Vitebsk. Holy Dormition Cathedral

The first mention of the Orthodox Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Bald (Prechistenskaya) Mountain, at the confluence of the Vitba and the Western Dvina, dates back to 1406. At the beginning of the XV century, a new church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built, and the hill became known as Assumption Mountain. By that time, the church was made of stone.

According to the decision of the Polish court for the murder of Uniate Bishop Josaphat Kuntsevich, the Assumption Church was dismantled, and 20 people were executed. The city was deprived of Magdeburg rights and privileges. A few years later, the Vitebsk residents restored the wooden church with the money they raised, but in 1629 it burned down. In 1636, a new Assumption Church was built, which fell into disrepair after half a century.

In 1743, construction began on a brick church and monastery building designed by the Italian architect Joseph Fontana. The construction of the temple continued after the partition of Poland thanks to the efforts of the Russian Governor-General Chernyshev and the civil governor Krechetov and was completed in 1777. In 1799, by order of Paul I, the Assumption Cathedral was handed over to the Orthodox. On August 30, 1799, the cathedral was consecrated by the Belarusian Bishop Anastasy. In 1804, a dome was installed at the cathedral, and in 1839, a solemn divine service was held in the church on the occasion of the Uniates' return to Orthodoxy. In 1864, a chapel in the name of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk was built in one of the towers of the cathedral.

The cathedral complex included the buildings of the Vitebsk Theological Seminary. After the October Revolution of 1917, the seminary and the cathedral were closed. In 1926, the Assumption Cathedral was declared state property, but in 1936 the church was blown up. In 1949, a workshop of a grinding machine factory was built on the site of the cathedral. The factory fell into disrepair and ceased to exist in the 1980s. In the summer of 1998, the factory building was demolished.

The Assumption Cathedral has gone through many trials. It burned, collapsed, and was reborn again. On September 26, 1998, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow laid a capsule with a commemorative certificate and consecrated the first stone for the restoration of the cathedral. The idea of reviving the Holy Dormition Cathedral in the 1990s was supported by President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.

Construction work began in June 2000. By the winter of 2004, the builders had covered the ground floor to avoid the effects of winter conditions and maintain the quality of work. The headquarters of the construction site for the revival of the Holy Dormition Cathedral operated from the very beginning. Vladimir Polovtsev considered the revival of the temple his duty. The Board of Trustees was headed by Alexander Atyasov, Chairman of the Regional Council of Deputies.

The Cathedral was revived by the efforts of the Church and the state. On May 4, 2003, the first Divine Liturgy was held on the site of the church under construction since 1936. On August 28, 2005, the day of the patronal feast, Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the lower church of the cathedral under construction. By the end of 2009, bell towers were erected, domes and bells were installed. On September 28, 2009, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited the church. The finishing work and painting of the temple were completed by March 2011. The church was consecrated by Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk with the concelebration of all the hierarchs of the Belarusian Orthodox Church on September 30, 2011.