashes, and its current reincarnation has every chance of becoming the home of the oldest community in the city for many centuries to come.
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The first mention of the Church of the Holy Trinity, which is on the street of the same name in Prague, dates back to 1353. According to legend, it was erected by the same architects who built the monastery in Slovenia at the same time. The craftsmen worked without remuneration and used building materials that remained unclaimed at a large construction site. Construction was carried out on the site of the demolished Gothic church of St. Andrew. For all these reasons, the construction of the temple proceeded slowly.
In 1420, during the religious Hussite wars, the temple was destroyed. With the onset of peacetime, the building was restored and consecrated in the name of the Holy Trinity. The temple became the center of one of the poorest parishes in Prague, and it was possible to maintain it in proper form with great difficulty. The most significant donations for its maintenance were collected only on the patronal feast, when pilgrims from other parts of Prague flocked to the temple.
However, in the 18th century Several attempts were made to restore the building to order. In 1724, P. I. Bayer worked on the project for the reconstruction of the church, but his plans were not implemented. It turned out to be more realistic to carry out construction work in 1728-1729. when the nave of the church was enlarged. In 1751, the Calvary Chapel was added to it. In 1781–1782 an octagonal sacristy and a new bell tower were built. As a result, by the end of the century, the building was completely renovated and its appearance acquired some features characteristic of the Baroque style. In 1871, the church was renovated again: at that time, a vestibule was built in front of the choir
Initially, a wooden bell tower was built at the church, which quickly fell into disrepair. In 1781–1782 a small stone tower was erected instead. This two-story, square building is considered one of the lowest bell towers in the city. Its height is only 32 m. In its style, it is a vivid example of the late Baroque. This is evidenced by the characteristic shape of the windows and pilasters at the corners of the tower. On the upper tier of the tower, its quadrangle turns into an octahedron. The bell tower is completed by an octagonal onion dome, a lantern and a similar smaller dome with a spire.
There are two bells on the tower, cast by master Brikus from Simberg in 1559 and 1594. The works of this hereditary bell-caster are distinguished by elegant decorative ornaments and a peculiar form.
Address: Independence Avenue, 44. Working hours: 07:00-22:00
Church on the Golden Hill
There is an interesting place on the Golden Hill in Minsk. A long history, religion and many legends surround it. A Catholic cathedral has been standing on this site for 150 years. It has several names, one - the Zlatogorsk church - is associated with the place on which the temple was erected. The second - the Trinity Church - was taken over from the former chapel, which was located here several centuries ago. And the third and most common Church of St. Roch- bears the name of the Saint, in whose honor the temple was built. Although the church was built recently from a historical point of view, its history, as well as the events that preceded its erection, began more than five centuries ago.
History of the Church of St. Roch
The first church on the Golden Hill stood here in the XIV century - this is the time of the founding of the Catholic parish of the Holy Trinity In Minsk. It was founded by King Jagiello, who also erected the first wooden temple here, burned in a fire in 1409. After 400 years, the newly rebuilt building met the same fate. After attempts to build a new cathedral was not - due to lack of funds. Therefore, the parishioners used a small chapel to conduct services - it was located at the Zolotogorsk cemetery.
The next event, which served to build the current temple, is very controversial. In addition, it is shrouded in legend, which for believers carries a religious unshakable value. They say that during the cholera epidemic that overtook, in 1831, when the city suffered many deaths, one of its residents dreamed that Minsk could be saved by a wooden statue of St. Roch, which was buried under the rubble of the church. The statue was found and carried around the city, after which the disease left the capital, and the figure of the Saint was called saving and placed in the chapel. This case was even written in the publication "Minsk Leaf" of 1890.
There is no need to argue about the truth of the legend. They believed in St. Roch for a long time, and the fame of the healing monk swept across Europe. People believe that Roch heals plague, cholera, leg ailments, and also heals animals, in particular dogs. His life is questioned and has an interesting legend. The very image of the Saint is symbolic and interesting - he is usually depicted with an open left leg, where he points to a plague ulcer. All this personifies the disease he heals, and the staff in his hand symbolizes the monk's wanderings around the world in search of those in need. The same statue can be found in the new church, the construction of which began in 1861 - at the request of Bishop A. Voytkevich. 
The cathedral was erected with donated funds. It is interesting that not only Catholics but also believers of other faiths donated, saluting the savior of the city - St. Roch. The erection of the attraction was completed three years later - then the healing statue of Roch was transferred to it, in the same year the temple was consecrated and received the first parishioners.
