Description of the attraction
The Annunciation Church in Vitebsk is one of the most ancient churches, restored in our time. According to legend, the Annunciation Church was founded by Princess Olga, who stayed in Vitebsk on the way from the capital city of Kiev to Polotsk. Under Olga, only a wooden church was built. The magnificent temple in the Byzantine style was built only in the XII century. For its construction, craftsmen from Byzantium itself were invited, which is confirmed by archaeological research. There is also a legend according to which, in the Annunciation Church, Alexander Nevsky was married to his bride, Princess Alexandra of Polotsk.
The church flourished and was renewed several times. So, in the XIV century, the church was renovated by order of Prince Olgerd.
Hard times came for Orthodoxy after the adoption of the Union of Brest. The sad fate was not spared by the ancient Annunciation Church on the left bank of the Western Dvina. In 1619, the Uniates came to the temple. However, the Orthodox were warned and left them nothing of value. Only walls painted with magnificent frescoes.
In 1623, the Uniate Archbishop, an implacable enemy of Orthodoxy, Iosofat Kuntsevich ordered to whitewash the frescoes of the Annunciation Church. In the same year, an uprising took place, during which the Orthodox people killed Iosofat Kuntsevich and threw his body into the river. The city court ordered for such an atrocity to take away the Church of the Annunciation from the Orthodox, demolish the domes and convert it into a Catholic church.
In 1831, the Russian government returned to the Orthodox population the selected churches on the territory of the city of Vitebsk under its control. The temple was reconstructed in the pseudo-Russian style popular at that time.
The temple was seriously damaged during the Great Patriotic War, but still withstood, giving shelter to the townspeople who lost their homes. Closer to the end of the war, a miracle happened in the church - ancient frescoes opened by themselves. However, the Soviet government, waging an implacable struggle with the church, blew up the ancient temple in 1961. The vaults collapsed, but the walls resisted, and the believers were able to defend at least the little that remained of the temple. So he stood in ruins to this day.
In 1992, a decision was made to restore the Church of the Annunciation. For this, historians, archaeologists and the best builders were involved in order to give the church its original appearance.
On April 7, 2006, the temple was fully completed, painted from the inside with new frescoes and decorated.
