100 kilometers from Vitebsk the regional center is located, - urban settlement Ushachi. This place is mentioned in chronicles in 1458 year, so it is not surprising that there are interesting sights here. One of which is Church of Saint Lawrence.
Church in Ushachi began to build in 1908, and finished only 5 years later. Temple architecture - neogothic, this direction was quite popular in Belarus early 20th century.
The first church on this site appeared through the efforts of Jerome Toad in 1716 at the Dominican monastery. The monks of the order diligently invested in the development of this region: they opened a school and a hospital.
Saint Lawrence, in whose honor the temple was consecrated, is considered the patron saint of the village of Ushachi and is even depicted on the coat of arms.
The Dominican monastery was liquidated in the 30s of the 19th century. In 1863, the church in Ushachi was closed, and the building was transferred to the Orthodox Church.
Restoration of the Catholic parish began in 1905. At the same time, they received permission to build a new stone church. The 1913 version of the church had 2 towers, which were not preserved and were destroyed.
Since 1932, the church in the village of Ushachi was closed. It was in a dilapidated form until the 90s. Only in 1994 it was decided to restore the Catholic parish and begin the reconstruction of the temple.
In 2004, the grand opening of the new church took place. Bishop Emeritus of Vitebsk Diocese Vladislav Blin consecrated the restored church. Point of interest on the map:
Not far from the village of Ushachi you can see ruins of the church in Selishche. In addition, a few kilometers away is abandoned estate Orekhovno.
