The Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Zaslaŭje, built in the Baroque style, is famous for its exquisite beauty.

The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in 1774. The funder was the owner of the town, the vice chancellor of Lithuania, count Antonij Pšazdziecki. Who was the author of the project is not exactly known. There are two versions: most likely, it could be built by Carlo Spampani, who worked in Zaslaŭje and, in particular, built a palace for Pšazdziecki. On the other hand, the author of the project of the church could also be another Italian architect — Paolo Fontana.

The late-Baroque church is designed in the form of a single-nave structure with a semicircular apse and two sacristies. As a result of the reconstruction into the Orthodox church in the XIX century, the wave-shaped Baroque shield was replaced by a low bell tower, and a large spherical dome was erected over the main volume. External solution of the temple is very interesting: the main and side facades are divided by a horizontal bond into two floors. The walls of the temple reach a thickness of 2 meters, so the internal volume is very small. Under the temple there are vaults, in which a crypt was created in 1860–1870.

Since 1850, Zaslaŭje passed to the Prušynskis. But they were deprived of their property for their participation in the uprising of 1863–1864. After the uprising, the Catholic church was transformed by the Russian authorities into the Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. This Orthodox church operated until 1941. During the Second World War, the building of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin was severely damaged. In the post-war years, the church was closed. Only in 1988, the restoration began. After it, the church was returned to the Catholics.

Publication date: 05.03.2021.

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