City Volozhin, for inexperienced tourists, is not remarkable, but this is in vain, there are enough worthy sights here. So in the very center, on Sovetskaya Street, next to Constantino-Eleninsky Church, located Church of Saint Joseph.
The history of the church in Volozhin
Back in the middle of the 17th century, on the site of a modern temple, a wooden church was built at the Bernardine monastery. However, a strong fire destroyed the building almost completely. For a long time, the construction of a new building was postponed. Work began in the first half of the 19th century, and the first stone was laid on March 10, 1806 thanks to Count Joseph Tyshkevich.
True, the count himself did not have time to see the solemn consecration of the church, the construction was completed already under his son Michael. There is an assumption that the architect of this temple is August Kosakovsky, who worked closely with the Tyshkeviches and worked on their palace in Volozhin. By the way, according to the project of Kosakovsky, a rather similar one was built church in Ostrovets.
In the neighborhood of the church in 1830 was erected belfry gate. Like the church itself, the gate is made partly of rubble stone (lower level) and brick. The architecture of the entire complex is a vivid example of the style classicism.
In the Volozhin church, under the choirs, there was a tomb of the Tyshkevich family. The founder of the temple, Count Iosif Tyshkevich, is also buried here.
In the second half of the 19th century, the Catholic parish and the Bernardine monastery were closed, and the church was transformed into Orthodox Church of St. Joseph. Significant reconstruction of the building during that period was not carried out. The temple was re-consecrated as a Catholic only in 1919.
Like many sights of Belarus In general, during the Second World War, the church in Valozhyn was badly damaged and required significant repairs. During the Soviet era, the church housed both a warehouse and a reinforced concrete production workshop, and for some time the church was simply empty.
Volozhin Church today
In 1991, a decision was made to restore and reconstruct the church of St. Joseph. From that time to this day, the doors of the temple are open to Catholics and tourists.
The modern appearance of the temple in Volozhyn pleasantly pleases with its architecture and well-groomed territory. The main façade of this classical building is crowned by a Doric portico with 6 columns.
In each niche of the portico, as planned, there should be sculptures of evangelists. The interior of the church includes several altars and an organ.
The location of this attraction of Volozhin on the map:
Not far from Volozhin there is an interesting village of Vishnevo. In it you can see ancient church, церковь и ruins of the manor Odrovonzh.