Religion

Valevka village

In the village of Valevka there is an Orthodox Peter and Paul Church (until 1830 – a church). In the temple there are several ancient icons, and the two-tier wooden iconostasis is decorated with carvings with gilding. The iconostasis of the church was brought in the 1920s from the Holy Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Warsaw, which was destroyed in 1926. Icons for the Warsaw Cathedral were painted by Vasnetsov.

In school there is Local History Museum of Valevka area, where a number of rare documents are collected and one can learn about the history of the region and its people. On the territory of the school you can also visit the park-arboretum. The park was laid in 1960. Today there grow about a hundred species of trees and shrubs.

Near Valevka there is a mountain Radogoshcha. An ancient settlement, dating back to the early Iron Age and the era of Kievan Rus, rises 20 meters above the river Nevda. Until 1939  nearby was the manor of Chomber – the birthplace of Adam Mickiewicz’s mother. A chapel of the last owners Karpovichi has survived.

Vselub village

In the village of Vselub, fragments of a manor-and-park complex of the XVIII-XX centuries, whose history is closely connected with the fate of Counts O’Rourke, were preserved.

O’Rourke – were representatives of an aristocratic noble family of  Irish descent. They entered the service of the empress  Elizabeth Petrovna in the 18th century. It is known that Joseph O’Rourke, the last owner of the estate, became famous in the Russian-Turkish war, and during the war with Napoleon in 1812, defeated the avant-garde of General Mora, pursuing the French from Belovezhskaya Pushcha to Brest. The Counts of O’Rourke owned All-Love until 1939.

Catholic church of St. Casimir (1413 – 1433) is the oldest survived church in the territory of modern Belarus. Near the church in the cemetery there is a clan chapel, the tomb of O’Rourke.

The Church of St. Michael the Archangel (1838 – 1840) is also active in Vselub.

Urban village of Lyubcha

Lubcha was based on the bank of the Neman at the very end of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th century. Initially, Lyubcha belonged to Hreptovich, then to Gashtold, Kishki, Radziwill (since 1606).

Until now, the castle has been preserved in Liubcha. Lubcha Castle is one of the last monuments of traditional castle building in Belarus. Its construction began in 1581, and finished in the beginning of the XVII century.

Orthodox church of St. Ilia. According to available information, the original wooden church was burned down in 1798. In 1840 a new wooden church was built in the form of a cross with the money of the local owner of Wittenstein.

In Lyubcha, a talented composer Nikolai Nabokov (cousin of the famous writer Vladimir Nabokov) was born, folklorist Solomon Rysinsky – the first known person who called himself a Belarusian, and his country – Belarus, and even a perfumer of world renown. The fragrance of Trésor, whose sales surpassed even the legendary Chanel No. 5, was invented by a native of Lubcha Sofia Khodash-Groisman.

Shchorsi village

In the 1770s an outstanding state, political and public figure, I. L. Khreptovich, founded a palace and park ensemble in Shchorsy, which was created by the best architects from Italy and France. He also founded a library in his estate, where there were about 1 thousand volumes, the works of famous philosophers, works of Roman and Greek classics, outstanding works of Italian and French classical literature were kept. Currently, books from Shchorsi library are kept in Kiev, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krakow, Warsaw.

On the outskirts of the village there is a farm “Murovanka Khreptovichi”. Built from red brick from afar “Murovanka” resembles a castle.

In the church of St. Dimitry of Thessalonica, the wonderworking icon of the Holy Great Martyr Dmitry Solunsky is stored, the date of which is broken on the rize – 1386. A story says that this icon was donated to the temple by one of the beginners of the Khreptovich family.

Mosque in Lovchitsy

The mosque was erected in 1688. It was built of wood and it was repeatedly updated. In 2002, it was rebuilt. It is located in the cemetery. According to legend, here is buried the Muslim holy Kontus, who during his lifetime had miraculous powers.

The legend tells about the possibilities of Kontus in an instant to be transferred from Lovchits to Mecca.

Assumption Church in Lavrishevo

The village got its name from the word “laurels”, since here for a long time there was an Orthodox monastery, famous for the whole district – one of the religious and cultural centers of Belarus, in which the chronicle was conducted.

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in 1756 (according to other sources in 1798) from a tree, like the temple of the Lavryshev Monastery. Near the church in 1775-1780, a bell tower, a residential building, a small stone building, in which there was a library and a warehouse. The library numbered about 500 volumes.

St. Eliseevsky Lavryshevsky Monastery in Gnesichi

Lavrushevsky Monastery is one of the oldest monasteries in Belarus. It was founded around 1225. Over time, the monastery, having gathered a large number of  brethren, became a laurel, in which the Monk Elisha was the first abbot. On the night of October 23 / November 5, around 1250, the Monk Elisha was killed by his youth servant. The Monk was canonized by Metropolitan Joseph Soltan at the cathedral in Vilna in 1514. In the 13th century the monastery was the center of the chronicle in Belarus. Around 1329 for the Lavrishev Monastery a handwritten Gospel was written – a monument of the Belarusian book-writing, which is now kept in the Czartoryski library in Krakow. Over the centuries the monastery has seen both fame and oblivion. Today the monastery is functioning again.

Church of the Ascension

The church was built by the great Lithuanian prince Vitovt at the end of the 14th century in the Gothic style. In the 15th century, King Jagiello of Poland and Princess Sophia Golshanskaya were married there, who became the founders of the Jagiellonian dynasty. Adam Mickiewich was baptized here. In the chapel of the church there is a sarcophagus with the remains of 11 sisters-Nazareth women, shot by the Nazis in 1943. The temple is active.

Borisoglebskaya church

Built on the site of an ancient temple of the XII century, the fragments of the foundation of which have survived to our days. Ancient temple of the XII century from 1317 was the cathedral of the Lithuanian-Novagrad Metropolia and with it there was a monastery with it. In 1517-1519, in the place of the old one, a new brick temple was built.

From the second half of the XVIII century to 1915 a local Castle Icon of the Mother of God was transferred into the temple from the castle of the Holy Dormition Church of the city of Novogrudok.

The temple is active.

Orthodox church of St. Nicholas

It was built in 1780 as the church of the Order of the Franciscans. In 1846 the church was transformed into an Orthodox church. It is a monument of baroque architecture with elements of pseudo-Byzantine style. After the revival of the Novogrudok diocese in 1992, the church becomes a cathedral.

The temple is two-throned. The main throne is consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Lateral – in honor of the holy martyr Queen Alexandra. In the crypt part of the building there is a church in honor of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodius and Cyril, teachers of the Slovensky.

The temple is active.

Catholic church of St. Michael the Archangel

The temple is active. It was founded in 1624 as a church of the Order of Dominicans. The modern view was acquired in the beginning of the XVIII century. It is a monument of Baroque architecture with elements of classicism. Nearby, in a monastery, which did not survive, the Dominican School worked, where A. Mickiewich studied.

Mosque

The modern building of the mosque was built in 1855 in place of the preceding one. After the Second World War it was closed.  It has restored its the activity in 1997.