The subsequent history of this place is engulfed in tragedies and hardships. With the advent of Soviet power, the church was closed. Only during the occupation of Minsk by the fascist army, in 1941, parishioners held services here. After that, the premises of the cathedral were used as a book depository. In 1984, it was given under the use of the Belarusian State Philharmonic. In the nineties, during the breaks between concerts, services began to be held again, and in 2006 the concert hall was completely closed, and the church was transferred to the parish of the Holy Trinity. After the tragic events, the church lost its main value - the wooden statue of St. Roch - a new one was placed in its place.
Now Church of St. Roch This is a must-see place for tourists of the city. Every year on August 16, he gathers pilgrims from various countries. The temple is interesting not only for its religious value, rich history and interesting legend - many connoisseurs of architecture are also attracted by its neo-Gothic style. The interior of the cathedral is decorated with incredible works of masters - plaster figures of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, Gabriel, Michael and, of course, Roch. Such an ensemble illuminates the dance of light passing through the stained glass windows - all this creates a fantastic atmosphere inside the building. And in its courtyard there is an opportunity to look at the ancient tombstones that have been preserved since the time of the Zolotogorsk cemetery that existed here for a long time, and at interesting sculptures installed during the activities of the Philharmonic.
For centuries, this temple has been one of the largest Catholic spiritual centers in the entire Kletsk and Nesvizh region. The beginning of its history is lost in the mists of time, turning the story about it into beautiful medieval legends. Even in the 20th century, its building itself looked just as legendary with vaults ascending to a height and powerful brick walls, inside, and even just next to which a person felt the breath of antiquity and Divine eternity itself!
The first historical mention of the Church of the Holy Trinity dates back to 1450! That year, Andrey Mostivilovich, a certain Novogrudok township, gave him a tithe of his village near Kletsk. This village went to Pan Andrei from the Grand Duke of Lithuania Kazimir Yagailovich for military merits, since in 1445, as the chronicle says, “Ondryushka Mostilovich”, together with Pans Sudiva, Radziwill and Nikolai Nemirovich and others, led the seven thousandth army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in a victorious battle with the Moscow Principality on the Sukhodrov River. The village has retained the name of its old owner to this day in its name and today is called Mostilovichi!
The church was not located in the castle on the settlement, but outside the city fortifications, which most likely indicates that in those days Catholicism did not have numerous followers in the still Orthodox Kletsk. Most likely, the temple itself was then smaller than that erected later. Whatever it was, but in the middle of the 16th century in Kletsk it was very difficult for both Catholics and Orthodox. In 1558 the city passed to the Calvinist Nikolai Radziwill "Black". In accordance with the policy of this magnate, all Orthodox and Catholic churches were to be converted and converted into Calvinist cathedrals. The turn came to the Kletsk Church of the Holy Trinity in 1560. Moreover, he had the “honor” to be redone not from anyone, but from Simon Budny himself, whom Nikolai Radziwill appointed minister (“rector”) of the Kletsk Calvinist Cathedral. In Kletsk, Mr. Budny did not live much, so to speak, in a Protestant way and enjoyed all the benefits of the Catholic heritage. So in Kletsk he had his own house with servants, a yard with serfs, and a considerable annual salary from the Radziwills. Although, of course, it cannot be said that for Simon Budny only material well-being was the main thing. His religious and philosophical research was much more important to him. It was in Kletsk that Budny finally began to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ and, having become an anti-Trinitarian Arian, was ostracized in 1565 by his own Calvinist community. And before that, he nevertheless managed to open the first school in Kletsk for the dissemination of Calvinist teachings and publish the first book on the territory of Belarus (the Calvinist Catechism), writing in the preface: “Written in Kletsk from the Nativity of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the summer of June tenth day. Then he still considered Jesus Christ Lord and Savior ...
After the expulsion of Simon Budny (he left for Losk near Molodechno), another well-known person in history with the beautiful name Tomas Falkoniusz became the head of the Kletsk Calvinist cathedral. In fact, his name was Foma Krechetovsky, but in the book tradition, he decided, despite our stereotypical idea of Protestants as “Abaronians of the native language”, to translate his name into a more sonorous and common Latin.
The son of Nikolai Radziwill "The Black", also Nikolai, nicknamed "The Orphan", became, as you know, unlike his father, a staunch Catholic. In 1574 he wrote to the Bishop of Vilna to help him by sending preachers in the fight against Calvinist heretics, incl. and in the city of Kletsk. Subsequently, another son of Nikolai Radziwill "The Black", also a Catholic, Albrecht, became the owner of Kletsk. In 1586, he completely expelled the Calvinists from the city and transferred the Church of the Holy Trinity to the Catholics. It is to this time, most likely, that the construction of a new stone building of the church, which has come down to the 20th century, dates back. The new majestic temple was intended to become a symbol of the victory of the Catholic confession of faith over the Calvinist and thus become a sign of the end of an entire historical period. There is evidence that the stone church was built by 1590. Its first image is the drawing "Kosciolu miesta kleckiego pana marszalka", dating from the end of the 16th century. (“Pan Marshalok” is Albrecht Radziwill, who in 1585 became the Marshal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania). And already at the beginning of the 17th century, the temple could be seen on the engraving of Kletsk, “created by Tomasz Makovsky.”
