The restored Holy Assumption Cathedral in Vitebsk is planned to be opened in October 2010

December 8, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. The restored Holy Assumption Cathedral in Vitebsk is scheduled to open in October 2010. This task was set today at a meeting of the working group by the Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Alexander Kosinets, reports a BELTA correspondent. "To meet the deadlines, the painting of the church must begin in early 2010, and all construction and installation work and landscaping must be completed by July," the governor said. In addition, the lighting system should be carefully considered and a lighting project prepared. The implementation of all work will require more than Br15 billion, Alexander Kosinets noted. The restoration of the Holy Assumption Cathedral began in Vitebsk in 2000. About Br11 billion has already been spent for these purposes, the director of the state enterprise "Capital Construction Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee", Alexander But-Gusaim, told a BELTA correspondent. More than half of the work has been completed: brickwork is ready, all internal and external utility networks have been laid, window blocks and domes with gold-plated coating have been installed. The customer of the facility is the Capital Construction Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, the construction contractor is OJSC "Construction Trust No. 9 of Vitebsk". Financing is carried out from the regional budget. Vitebsk's largest church is being built on the high bank of the Western Dvina, in the very place where the ancient church stood, built in the 18th century and destroyed in the 1930s. Architects and builders had to work extensively in the archives to recreate a copy of one of the most beautiful churches in Belarus. After its opening, the church will become one of the main decorations of the historical part of Vitebsk. -0-