Vitebsk. Assumption Cathedral.

The Assumption Cathedral dominates the city of Vitebsk, as if hovering over the historical center of the city. A unique panorama with landscapes opens up from here. The first wooden temple was built here in the 15th century. And already in 1682, a new church was built instead of the Assumption wooden church - the Union church. The previous Orthodox church was demolished after the assassination of Uniate Archbishop Iosfat Kuntsevich in Vitebsk in 1623. The founder of the new church was Vitebsk sub-chamber J. Kissel. In 1682, the Basilian Uniate monastery was also founded at the church. In 1708, during the Northern War, the city was burned down by the order of Moscow Tsar Peter I. The wooden Church of the Assumption with the monastery also burned down. With the help of new funders, in 1743, the construction of a brick church and a three-story monastery by the Italian architect Joseph Fontana III began. It is believed that the temple of San Carlo al Corso in Rome was taken as a model for the brick church. When the Minister of Public Education of the Russian Empire Count D. Tolstoy saw the church, he said to the architect who was in his retinue: "Learn to build churches as reliably, easily, magnificently and beautifully as this church was made!" The church is considered one of the largest on the territory of Belarus: a five-nave cruciform basilica with two multi-tiered towers on the main facade facing the Western Dvina. By order of Emperor Paul I, the monastery and church were handed over to the Orthodox and rebuilt into an architectural complex with features of the then prevailing architectural style, classicism. An Orthodox theological seminary was opened in the former Unionist monastery. The majestic shrine was demolished during the Soviet era in 1936. And already in 1998, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Alexy II, consecrated the site of the future temple and laid the foundation stone. The temple was restored in 2011. Today, the largest bell in Belarus weighing 5,200 kilograms was installed here. In addition, when visiting the shrine, you can go down into the basement, where there is also a church.