Description of the attraction
The palace of Bishop Georgy Konissky was built in 1762-1785 by the Vilnius architect Jan Glaubits.
Georgy Konissky is a prominent Orthodox church figure who, even before the division of the Commonwealth, spoke in defense of the oppressed Orthodox population. In 1765 he made a report on the position of the Orthodox before the Polish king Stanislav Poniatowski.
After the division of the Commonwealth, when Mogilev and other Belarusian lands were annexed to Russia, Georgy Konissky headed the Mogilev diocese. After permission for the conversion of Uniates to Orthodoxy, his diocese was replenished with 112,578 new parishioners.
The construction of the bishop's residence in Mogilev was an important political decision, since it was in this city that the residence of the Catholic archbishop was located.
The archbishop fought for the purity of the Orthodox faith, denounced social injustice, serfdom, the vices of rulers and clergy, conducted educational work, helped Orthodox Christians who remained outside the Russian Empire, helped the poor and disadvantaged. A brilliant preacher, philosopher, historian, theologian, zealous teacher, writer and poet, he worthily completed his forty-year hierarchy and after his death was canonized as the locally revered Saint George of Konisskiy.
One of the buildings of the palace complex, a fence and a gate have partially survived to this day. In the architecture of the palace and the gate, features of the Baroque style are clearly visible.
Now in the building of the former palace of Bishop Georgy Konissky there is a museum of the history of the city of Mogilev.
