The restoration of the Holy Transfiguration Church in Polotsk will be completed in 2024
The restoration of the Transfiguration Church in Polotsk will be completed in 2024. This was announced today, on the International Day of Culture and on the eve of the International Day for Monuments and Sites, by Gennady Khodor, consultant of the Department for Protection and Accounting of Historical and Cultural Values of the Department for Protection of Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture.
"In 2024, large-scale work is underway on iconic heritage sites in almost every region. In the Brest region, this is the restoration of the eastern корпус of the Sapega Palace and Park Complex in Ruzhany. In the Minsk region, it is planned to complete restoration work on the Corpus Christi Church in Nesvizh, as well as to commission the former synagogue in Volozhin. In the Vitebsk region, they plan to complete work on the Transfiguration Church in Polotsk, and in the Gomel region, funds have been allocated for work in the residential корпус of the former Jesuit college in the agro-town of Yurovichi. Last year, the Palace and Park Ensemble in Zhilichi was commissioned in the Mogilev region. This year, they decided to improve the park there to attract more tourists. In the Grodno region, work continues on such an iconic site as Krevsky Castle, and in the capital, it is planned to complete work on the Pobeda cinema and the Church of Alexander Nevsky in 2024," said Gennady Khodor.
According to him, the State List of Historical and Cultural Values currently includes 5685 items, including 181 intangible historical and cultural values, 138 movable tangible historical and cultural values, and 5366 immovable tangible historical and cultural values.
"Among the important areas in the protection of historical and cultural heritage, two can be highlighted: preserving what is included in the State List of Historical and Cultural Values, and identifying new objects to grant them the appropriate status and include them in the State List of Historical and Cultural Values. However, among the preservation efforts, the state pays special attention to objects that are in unsatisfactory condition. We have about 280 such objects. Since 2022, plans have been developed and are being implemented by regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee for step-by-step actions regarding each object that is in unsatisfactory condition. Accordingly, at the level of local budgets, every effort is made to ensure that such objects are at least restored, conserved, and involved in economic or tourist circulation. In 2022-2023, 37 architectural monuments were involved in economic and tourist circulation, including 14 objects in 2022 and 23 objects in 2023. This year, the work will continue. We expect a similar number of objects to be involved in tourist and economic circulation," added Gennady Khodor.
"I believe that this area has always been very important. And in the context of the 2022 amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, norms on preserving the historical memory of the people appeared in the Code of Culture. It seems to me that historical and cultural heritage (both tangible and spiritual, intangible) is the pledge and foundation of Belarusian statehood. If we do not have thousands of proofs of our history and identity (monuments, castles, palaces, estates, churches, preserved rituals and traditions that have their roots in the thousand-year history of the Belarusian people), then there will be no such main foundation of Belarusian identity as culture itself. Historical and cultural heritage, culture, is truly the symbolic code of the nation, which is why the state today pays great attention to this area and always emphasizes that the preservation of historical and cultural heritage is one of the priority areas of state policy in the field of culture. A whole system has been established that helps
"We must not only preserve our monuments and traditions, but also enhance them for future generations," Gennady Khodor summarized.
Source: vitebsk-region.gov.by