Description of the attraction
The Church of St. Simeon and St. Helena, also called the Red Church, was opened in December 1910. The construction of the temple was carried out at the expense of a wealthy Minsk nobleman Edward Voinilovich and his wife Olympia, who made a large donation of 100,000 rubles for the construction of the temple.
The temple was built according to the project of architects Tomas Paizdersky and Vladislav Markoni. The construction of the temple took five years. The first stone was solemnly laid by priest Kazimir Mikhalkevich. The sculptures of the church were created by the sculptor Sigmund Otto. The bell tower of the church was decorated with three bells: Edward (in honor of Voinilovich himself), Simon (in honor of his deceased son) and Michael (in honor of the patron saint of the archdiocese).
Today the Red Church is one of the most famous and visited Catholic churches in Minsk. The church is an asymmetrical neo-Romanesque basilica built of red brick. The height of the bell tower reaches 50 meters.
The church was consecrated in honor of Saints Simeon and Helena. The inconsolable father dedicated the temple to his dead children, who bore the names of these saints.
After the Revolution in 1932, the church was closed. The Polish State Theater worked in the building of the temple, then it was transferred to the film studio. During the Nazi occupation, the church was reopened. After the war, a film studio was again set up in the temple, and since 1975 - the House of Cinema.
In 1990, the Church of St. Simeon and St. Helena was transferred to the Catholic Church and opened to parishioners. In 1996, in front of the Red Church, a sculpture of St. Michael was installed, piercing a dragon with a spear - a symbol of the victory of the heavenly army over the forces of darkness. In 2000, the Nagasaki Bell sculpture was installed - a symbol of memory of the victims of nuclear disasters.
