The Trinitarian monastery in Molodechno

 
Molodechno is a young, well-maintained and friendly city. People here are pleasant, loving their city, remembering their culture. This city is famous for its historical-cultural wealth. Among architectural monuments of Molodechno, we should single out the Trinitarian monastery, which today is the main attraction of the city.

The city of Molodechno can be attributed to the cities-capitals of art. This city often hosts events of Republican importance. Here are also many historical architectural monuments. The monastery of the Trinitarians is one of them. It was built in the 18^thcentury for the money of the Oginsky family of the Radziwill dynasty, in 1762. They say that the idea to build the monastery came to Anna Oginsky's mind. At that time, it was obligatory to build Roman Catholic Churches and monasteries in families of their kind in order to their friends and acquaintances did not doubt their wealth and generosity. Monasteries were built for many years, that was a certain investment in the future.

There was a Roman Catholic Church in the center of the monastery. It was built on the base of stone. It was decorated with high towers with crosses. On the roof, there were shingles – wooden plates, which nowadays are called tiles. This roofing differed in the fact that it was very light. Using this material on the roof, its form could be completely different, but not as everywhere – gable. 

The building of the monastery and the Church were a single building, as the choir place of the Church was attached to the monastery. Inside the temple, there were altars which amazed everybody with their beauty and singularity of performance: all guests of the city had never seen such thin and delicate carving. Monks constantly were in the monastery. They took care of the Church and conducted their service. Besides the fact that services were held in the Church of the monastery, there was also a parish school and a hospital for the poor. Children were taught reading and writing, arithmetic, singing and even playing musical instruments at school. The Church and adjoining buildings were burned down in the early 19^th century. Almost immediately a new building was erected at that place. But the style was changed while building: if before the monastery and the Church had been made in the Baroque style, now it was a classic style. Even a square bell tower was placed in the new layout.

The monastery of the Trinitarians was closed in 1831, but the Roman Catholic Church continued its work. But a little bit later, it was also closed because of an unstable political situation in the country. 1864 was famous for the fact that the temple was handed over to the Orthodoxy and the monastery was turned to a seminary, which had a hospital and even its own orchestra.

Later, the Church was returned to the Catholics and the monastery of the Trinitarians was a gymnasium. But after that, almost everything was destroyed because of the Great Patriotic War. A little later, everything, that had been left, was dismantled before the end. At present, here is a machine-tool plant on the place of those buildings. And at the place, where is now a foundry, stood the Church of Kazimir.