The voice of Belarus's largest bell was heard on the Annunciation holiday in Vitebsk

April 7, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The voice of the largest bell in Belarus was heard today, on the Annunciation holiday, in Vitebsk, a BELTA correspondent reports. The giant weighing 5.2 tons and two dozen smaller bells announced the start of the service to the parishioners in the restored Assumption Cathedral. Many believers came to the first service in the upper church of the cathedral. According to tradition, the rite of breaking bread and distributing blessed bread to parishioners took place. The Annunciation is one of the twelve Great Feasts, especially loved by Orthodox Christians. On this day, any work was considered a great sin: "On the Annunciation, the bird does not build a nest, the maiden does not braid her hair." And also, by the weather on this day, they judged the future harvest. Judging by the fact that it is cloudy in Vitebsk and it is drizzling, the summer will be mushroom-rich, and the grain harvest promises to be good: "Rain on the Annunciation, rye will grow." The restoration of the Assumption Cathedral (an architectural monument of the 18th century) is nearing completion. The interior of the temple amazes with its grandeur and richness. In addition to traditional biblical scenes, the frescoes inside the temple depict the faces of the saints of the Belarusian land. Work on the improvement of the adjacent territory, including the embankments of the Western Dvina and the Vitba River flowing into it, has entered the final stage. The restoration of the temple began in 1998. Then Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' laid a capsule with a memorial charter at the foundation of the temple and consecrated the first stone for the construction of the cathedral. In the autumn of 2009, Patriarch Kirill visited the construction site of the cathedral. The Assumption Cathedral is built on a high bank at the confluence of the Vitba and the Western Dvina. Until the mid-1930s, it was the calling card of Vitebsk and was among the most magnificent churches of the Russian Empire. In 1911, a color photograph of its interior was taken – the cathedral of provincial Vitebsk was so beautiful. The construction of the temple began in 1743. The author of the project and the head of construction work was architect Joseph Fontana. According to some sources, the Vitebsk cathedral was a reduced copy of one of the churches in Rome, built by the famous architect Anorio Longhi. In 1936, the Assumption Cathedral was destroyed by sappers under the command of Pyotr Grigorenko, who later became one of the famous dissidents and human rights activists. The restoration project of the Assumption Cathedral is based on archival materials and is an exact copy of the destroyed one. The size of the temple is 55 m by 33 m. The height of the main dome of the temple is about 50 m, and the two bell towers soar up to almost 40 m. According to the architects' design, wide staircases lead from the embankment to the foot of the temple. -0-