St. Joseph Church is a former Roman Catholic church in the district of

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. The building, which is an example of the

Baroque architecture Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the late 16th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means to ...

style, was completed in 1752. The church was named after the monastery to which it belonged. It was closed in the 1860s and became an

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

. Since the late 19th century, it has been used to store archives.

History

Construction and Design

The Bernardines monastery was founded by Andej and Jan Kęsowski in 1624. The first monastery church was made from wood and constructed in the 1630s, but in 1644 it was destroyed by fire. In 1652 the new stone church was constructed and consecrated in the name of

St. Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orth ...

. The fires in 1656, 1740 and 1835 had severely damaged the monastery, however, it was reconstructed every time. The most significant restoration was made in 1752, then the buildings were redecorated in

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style. By the early XIX century the monastery occupied the whole block between the Small and Big Berdardinsky streets and Zybitskaya and Upper Markets squares. The ensemble included a church with a monks housing, a fratery, a school, a hospital, a stable, and a brewery, all enclosed by a high stone fence with several gates. Nowadays the church looks like a three-aisled

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

. The highest central nave is covered with a gable roof with a protruding three-walled

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

. The left and the right naves are shaped as chapels covered with cross-shaped vaults and lean-to roofs. The western facade is decorated with expressive

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

s, and

volute A volute is a spiral, scroll-like ornament that forms the basis of the Ionic order, found in the capital of the Ionic column. It was later incorporated into Corinthian order and Composite column capitals. Four are normally to be found on an ...

s. Two sculptures, previously standing in the niches, are now lost. The front porch is topped with a massive triple window.

19th—20th centuries

In the 1860s the monastery was closed and confiscated from the church as a punishment for participation in the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

. Since 1872 it was used as an archive. In the early 20th century the gable roof was destroyed. The latest restoration was completed in 1983. Nowadays the building serves as an archive of Belarusian art, literature, scientific, and technical documentation. Several monastery buildings were recently used as military and Prosecutor's offices. The archive currently holds more than 200 thousands items with such valuable ones as the post-war Minsk city planning designs. All modern restorations in Belarus use these archive documents as reference sources.

21st century

By 2010 for more than 5 years the members of Christian community from

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Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, and

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tried to make the authorities return the building to the Church. The government, however, opened a hotel in the monastery wing. In 2022, research and renovation work was carried out on the main façade of the church to restore its historical Baroque color scheme (architect R. Zabieła).

References

{{Reflist * Каталіцкія храмы на Беларусі : энцыклапедычны даведнік / А. М. Кулагін. — Мінск, 2000.

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

Roman Catholic churches in Minsk Former Bernardine (Franciscan) monasteries in Belarus Monasteries used as prisons