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Kozlovshchyna. Princes of Drutsky-Lyubetsky chapel-tomb.

Church

Church

Belarus, Vitebsk region, Postavsky district, Kozlovshchinsky village council, Kozlovshchyna village

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5

06.03.2025

Description

In the village of Kozlovshchyna, Vitebsk region, there is a chapel-tomb of the Drutsky-Lyubetsky family in the local Catholic cemetery. It was built in 1842-1843 from carefully crafted rubble stone. An inscription in Polish has been preserved on it: "The burial shrine was erected on the initiative of Ignatius Prince Drutsky-Lyubetsky on October 7, 1843, and was illuminated at the same time according to the Roman Catholic rite."

For 100 years, the chapel was used as a burial place for representatives of this noble family. The Drutsky-Lyubetsky tomb chapel in Kozlovshchyna is a monument of classicism.

Categories

Historical

Historical

Architectural monument

Architectural monument

Location

Latitude: 55.1909795
Longitude: 27.35038417

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Reviews to the Place

1

Ольга Ерёменко

06.03.2025

Chapel of the tomb of the princes Drutsky-Lyubetsky in the village of Kozlovshchyna.

The chapel is located in the cemetery next to the main road and is very well visible from various sides. There is a sculpture of the Virgin Mary to the right of the chapel. The plaque above the entrance to the chapel confirms the information that this Catholic chapel was founded in the middle of the 19th century and belongs to the Drutsky-Lyubetsky family.


The chapel and the cemetery itself look very neat. Greenery, flowers, and small decorative elements are everywhere. The character of the chapel's masonry is admirable: the colorful boulders are carefully processed and selected, as if in a mosaic. The building has a rectangular shape, covered with a gable roof. Above the facade there is a triangular pediment, a small signature (small temple tower) rises.

The rubble walls are decorated with plastered and whitewashed architectural elements - near the entrance, near windows and cornices. The chapel has two floors. Services are held in the upper one, and in the lower one, in the basement, there are grave niches, which are covered with slabs with inscriptions, some of which are damaged. 


The upper room has the shape of a rectangle and stretches from west to east. Icons were placed in the altar area, and there were small choirs above the entrance with an expanded platform to accommodate a small organ or harmonium. Two windows with frames in the form of Catholic crosses were installed symmetrically on the right and left sides. In the left side of the altar, two nameplates from the life of the Drutsky-Lyubetsky and their relatives have been preserved, indicating the memorable dates of the family. There is a closed hatch in the floor of the central part of the tomb, which leads to the crypt (underground passage) of the basement. There used to be a staircase here. There are a number of tombstones in the dungeon that have not yet been deciphered.


 The crypt room is an arched basement with two rows of niches in the walls. Inside it is covered with red clay and plastered. In some places, the plaster has fallen off from moisture or has been beaten off by people. In total, there are 12 depressions in the crypt, some of which have been empty since the very beginning of the tomb's existence. The number of niches is determined and corresponds to the number of apostles of Jesus Christ. If you count, then representatives of three or four generations of Goat owners could get their eternal rest in the crypt. This means that when Ignatius Drutsky-Lyubetsky built the tomb, he hoped that his descendants would own the estate at least until the middle of the 20th century. But it seems that only four niches contain coffins with the dead, since only these 4 tombstones have epitaphs with surnames and dates of life and death.


It has been established that the owner of the estate Ignatius Drutsky-Lyubetsky, his wife Adelaide, and his mother-in-law Constance Vlasovskaya are buried in the tomb, and a certain Maria of the Snitok family. What kind of person she is is still unknown, as there was no such person among the owners of estates in his Homeland. Her appearance in the tomb gives rise to various legends and judgments.


 In Soviet times, the tomb was abandoned and partially damaged and looted. By the efforts of local priests and believers, the shrine was renovated and now operates as a small church under the patronage of St. Peter the Apostle. No repairs have been carried out in the crypt, it is in its original form and is currently significantly damaged. The tomb was saved from complete destruction by the fact that it was located in the village cemetery, which has had its own enclosure since the 19th century. The lower part of it is lined with rubble stone, on one of which the construction date "R 1852" has been preserved.


Thanks to the efforts of local residents, the burial place of the princes of the Drutsky-Lyubetsky family and the cemetery itself looks very clean, neat and well-groomed.

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