Br3 billion will be allocated for the restoration of the Transfiguration Church in Polotsk in 2013.

Br3 billion will be allocated for the reconstruction and restoration of the Holy Transfiguration Church in Polotsk in 2013, reported Larisa Olenskaya, head of the culture department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, to a BELTA correspondent.

Financing for the restoration work on the monument of ancient architecture will be carried out on a parity basis from the republican and regional budgets. As in previous years, the uncovering of the church frescoes will be carried out by specialists from "Belrestavratsiya" and the interregional scientific and restoration art department of the Ministry of Culture of Russia. To date, restorers have uncovered almost two-thirds of the temple's wall paintings.

Over the past six years, active work has been carried out in the church to restore the unique frescoes of the era of Euphrosyne of Polotsk. The frescoes in the altar, prothesis, and diaconicon – the most ornate parts of the church – have already been presented in their original form. In addition to restoring the pre-Mongol period frescoes, restorers are working on the delamination of wall paintings from the early and late 19th century, when the church was being renovated. These frescoes are applied to canvases and will be exhibited in a museum. Work is underway at the National Polotsk Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve to museumify these canvases.

During the uncovering of ancient layers of painting several years ago, cracks were found on the walls, and the need arose to restore the plinth and raise the floor, installed in a later period, in order to restore the lower part of the 12th-century wall paintings.

The Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior of the Spaso-Yefrosinievsky Monastery is rightfully considered a pearl of East Slavic architecture. According to legend, the church was built with the blessing of Euphrosyne of Polotsk, the abbess of the Polotsk Monastery, and, according to experts, the concept of its frescoes also belongs to her. The uniqueness of the Polotsk frescoes also lies in the fact that such a large volume of ancient East Slavic painting has survived to this day in only one monument – the Church of the Mirozhsky Monastery in Pskov. The restoration project for the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior includes the restoration of the preserved and conservation of the already uncovered 12th-century frescoes, as well as the restoration of the 19th-century oil painting for its separate exhibition. The recreation of the unique painting is included in the "Culture of Belarus" program for 2011-2015.