A church bell from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania era was found in the Liozno district

September 3, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. A bell from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania era has been found in the Liozno district, the culture department of the Liozno District Executive Committee told a BELTA correspondent. During excavation work in the village of Kolyshki, a bell 55.6 cm high and with the same diameter at its widest part was found in an abandoned well. According to Olga Samushchenko, director of the Liozno Military History Museum, despite the fact that the bell had been in the ground for over half a century, its condition is satisfactory, with only the clapper missing. The exterior has inscriptions in Latin on the upper and lower bands. The upper inscription can be translated as "We glorify one God," and the lower one bears the name of a certain Friedrich Quein and the date 1727, which specialists consider to be the year the bell was made. The middle part of the bell features a relief image of the Mother of God with the infant Jesus. According to Olga Samushchenko, the bell came to the Liozno region during the Uniate period and most likely remained on the bell tower of the Orthodox church until the mid-1930s. The further history of the bell is told by local residents. Some claim that it was thrown into the well after the church was destroyed, while others assure that after the temple was ruined, the bell was hung on the fire bell tower, and in 1941, Red Army soldiers hid it in the well so that the precious metal would not fall into the hands of the fascist occupiers. The story of how the bell was found is also interesting. One of the Liozno agricultural production cooperatives is building a church on its territory. To save money, they decided not to order a bell from founders but to look for it in a place where, according to old-timers, an ancient bell might have been located. The location was indicated correctly – the bell was found, but the work was carried out in violation of the legislation on the protection of cultural values, as a result of which the council for historical and cultural heritage under the Ministry of Culture refused to pay a reward for the find. The bell has been recognized as a historical and cultural value – an example of blacksmith craftsmanship. Currently, at the request of believers, the bell has been transferred for responsible storage to the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross in Liozno. After repairs, it will, as it should, resume its service on the belfry. -0-