Druya is a place rich in history with a large number of historical monuments. Unfortunately, some of them have not survived to this day, but have been preserved only in old photographs and in book articles. One of these monuments was located near Trinity Church, is Catholic Church of St. Anthony of Padua at the Dominican Monastery.
The church was built at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century, when Dominican monks arrived in Druya with an educational mission. Initially, the temple and the monastery were wooden, but by 1773 they were completely rebuilt from stone.
An Italian architect was invited to design a new church architect Anthony Parak, who, by the way, was also responsible for the construction of the Church of the Virgin Mary on the other side of the Western Dvina, in Piedruja.
The Church of St. Anthony of Padua had features of the architectural style that was popular at that time. Vilna Baroque. It was a two-tower basilica with an attached residential building.
Druya Monastery of the Dominicans closed in 1832, and the building of the church was transferred to the Orthodox Church. Probably there were enough Orthodox churches in Druya at that time, and by the end of the 19th century the former church was in an abandoned state. Slowly they began to take it apart into bricks, and in 1909 year decided to blow it up.
However, the strong centuries-old masonry did not succumb so easily, and it took many more years to finally dismantle the foundation.
Baroque stood a little longer than the church gate-bell tower.
For some time it was even used for services, but after the end of World War II, the building was destroyed. Today, there is no trace of the former monastery buildings left at this place.
Due to the fact that the Dominican tower was only some 20 meters from bell towers of the Peter and Paul Church they are often confused and mistaken for the same building.
It is rather difficult to establish the exact place where the church of St. Anthony of Padua was located, the conjectural option is below on the map:
In the central part of Druya there was once synagogue. Walking through the agricultural town look Church of the Annunciationwhich is currently being actively restored.
