The restoration of frescoes in Polotsk should be financed from the republican and local budgets - Ministry of Culture

February 12, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The Ministry of Culture of Belarus considers it necessary to involve the local budget in financing the restoration of the frescoes of the Savior Transfiguration Church of the Savior-Euphemia Monastery in Polotsk. This was stated today at a meeting of the board of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Department of Culture by Deputy Minister of Culture of Belarus Viktor Kurash, a BELTA correspondent reports. In 2009, Br348 million was allocated for the restoration of the unique wall painting of the church, the later layers of which date back to the 12th century. This year, Br175 million will be allocated from the republican budget, the deputy minister said. Given that the entire scope of work is estimated at Br5 billion, the Ministry of Culture proposes co-financing the work by attracting funds from the regional budget. The Savior Transfiguration Church is rightfully considered the pearl of East Slavic culture. 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 design of the painting also belongs to the saint. A restoration group from the interregional scientific and restoration art department of the Ministry of Culture of Russia, led by the famous restorer Vladimir Sarabyanov, has been invited to participate in the restoration work. The restoration project of the Savior Transfiguration Church provides for the restoration of the preserved and conservation of the already uncovered 12th-century frescoes, as well as the restoration of 19th-century oil painting for its separate exhibition. In the Savior Transfiguration Church, the original 12th-century paintings have remained almost entirely, from the floor to the dome. Earlier, in an interview with BELTA, Vladimir Sarabyanov said that only two monuments have survived to this day with such a volume of ancient East Slavic painting - the Mirozhsky Monastery Church in Pskov and the Savior Transfiguration Church of the Savior-Euphemia Monastery in Polotsk. -0-