The Church of the Immaculate Conception of Saint Virgin Mary ( be, Касцёл Беззаганнага Зачацця Найсвяцейшай Дзевы Марыі) in Babruysk, Belarus, is a Catholic church built in 1901–1903 and rebuilt in 1963. The original facades were vividly decorated in Neo-Gothic style. The church had a high bell tower in the front.

History

20th century

The church was built between 1901 and 1903 under the management of architect Stanislaw Shabunevsky. The main altar was consecrated on September 9, 1912. In 1907 two

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were installed in the church. In 1922 the

Soviet authorities The Government of the Soviet Union ( rus, Прави́тельство СССР, p=prɐˈvʲitʲɪlʲstvə ɛs ɛs ɛs ˈɛr, r=Pravítelstvo SSSR, lang=no), formally the All-Union Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly ab ...

prohibited all religious activity in Babruisk, but the locals continued to go to the church for baptisms and marriages. Only in 1935 was it closed. Soon the facades were stripped down. The former church was used as a granary. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the

Fascists Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and th ...

occupied the city and allowed

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

to be freely professed. Until 1944 the masses in the church were again served by a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

priest. After the war, the church building was repurposed again as an archive, cinema hall, and a museum. Though in 1955 the government prohibited any alterations to the church's original historic appearance, in 1963 an administrative house was built into the church's walls. In 1989 the authorities returned the church to the parish. On July 13, 1990, it was consecrated by the archbishop

Tadevuš Kandrusievič Tadevuš Kandrusievič ( be, Тадэвуш Кандрусевіч; pl, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz; born 3 January 1946) is a Belarusian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Minsk–Mohilev from 2007 to 2021. He has been a bish ...

21st century

In 2009 Dominican nuns started working in the church. In 2019 the building was given to city management. Though there are propositions to demolish the administrative building and reconstruct the church's facades in the original design, city authorities claim to have no funds for the project.

References

External links

The page "Restoration of the Bobruisk church"
on

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3D reconstruction of the church's original design
{{coord missing, Belarus Roman Catholic churches in Belarus Baroque church buildings in Belarus Churches completed in 1783 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Belarus