Velikaya Krakotka. The ancient cemetery.

There is a place called Velikaya Krakotka in the Slonim district. There are several monuments of architecture and antiquity in this town. There is a 19th-century stone church, a new Orthodox monastery and several natural monuments, including a huge boulder and a spring with medicinal water.

On a hill on the very outskirts of Velikaya Krakotka there is an unusual stone temple, which is built of rubble stone. At the foot of the mountain on the right is an Orthodox monastery. And to the left of the stone church there is an ancient cemetery.

The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin was built back in the days of Russian history. According to one information, the temple was built in 1883, instead of the old wooden church, which may have originally been a Uniate temple. According to other sources, the church was built before 1839 as a Uniate church, and then handed over to Orthodox believers. Looking at the architecture of the church, it looks like the church was built at the end of the 19th century in a retrospective Russian style, just like the Orthodox church. And since the place was much larger in those days than it is now, there must have been an old church here from the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. And in that era, mostly Uniate churches were built in villages and towns.

The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary consists of three main architectural parts: the vestibule, the prayer hall and the apse.

 A multi-tiered eight-by-four bell tower is built above the vestibule. The artistic method of decorating the temple is based on a combination of the gray color of natural stone and white plastering. During the construction of the temple, the technique of raisin laying was used - this is when various patterns and decorations are made around large stones from small stones.

 It is believed that the church was built by local peasants themselves, but under the guidance of German craftsmen. Although this temple is not unique for Belarus, since in the 19th century stone was massively built using this technology and not only religious buildings, but also residential and outbuildings.

There is a local cemetery on the left side of the church.

 Here you can see a lot of old graves and crosses. It is likely that burials began here much earlier than the stone Church of the Nativity of the Virgin was built. There is also a stone chapel in the cemetery. The temple is quite small, built of rubble stone on a high foundation. From the facade, the chapel has a niche where a sculpture or icon was previously installed. The chapel forms a quadrangle in the plan, covered with a four-pitched roof. There are many graves with stone monuments and metal crosses. Some crosses have sculptural images with a crucifix.