Konstantinovo

It is a place where the borders of Minsk, Grodno and Vitebsk regions cross, a place where you can see the Lithuanian border, the basin of the Neman River, Lake Svir and The Stracha River - all this is the description of the village’s geographical location.  According to 2009 population census there live for about 200 people. Life in such a place is very dynamic, and therefore the road of national importance, P43, passes through the village.

The village named after its owner

A person with a well-known in the history of Belarus noble surname, Hominsky - Constantine Hominsky - immortalized his own name, given him at birth, through the lands naming, which he owned.

It happened in the late 18th century, and before than this place was known as Slobodka village. Hereinafter Konstantinovo farm was referred in all the historical chronicles to such changed name, including the biographies of the descendants of Constantine Hominsky, which are highly renowned.

He also provided money for the building of a wooden Catholic church, which was consecrated in the name of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Church.

The peripeteias of the War of 1812 against Napoleon fatally affected the village’s image: the church was burned. The owner of the estate F.Pashkevich attempted to restore it (to make it more solid and stone made). He had no time, as he died. Nevertheless the church services were still held, even in the uncompleted temple.

For half a century later, the earl Starzhinsky and landowner Hominsky rebuilt the temple in the form survived to the present day. The fence was also carried up of the same material as the walls of the church, rubble stone (it is a building material that doesn’t require particular masonry). The majestic gates provide a passageway to the church (brama).

The village itself, like many other settlements, located at the crossroads and historical paths, for centuries led a normal life, to satisfy the interests of local people as well as guests: farmhouses, a church, a public school, a shop, a restaurant. Administrative affiliation changed as well: for less than two centuries the village was a part of the Russian Empire, then Poland, and in 1939 - of Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic.

The Ascension Cathedral and other memorable places in details

The final version of the Assumption Church of the Virgin Mary gained the architectural features of Neoclassicism buildings. Its image comprises all the advantages and elegance which are typical for religious Catholic buildings. It is worth mentioning the remarkable fact that with any public administration the Catholic Church didn’t cease functioning.

Next to the temple there is an ossuary building, an old plebanya (priest’s house) and a new (1997) parish center.

Catholic cemetery, which has such an interesting feature as a double fence in its landscape design (outside and inside the cemetery), was preserved as well. Chapel-ossuary and the gates are also historical landmarks.

Several outbuildings of the manor survived as well, and the memory, of course, and awake the interest to the historical buildings. After all, they themselves are silent witnesses of the great past epochs.