Baranovichi. Pokrovsky Cathedral.

The Pokrovsky Cathedral is the oldest existing Orthodox church in Baranovichi, the largest neoclassical architectural monument in Belarus, built in 1924-1932 on the site of a wooden church that burned down in 1921.

The history of the temple.

In 1908, a wooden Orthodox church was built on the site of the current cathedral in Baranovichi. The wooden church did not last long and burned down in 1921 on the night of April 19 (May 2 according to the new style), after the festive evening of the first day of Easter. In the morning, the entire Orthodox flock of the city gathered at the ashes. The parish decided to rebuild its church. A committee for the construction of a new church was established, headed by Senator of the Polish Sejm Alexei Nazarevsky, Archpriest Pavel Matskevich and church elder Yarotsky. For two years, the Polish authorities of the Novogrudok voivodeship did not sign the construction project of the church, which they initially wanted to restore from wood. Then the commission, with the support of Archbishop Dionysius, decided to build a stone church.

The new project was developed by Warsaw architect Nikolai Obolonsky. The construction of the church was estimated at 147 thousand zlotys (for example, a pound of rye then cost about 2 zlotys). On August 6, 1924, the church was founded by Bishop Alexander of Polessky and Pinsk in the presence of local authorities, a military garrison with an orchestra, and a community of thousands of Orthodox and non-Orthodox Christians. From 1925 to 1928, the residents of the city collected 36 thousand zlotys for a new temple. Thanks to the efforts of Senator Nazarevsky, who was elected in Baranovichi from the Belarusian bloc, the Polish government allocated 58,000 for the construction of the church for three years. The magistrate of the city of Baranovichi has found another 8000 for the construction of the temple.

Intensive construction has begun. In 1927, the cathedral was brought under the roof. Four years after the start of construction, on November 20, 1928, domes were solemnly installed on the temple. Later, until 1931, work was carried out inside the church, the iconostases were decorated, and mosaics brought from Warsaw were laid out. On August 23, 1928, Metropolitan Dionysius handed over to Baranovichi an iconostasis from the former Warsaw Royal Castle house church, as well as 4 zinc icons, 7 double oak doors, 40 mosaic fragments and 13 boxes with plaster paintings — all that remained of the demolished Warsaw Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. 30 mosaic fragments were assembled into 4 panels and placed on the inner and outer walls of the Baranovichi church. Another 10 fragments still lie in the temple's basements, as it is impossible to get a complete picture of them.

On October 4, 1931, the Baranovichi Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos was consecrated by Archbishop Alexy of Grodno and Novogrudok, and since 1949 it has long remained the only functioning Orthodox church in the city. In 1953, the temple was included in the list of architectural monuments and taken under state protection.

Architecture.

It is a brick cross-domed temple. It belongs to the neoclassical style. The main volume of the temple, four-columned and square in plan, is flanked from the east by three semicircular apses; it is covered by a hemispherical dome topped with a ball with a cross.

The side facades are decorated with monumental four-column porticos of the Ionic order with triangular pediments. Side entrances are only open during major holidays.

Adjacent to the temple is a four-sided three-tiered bell tower topped by a four-sided hemispherical dome with a tall spire.

Interior.

The three—tiered iconostasis is made in the Russian style with carved royal gates and images of the XIX - early XX centuries, such as "Jesus Christ of the Annunciation", "St. Lawrence", "Mother of God with the baby", "St. Stephen", "Savior with the coming", "Christ with the sphere", "Annunciation", "Saved by the Pantacrator" (the first half of the XVIII century). There is also an image in a silver frame "Mother of God Zhirovitskaya" (1847) and much more. This iconostasis, once brought from the former house church of the Warsaw Royal Castle, is considered one of the largest in Belarus.

Mosaics.

The main attraction of the temple is the mosaics that decorate the exterior and interior walls, assembled from cardboard by famous Russian artists in the St. Petersburg workshop of V. Frolov at the beginning of the last century.

The history of mosaic decorations is as follows. At the end of the 19th century, the Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral was built in Warsaw according to the design of the famous Russian architect L. Benois. The church was consecrated in 1912. Upon completion, the cathedral reached a height of 70 m, and was the tallest building in Warsaw. It was decorated with mosaic compositions made in 1901-11 according to sketches by V. Vasnetsov, N. Bruni, N. Koshelev and V. Dumitrashko. The temple was destroyed by the Polish authorities in the mid-1920s. The main motive was that the cathedral reminded them of Russian rule over Poland. In addition to the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in Warsaw, Poles destroyed many other Orthodox churches in the country for the same reasons. A part of the finished polished mosaic was transported to Baranovichi. These mosaic canvases were used to decorate the Pokrovsky Cathedral.

Fragments of V.M. Vasnetsov's composition "Rejoices over you...", the icons "St. Joseph Volotsky" and "St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow" (both mosaics by V.I. Dumitrashko), compositions "Deisus the Great with the upcoming" (N.A. Koshelev) and "Mother of God with angelic orders" (N.A. Bruni) - were placed in the interior of the temple.

The exterior of the temple is decorated with mosaic compositions by artists N. Bruni "Cathedral of Archangel Michael" and N.Koshelev "Savior with a donor".