After the church was returned to the Catholics, its first rector was Father Martin, who signed simply: "Martin from Kletsk." He, like Francysk Skaryna once, was a graduate of the University of Padua in the department of medicine, which was a good addition to him in his pastoral ministry. In 1605, ks. Martin published in Poznań the book "A Proven Remedy Against Pestilence". Perhaps there were other of his books that simply have not survived to our time.
On February 2, 1652, the grandson of Albrecht Radziwill, Mikhail Karol, issued a decree in which he determined the position of the Kletsk shrine in his possessions. Certain villages and farmsteads, as well as their inhabitants, were assigned to the church, a cash collection from the townspeople and a natural (grain) collection from the gentry in favor of the church were determined. In addition, the Radziwills promised to cover half of the huge church roof with tiles at their own expense. A church quarter (jurydica) in Kletsk was also identified, the inhabitants of which bore duties in favor of the church. In 1652 there were ten, and in 1714 there were already 27 families.
Leading 1652 demanded the following from the rector of the church: “And the current priest and followers should and should keep a vicar, altar boy, organist, cantor, bachelor, who would teach children to read, write and sing.” In the church inventory of 1796, among other things, it was noted that in the church parish school “in winter, the children of poor parents of the noble, bourgeois and peasant family are kept from the parish. During working hours in the summer, they are taken away by their parents for the inevitable needs of the housework ... Children learn catechism, reading, writing and the principles of arithmetic. Already at the beginning of the 19th century, however, there was only a “director” at the parish, who taught the philistine children the beginnings of reading and writing for a nominal fee.
There was also a hospital at the church, created at the expense of Albrecht's son Radziwill Jan Albrecht in 1609. According to his decree, the hospital was to be given 30 zlotys annually, several barrels of rye grain, barley, buckwheat, as well as meat and firewood. "Senior hospital" was appointed directly by the prince.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the Swedes passed through the Radziwill's possessions with fire and sword. In the Church of the Holy Trinity, they robbed the burial place of Marshal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Stanislav Kazimir Radziwill and stole a lot of gold from the interior. Despite this, the inventory of 1712 notes a lot of gilded things in the decoration of the church, incl. and the main altar of the Holy Trinity. From the spiritual descendants of Budny and Falkoniusz, one of the main church shrines, the icon of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, which was considered miraculous, was taken to the city of Belaya. His miracles were recorded as early as 1677 by a special commission by decree of the Bishop of Vilna, Stefan Patz. By the way, two stone cannonballs remained in the church tower “in memory” of the Swedish invasion, stuck there after the shots.
In 1810, a fire broke out in the church, and soon the repair was carried out at the expense of Nikolai Josef Radziwill. After this repair, the church got a new roof, and a sculpture of Jesus Christ was installed above the entrance in a niche (it can be seen in the photo).
The interior of the temple of those years was decorated with a carved lacquered sculptural altar, the central place in which was occupied by the icon of the Holy Trinity. In the side altars (there were seven in total) there were icons of St. Nicholas, St. Anna, the Virgin Mary (the same one that was saved in Belaya from the Swedes), the Crucified Christ and St. Tadeusz Apostol. The church had an organ decorated with sculpture for eleven voices.
In the temple, they carefully kept the memory of their donors and founders, praying before God for their souls. Twice a week after the service, the priests commemorated all the Radziwills of the Kletsk line and the family of Yuri and Ekaterina Bulgakov (who donated a large amount to the church during the construction). We prayed separately on Mondays for Mikhail Karol Radziwill, whose merits we have already spoken about before the Kletsk church.
The Church of the Holy Trinity had its branch near Kletsk in the village of Solovi. The branch church, built of wood, was covered with shingles, and inside there was one altar with a picture of the Holy Trinity and a sacristy.
In the 20th century, the church survived the First World War, the Soviet-Polish War, and the Second World War. During the second of them, the church bell was damaged, which was damaged by an artillery shell. In 1937, the bell was melted down at the foundry of the Felchinsky brothers.
With the destruction of the temple, the Catholic community of Kletsk was forced to move to an ordinary city house, where services were held until recently. And not so long ago, the construction of a new church began in the city, which, despite modern elements of architecture and materials, in some way subtly resembles that same ancient church! And he will bear the same name - the Holy Trinity.
New Church of the Holy Trinity in Kletsk
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