Lida. The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is an architectural monument in the style of the Vilna Baroque in Lida. There have been many attempts to establish a shrine for Catholics in Lida since the end of the 14th century. However, most of the attempts were unsuccessful. Back in 1366, Franciscan monks arrived in the city, which was at that time a pagan Orthodox city, intending to establish a Catholic church here. Due to the continuous confrontation between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches at that time, it is obvious that the missionaries who arrived in the city were killed. Some time later, the Franciscans arrived here, pursuing the ideas of those very missionaries in order to realize their goal. Franciscan missionaries brought the image of the Mother of God to Lida, which later became the Lida. However, their attempts to found a church also did not bear fruit. And yet in 1388. Jagiello still gives permission to build a shrine in the city. But this temple did not last long either, as it was burned down by the crusaders. Another Catholic church was built in Lida eight years later, and was closed again due to the lack of a sufficient number of parishioners. And in the second half of the XVIII century, the church burned down altogether due to the invasion of I. Khovansky's troops as part of the Russian-Polish confrontation.

The church in its current form was born in 1770. The church was rebuilt by Bishop Thomas (Tomas) By Zenkevich. The budget for the construction of the temple was received from a donation from Bishop Mikhail Zenkovich of Vilna. The architect Johann Christoph Glaubitz was the developer of the construction project. It is he who is considered the founder of such a style of architecture as the "Vilna Baroque". At the same time, the initiator and architect of the church failed to see the embodiment of their work in reality, they left this world even before the completion of the construction of the church.

Now the building is a three-nave basilica with a rectangular altar part. The building originally had two towers, but they were lost as a result of a fire in 1821. The facade of the temple has two tiers and an unusual figured pediment. The church is decorated with frescoes inside. The altars are built of artificially created marble, and the sculptures are made of Rococo stucco. The church still houses the image of the Virgin and Child, brought to the city by Franciscan missionaries back in the 14th century and is considered the most valuable shrine in the church. Also interesting is the fact that after the final construction, the church was never transferred to the Orthodox Church and was not closed. Such a centuries-old history of this building is of great interest to Catholic believers.