Cathedral Church of Saint Michael the Archangel is a temple in a late baroque style which was preserved in Mazyr.

The cathedral was built as a church of the Catholic order of Bernardines in the XVIII century in a late baroque style as a basilica with two towers and three naves. A wooden cloister of Bernardines by the foundation of the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Sigismund III Vasa appeared in the beginning of the XVII century but during the war of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with Muscovy was ruined by Moscow forces. Brick building of the cathedral was constructed in 1760 – 1775 on the place of a wooden temple. The building was funded by the marshal of the nobility Kazimir Askierka. The temple functioned as a church by the cloister of Bernardines. In the times of the Russian Empire the cloister was annihilated and in 1839 the building was handed over to orthodox Christians. The same year the temple got much hurt from a fire and was renovated only in 37 years. Interesting and at the same time sad is the history of the crypt of the cathedral, of its underground is interesting and at the same time sad. The cathedral was for a time a regional prison of NKVD. The crypt became a grave for many prisoners of the prison. 

Publication date: 07.08.2017.

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