A little far from the center of Slutsk used to be an impressive complex Trinity Cathedral. This male Orthodox monastery was founded in the middle of the 15th century, but there are more bold assumptions that send us back to the first half of the 12th century. Of course, during such a long history, the wooden buildings of the monastery were destroyed and rebuilt more than once.
Trinity Churchwhich is depicted Napoleon Orda in his picture, built of stone in place of a wooden predecessor in 1789. True, there is information that many works continued until 1804.
Today, the only reminder of this monastery is the building Slutsk Theological School. The educational institution operated from 1767 (* in fact, much earlier, since a school for petty-bourgeois children had been operating at the monastery since 1600) until the first half of the 20th century. Since 1785 the school had the status of an Orthodox seminary.
The building that can be seen now was built to replace the already dilapidated wooden buildings in 1885.
Right next to it was located gate church (well seen in old photographs and postcards).
There is no exact information when the Orthodox monastery in Slutsk was closed completely. This probably happened in 1925, when units of the infantry of the Red Army moved into the buildings of the religious school and the cells of the cathedral.
At that time, various exhibits of the Slutsk Museum of Local Lore were kept in the Gate Church. Then some of them were transported, and some disappeared without a trace.
There is an assumption that brama church and the cathedral was destroyed in the 30s. Some researchers of Slutsk adhere to the version that the complex was finally destroyed in 1944. The old-timers of the city do not support this theory and point out that back in the early 50s, the gate and the cathedral, although in the form of ruins, were still standing.
The residential buildings of the monastery lasted much longer and were used for various needs until 1960. In parallel, there was an active development of the territory of the complex: the House of Culture, new 3-storey barracks, utility buildings and much more appeared.
As a result of these reconstructions, the territory of the complex has changed so dramatically that it is rather problematic to determine the place where the Trinity Cathedral and the gate were located. There are no traces of the monastery left - only old photographs and marks on pre-war maps. The walls of the former religious school today house the Slutsk State Medical College.
The building is on the street Vilenskaya 45, below is the point with the location on the map:
There is another unique attraction in Slutsk - oldest school on the territory of Belarus.
