Belogruda. The Church of St. Michael the Archangel.

A small village with a beautiful name Belogruda of the Lida district of the Grodno region has a rich ancient history. In this place in the VI-VIII and XII-XIII centuries there were settlements of the Bantar culture and the medieval period. The first church was founded by a representative of the famous family of Zavishey – Jan. The original act on the foundation of the church has been preserved in the State Historical Archive of Lithuania. It was signed by the governor and three witnesses: Andrei Sapega, Alexander Yundzilla and Jan Tritsyak. The Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary was made of wood and stood for several decades before it was destroyed by Moscow troops.

In 1703, Vladislav Shemet rebuilt a new wooden church, which stood on this site until the beginning of the XX century. The miraculous image of the Mother of God of Mercy, which is a copy of the Mother of God of Ostrobram, was kept in the temple. The shrine dates back to the XVII century. Since the 18th century, the church began to bury the dead from nearby villages, which were part of the Belogrudok parafia.

The construction of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in its modern form was carried out from 1900 to 1908.. It is a very successful example of the late Neo-Romanesque style. Due to its location on the high bank of the Ditva River, the church is clearly visible from a great distance. From the outside, the temple is a basilica with two two-tiered towers. Inside, organ choirs are located directly above the entrance, and the church itself is decorated with ornamental paintings. There is a plaque on the church, according to which at the moment the Belogrudok Church of St. Michael the Archangel is an architectural monument of national importance.

The central facade of the building at the main entrance is distinguished by arched gates. The wings of the transept, on the front facades, are marked by rose windows in the area of dihedral shields, which, in turn, are crowned with majestic crosses. The interior of the church of St. Michael the Archangel is divided into naves by massive arches on four-sided columns, which, in turn, are overlapped by cross vaults, decorated with frescoes with amazing ornamental paintings.

The semicircular apse is distinguished by an arched opening, above which there is a painting with figures of archangels sitting in front of the Sacred Cross. At the end of the nave there is an eight-column two-tiered neo-Romanesque altar. In the very center of the altar there is an image of Our Lady of Mercy. Similar, but smaller, 1-tier and four-column altars are located in the transept. The small fence of the altar is crowned with four images of angels.

In general, the building of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel looks more like a medieval castle, which holds many unsolved age-old secrets. The temple is located in an ancient cemetery, which is surrounded by a stone fence. All burials form an arc around the church. The oldest burial site is dated 1874. There is a wooden chapel on the edge of the cemetery, which is older than the church itself. The exact date of construction is unknown, but most likely it is the middle of the 19th century. The chapel retains the original tiles with which it was originally covered.