Description of the attraction
The Holy Protection Cathedral of Vitebsk is an architectural monument of the 19th century. At present it is the main Orthodox church in the city.
On the site of the cathedral, a wooden church for Trinitarian monks was built in 1758. In 1821, a classicist stone church was built on the site of a wooden church. Two-storey stone buildings for monks were built near the church. In 1831, Trinitarian monks were expelled from Vitebsk, and the monastery was abolished. At first they tried to open an orphanage in an empty building, and then transferred the former church to a women's prison.
In 1858-1865, at the initiative of the merchant of the first guild, Grigory Volkovich, and with the funds donated by him, the Catholic church was rebuilt into an Orthodox church and consecrated in honor of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos. Serious reconstruction was carried out in the church on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty in 1913. The renovated temple shone with fresh frescoes, a new pediment and a new dome.
With the arrival of the Bolsheviks in 1930, all churches in Vitebsk were closed. The temples were reopened during the Nazi occupation. The people were so moved that they went to the newly opened churches with tears in their eyes. The relics of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk were brought to the temple from the Vitebsk Museum of Atheism.
During the battles for the liberation of Vitebsk from the occupation, the building of the church was badly damaged. Until the 1980s, Vitebsk was "decorated" by the gradually decaying ruins of the Intercession Cathedral. From 1986 to 1990, the temple was thoroughly reconstructed. On the feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in 1990, the first divine service was held.
Now the church has a sewing workshop, an icon-painting workshop, a Sunday school, a sisterhood, a library, and a refectory.
