The Holy Assumption Cathedral in Vitebsk will receive a 350-pood bell as a gift

November 1, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The largest church in Vitebsk, the Assumption Cathedral, will receive a 350-pood bell as a gift, the abbot of the cathedral, Father Mikhail (Martynovich), told a BELTA correspondent. This bell and a dozen smaller bells, the smallest of which weighs about a pood (16 kg), will be installed in addition to the ten existing ones, the largest of which weighs 125 poods. The new bells were cast by Moscow founders with funds from Russian patrons. The bell-making masters were advised by the chief bell-ringer of the Moscow Kremlin. According to the priest, the issues of delivering the bells from Moscow to Vitebsk are currently being discussed, so the date of their installation will be announced later. The restoration of the Assumption Cathedral is nearing completion. Finishing works are currently underway in the church, gilded chandeliers have been installed, and the walls are being painted – in addition to traditional biblical scenes, the frescoes will depict the faces of saints of the Belarusian land. Along with the interior work, landscaping of the territory adjacent to the church, including the embankments of the Western Dvina and the Vitba River flowing into it, is being completed. The restoration of the architectural monument of the 18th century began in 1998. At that time, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' laid a capsule with a commemorative charter at the foundation of the church and consecrated the first stone of the construction. The Assumption Cathedral is built on a high bank at the confluence of the Vitba and the Western Dvina. The construction of the church began in 1743. The author of the project and the head of construction work was architect Joseph Fontana. Until the mid-1930s, the cathedral 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 even taken – so beautiful was the cathedral of provincial Vitebsk. 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 project for the restoration of the cathedral is based on archival materials and is an exact replica of the destroyed one. The size of the church is 55 m by 33 m. The height of the main dome of the church 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 church. -0-