The Holy Assumption Cathedral in Viciebsk stands on the Assumption Hill. It was built in the Viĺnia Baroque style. The church of San Carlo al Corsa in Rome was used as a model for the construction.

The first information about the church that existed on the Assumption Hill dates back to 1406. After the murder of the Uniate Archbishop Jazafat Kuncevič, in the first third of the XVII century, the church was destroyed.

In 1682, a new wooden church was built, sponsored by the Viciebsk chamberlain Kisieĺ. In the same year, a Basilian monastery was founded at the temple. In 1708, during the Northern War, the Russian Tsar Peter I ordered the burning of Viciebsk. This was revenge for the monetary support that the inhabitants of the city gave to the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Stanislaŭ Liaščynski, who was an ally of the Swedish King Charles XII.

In 1715–1743, at the expense of Miron Galuza, a stone church in the late Baroque style with a three-story monastic building was built according to the project of Jazep Fantan. At the monastery there was a school and philosophical studios for monks, where they studied logic, physics and other sciences. On July 18, 1799, by order of the Russian Emperor Paul I, the church was transferred to the Orthodox department. In 1913, the Imperial Archaeological Commission gave permission for the restoration of the temple, classifying it as a valuable cultural and historical monument.

In accordance with the anti-religious policy of the Soviet government in the BSSR, the Assumption Church was blown up in 1937 by a sapper brigade under the command of Piotr Hryharenka (much later he became a well-known Soviet dissident, was friends with academician Andrei Sakharov). On September 26, 1998, Patriarch Alexy II laid the first stone and a capsule with a commemorative certificate at the site of the restoration of the Assumption Cathedral. Restoration work began in June 2000 and ended in 2010. The Holy Assumption Cathedral was restored according to the original models, in the style of the Viĺnia Baroque.

Publication date: 19.02.2021.

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