Minsk. Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, the main Orthodox church in Belarus, was originally a Catholic church. In 1633, a representative of the famous Belarusian magnate family, Alexander Slushka, founded the Catholic church and the Bernardine monastery. At first, the buildings were made of wood, and the brick ones began to be erected in the 1640s. In 1687, the new church was consecrated. The Bernardine monastery was a whole architectural complex: a church, a residential building, an outbuilding and outbuildings. The church and the two-story building of the monastery, which was added to it, formed a closed courtyard. The architectural dominant of the complex is the church building. The three-nave six-pillar basilica church. The central nave is covered with a gable roof, and the side naves are covered with a single-gable roof. The main facade of the church is built with two six-story towers, the height of which is 34 meters, finished with complex baroque domes. And between the towers there is a barrack shield. The interior of the church at the beginning of the 19th century was decorated with 7 stucco altars. After the suppression of the anti-Russian uprising led by K. Kalinowski in 1863-64, the church was handed over to the Orthodox. In Soviet times, the church was first closed, and after the war, the church started working again. The church keeps the relics of Saint Sophia of Slutsk and the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Minsk.