Together with the Bernardine Monastery, Catholic Church of the Holy Cross Invention is an architectural complex built in the 16th – 17th centuries in the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles.

The history of the monastery complex construction began in 1494 and is associated with the name of the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Aliaksandr Jahajlavič. He gave the Bernardines the land on which a wooden church and a monastery were built. In 1595, under Sigismund III, the construction of a stone male monastery began. And on May 13, 1618, the Catholic Church of the Holy Cross Invention was consecrated by the Viĺnia bishop Jaŭstach Valovič. In 1656, a fire broke out in the Catholic Church of the Holy Cross Invention, which seriously damaged the altar of St. Anthony and the roof. Restoration work began together with the construction of the сhapel of St. Barbara. All the works were completed in 1660. Thanks to its long history, the Bernardine church is the embodiment of several architectural styles: Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.

During the period when the Belarusian lands were part of the Russian Empire, the attitude of the authorities towards the Catholic orders was suspicious. In 1853, the Bernardine Convention in Hrodna was liquidated (at that time, only 8 monks lived in the monastery). Russian soldiers settled in the monastery building. The temple received the status of a parish church. During the Second World War, the Bernardine complex was partially burned down. Restoration work began quickly, and the shrine was restored already in 1946. In Soviet times, the buildings of the Catholic church housed a forensic medical examination bureau and a sanitary and epidemiological station.

Since September 1, 1990, the Catholic higher theological seminary has been located in the building of the monastery. In 1995, the renovation of the Catholic church began, and in 2009 the tower was restored and painted.

12 sculptures of the Apostles on the south wall and 12 historical figures of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on the north wall among the special values of the temple.

Publication date: 19.08.2020.

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