At the entrance to the village Milashovo, Vitebsk region, you can see a rather unusual for Belarus catholic church. It is unusual both in its history and architecture.
Church of Our Lady of the Scapular in Idolta (at that time this plot of land did not belong to Milashovo) began to be built thanks to the priest Stanislav Avid Eliash in 1937. Prior to this, services were held in chapel-tomb of Milose, but with the growth in the number of parishioners, the need for a new building has especially increased.
Invited to design the temple engineer-architect Yan Barovsky, who proposed an interesting project with features of Art Nouveau and constructivism. Already by 1938, the walls were completed, it only remained to cover the temple with a roof, but the war and Soviet anti-religious repressions were approaching. As a result, work progressed very slowly. In 1941, priest Stanislav Eliyash was arrested and then shot, after which the construction finally stopped.
It fell to the next priest to finish work on the temple - Baleslav Grams. It is believed that the church was consecrated in July 1942. Whether this is possible and whether there is some error in the date is difficult to say. However, if the church was indeed completed in 42, then it looks like a real miracle.
Architecturally, the temple is distinguished by a high square tower with a hipped roof.
The main entrance is decorated with an arcade gallery, above which is a rose window. On the left side is a lonely sculpture of the Virgin Mary.
Visually, the church consists of two levels: the lower one is decorated with rubble stone, the upper one is lined with yellow brick.
The temple is located near the highway H2102 leading to Druya, the landmark is the exit to Lesnaya Street.
In Idolta you can also see the restored Milose manor and a picturesque wooden bridge. If time permits, then drive to the village of Osada-Dedino, where the massive ruins of the Rudnitsky manor house stand.
