On a small highway H6005 connecting agricultural town of Valevka and the regional center of Karelichi can be reached in the village of Raytsa. What is remarkable about this place? Here is preserved Church of Saint Barbara in an architectural style rare for our lands - retrospective gothic.
In 1817, a Catholic church was erected on a hill in the center of Rajtsa. Like many other churches, in 1863 it was converted into an Orthodox church.
Concrete steps lead to the church of St. Barbara, to the left of which a spitting with a gate. During the period when the temple was abandoned, it was here that services were conducted. Bells are also installed here.
On the other side of the hill there is also a small gate, but with the family coat of arms Dunin-Raetsky - Swan. It was restored quite recently.
From this entrance leads an alley with hundred-year-old trees and a small cemetery.
The temple has a sad history. Until 2003 Church of St. Barbara in the village of Raytsa was almost completely destroyed. In 1959, the building was ordered to be demolished. But even in wartime, the state of the building was no better. According to some versions, the partisans burned the church, in another way, they shot it with artillery during the Second World War. Local residents also actively contributed to the systematic plunder of property, from which there were almost no authentic elements left at the temple.
What else to see in these parts? Not far from the exit to the Church of St. Barbara is located manor house Putkamerovwho owned these lands after the Raetskys. Today the manor houses a museum.
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