A memorial plaque was unveiled in Liozno at the site of the former Church of the Ascension of the Lord

A magnificent church was built in Liozno in 1786. In 1932, a club was housed within its walls, where the director of the local Belarusian school, Vasily Ugolev, staged a play based on Yanka Kupala's drama "Drygva" with his senior students.

The author himself, along with the fabulist Kondrat Krapiva, attended the premiere. In 1943, during the liberation of the town from the German fascist invaders, the building served as a landmark for adjusting combat operations. Despite the damage, it withstood.

Here is what Grigory Naumenko from the city of Makeevka, Donetsk region, a participant in those formidable events, wrote about the church: "It was on its dome on October 8, 1943, that Lieutenant Kirill Kanyshkov of the commandant's platoon hoisted the red victorious banner, announcing the beginning of the liberation of the long-suffering Belarusian people." After the war, the church was again used as a club, a bookstore, and in 1962 it was blown up.

Here, the residents of Liozno erected and consecrated a mini-bell tower made of metal lace. The plaque features an image of the destroyed church and the inscription: "The memorial sign is erected in memory of the Holy Ascension Church (1786 – 1962).

With intricate lace reaching for the light,
A prayer ascends to the heavens.
Here lie the generations' searches for answers,
Here are the voices of faith's rebirth.

The dean of the district, priest Vyacheslav, the chairman of the district executive committee, Ivan Lavrinovich, the patron of the arts, Doctor of Technical Sciences Anatoly Belchikov, the head of the administration of the Rudnyansky district of the Smolensk region, Yuri Ivashkin, as well as the chairman of the regional executive committee, Nikolai Sherstnev, speaking at the solemn event, agreed that the sign will serve as a reminder of the desecrated shrines in the district, of the irreparable mistakes of the past, and will inspire the revival of the Holy Ascension Church.

Galina Shpakovskaya. Photos by Dmitry OSIPOV. "Vitebskiye Vesti".