Description of the attraction
The Polotsk Epiphany Monastery was founded in 1582 as an Orthodox and educational center. In terms of the level of scientific and spiritual training of its students, the Polotsk Epiphany Monastery successfully competed with the Jesuit collegium.
The monastery taught not only religious disciplines. Here they taught Old Church Slavonic, Greek, Latin, singing, mathematics, rhetoric. The monastic fraternal school had a large library and even its own theater. The monastery has invited the best Orthodox teachers. Among them was Simeon of Polotsk.
The monastery complex was built of wood and burned several times. After one of the fires in 1761, a new stone church was laid, and later a residential fraternal building was built. Presumably, the residential building was designed by the famous architect Giacomo Quarenghi.
The Holy Epiphany Cathedral is part of the monastery complex. This beautiful temple, built in the Baroque style, is located on the picturesque bank of the Western Dvina River.
During the Soviet era, the monastery complex was closed. There was an art gallery here, so the buildings not only did not suffer from the barbaric actions of Soviet officials, but were also restored and maintained in good condition.
In 1991, the Epiphany Cathedral was returned to believers. The cathedral was reconstructed at the expense of the faithful. It now contains a list of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God. In 2011, the cathedral celebrated its 250th anniversary.
The monastery buildings now house a library-museum and a book-printing museum.
