Church of St. John the Baptist (Golshany)

In 1618, Pavel Stefan Sapega invited the Franciscan monks to his family estate of Golshany and founded a Franciscan monastery there. The monastery church, consecrated in honor of John the Baptist , was built on the foundation of a former Calvinist cathedral, then a residential building was built ^[2] . Pavel Sapieha and his wives after death were buried in this church. In 1770, the monastery church was demolished almost to the base and rebuilt into a baroque church. In the first half of the 19th century, a two-tier tetrahedral bell tower above the gate in the style of late classicism was erected in front of the church.

After the uprising of 1830, many Catholic monasteries in the territory of modern Belarus were closed, the Franciscan monastery in Golshany was closed by decree of July 19, 1832 ^[2] . The Church of St. John the Baptist has become an ordinary parish.

In 1886 , priest Andrei Lyatsky was rector of the Golshansky parish ^[3] .

After 1944, the temple fell into decay, but was reconstructed and continues to be an active Catholic church.

The Church of St. John the Baptist is a monument of Baroque architecture . The plan is a rectangle divided into three naves . There are no towers on the main facade, the main decorative element is a figured pediment ^[4] . The walls are decorated with pilasters , niches and cut through the windows with curly endings.

The central nave of the church is covered by a cylindrical vault , the side naves have a lower height and are blocked by cross vaults. The side naves are separated from the main by two rows of 4 columns. The central nave passes into a powerful semicircular apse ^[2]

The mural painting of the 18th century on a flat wall stands out in the interior, creating the illusion of a voluminous semicircular Corinthian colonnade ^[1] . In the central part of the fresco is an image of the scene of the Baptism of Christ . In the right nave, the burial place of the founder of the church, Pavel Stefan Sapieha, was preserved, but the gravestone sculpture is now transferred to the Museum of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus in Minsk ^[4] .

On the southwest side of the temple adjoins the former residential building of the monastery, partially destroyed in 1832. Previously, the building was used as a branch of the National Art Museum of Belarus , but in 2008 the museum was closed due to lack of funding ^[5] .

The legend of the ghost of the White Lady is associated with the Church of St. John the Baptist, similar to many legends about the White Lady existing in various countries of Europe. Allegedly, the builders did not have time to finish the church by the appointed time, and the angry Sapega threatened to execute them in case of delay. The builders decided that they were being disturbed by black forces and sacrificed a young girl, having immured her into the wall alive. Since then, supposedly in the walls of the monastery and the church her ghost periodically appears ^{[5] [6]} .

• A. M. Kulagin. Catalan temples in Belarus. Minsk, Belarus Entsiklapedyya, 2000
• Architects of Belarus. Etsiklapedychny davendnik ". Minsk," Belarus Etsyklapedyya name Petrus Brokki ", 1993. ISBN 5-85700-078-5
• Gabrus T. V. "Muravaniya Kharaly: sacred architecture of the Belarusian baroque." Minsk, “Urajay”, 2001. ISBN 985-04-0499-X .
• Zbor remembrance history and culture. Grodzenskaya oblast. Page 101

• Temple on the site of the Catholic Church in Belarus
• Website globus.tut.by
• Wooden church