Historically, the Republic of Belarus is rich in architectural monuments. Unfortunately, because of many wars that took place on the territory of our country, only few of them were preserved in the form in which they had been built, and others even ceased to exist. But there are such architectural monuments which for their existence have not undergone significant changes and have preserved their intact appearances to our days. One of such monuments to national architecture is located on the territory of Ishkold village in Brest region. It is the Church of the Holy Trinity.

                Ishkold is a small village with the population of no more than three hundred people. The first mentions in manuscript sources were dated to the 15^th century. And they were connected with the fact that the owner of the lands where the settlement was situated laid a temple in 1449. That owner was Nikolay Ivanovich Nemirovich, a representative of an ancient noble family and a statesman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was also known that N. I. Nemirovich fixed a supply to Holy Trinity Church in his will that was implemented fr om his estates. It is also interesting that there is no exact description of the place where the Church was built. Some sources say that the Church was built on the place of a heathen temple, others assert that on this place there was a more ancient temple of the 12^th century.

                The problem of changing denominations also affected the Church of the Holy Trinity. First, the Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Nicholas Radziwill, nicknamed the Black (Czarny), in the second half of the 15^th century ordered to transfer the Church to the Calvinists (Calvinism is one of the branches of Protestantism). But the Church did not belong to this denomination long because it was returned to the Catholics in 1641.  

               The Russo-Polish war did not spare the temple. During the thirteen-year war, it was damaged heavily, but fortunately they managed to restore it. Of course, a Polish uprising had an influence on Holy Trinity Church on the territory of Belarus. The temple was closed after the suppression of the uprising in 1667 but it was turned into an Orthodox Church in 1668. The World War I enabled Poland to regain the territory wh ere now the village of Ishkold is situated. Accordingly, Polish authorities restored order, and returned to the Church of the Holy Trinity the status of Roman Catholic Church in 1918.  

                But that was not the end of the history. The Soviet government, who did not really favor religion, closed the Church again in 1969. But not for long, because another restoration of the Church of the Holy Trinity was started in 1980. This Catholic Church has been working since the end of the 1980-ies.

 

                Holy Trinity Church is one of the most ancient in the Republic of Belarus and one of the few that has preserved its original architecture. It is a typical representative of Gothic Central European style, which was popular in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It is a rectangular building with a high roof and lancet windows. Decorative buttresses, which are even at the corners, emphasize the height of this construction. The whole building does not stand out for rich decorations either outside or inside, but even so the facade from the main entrance is adorned with high arched niches and rosettes. It makes a special impression and does not allow doubting that a bright representative of the Belarusian Gothic is before us.