Imaginary Belarus: Sights We Have Lost

28.07.2023 - 20:16 / 34travel.me / Maria Gulina

Cultural programme

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We surely have a curated collection of 34 Belarusian landmarks that we are proud of, but it could have been much bigger. Unfortunately, sometimes you may find yourself on a tour to imaginary Belarus: right here there was a really cool building, but it got demolished. Here is our list of Belarusian sights that we could have been proud of, if only they had existed.

Brest

Catholic Church of St. Safija

The construction of the Catholic church of St. Sophia and the Monastery of Dominican in Brest began in 1628. The Dominican Order considered churches to be defensive fortifications, so this one wasn’t an exception. It was located behind the city wall and near the defensive tower. The construction was sponsored by an art patron Safija Laknickaja, who was a daughter of Reč Paspałitaja (The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) king’s secretary. She decided to donate all her money to the construction of the church, but she asked to finish it before she died, so the church was built by 1647. Safija enjoyed it for 4 more years, and even ordered a gravestone made of the marble, that was used to decorate the interiors. Safija Pražmoŭskaja was another patron of the church. She used money and connections of her four dead husbands, so there appeared chapels and the Icon of Mother of God got decorated with silver. Interesting history and rich patrons didn´t prevent the church from being demolished in 1857.

Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas

The defensive church existed in Brest in the 14th-19th centuries. It was first mentioned in 1390, when the city of Brest was given Magdeburg rights, and in 1596 the Union of Brest, which determined religious life of Great Duchy of Lithuania, was signed here. The church were rebuilt a couple of times. Among the pictures that are preserved there is one with a building with triangular roof and two round towers. But after the Fortress of Brest was built in the 1840-50s, there was nothing of the church left.

Lost heritage of Brest

Viciebsk

Church of the Prophet Elijha

The wife of the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania could have drowned on the day of Elijha (July 20), but didn’t. The Duke Kazimir was so grateful to fate that ordered to build six churches in honor of the Prophet Elijha on the banks of the rivers Zahodniaja Dźvina, Dniepr and Sož. They were built in 1447, and one of the churches appeared in Viciebsk. Nobody knows for how long it had existed, but it was mentioned in 1746 as an ancient wooden church built by the Zapołskija tradesmen. Number 1643 was written on the doors of the church, and that is why you can come across any of these three dates as the date of the church foundation. In 1904 the church was burnt by a stroke of lighting.