Sometimes fates of temples are similar to these of people. Like a man, a temple in the course of time changes, suffers some troubles. Some temples preserve their original appearance; others are damaged under the influence of time or events. The third ones are ruined. But the important thing is that there is memory. They say until a person remembers, he lives. So it is with temples.

How it all began  

In the village Novospassk of the Smorgon district of the Grodno region there are the ruins of the Transfiguration Temple. The fate of these ruins is interesting. Like most churches in the territory of Belarus, the Transfiguration temple was Uniate. Of course, pan Bukaty who built the temple on his own for 35 years has never imagined that the temple would have such a hard fate.

He thought that the Transfiguration Temple would stand forever in its original appearance. Provident pan Bukaty during the construction made a hiding place in the wall of the temple and left there a certain sum of money for the future restoration of the temple. But it did not help. Unfortunately, the money has not been found later.

The period of change

Years went by, the government changed, and the temple became Orthodox in the XVIII century. As we know, Orthodox temples has been designed rather ascetic as to their appearance. Thus, all the Uniate wealth of the Transfiguration temple was destroyed. The temple was Orthodox until the early XX century. Parts of the Belarusian land came to possession of Poland during the First World War. So the temple appeared in the territory of the state where the main religion was Catholicism.

The initiator of the transformation of the Orthodox temple into a Catholic church was one pan named Trotinsky. But his plan was never carried out as the war had the upper hand. And after the First World War the Great Patriotic War came. And then anti-religious time began. So the temple was looted and turned into ruins.

There is always hope

As we know, in the 90th years of the XX century Belarus was swept by a wave of returning to religion. So, in this period there was a mass restoration of churches and temples. Interestingly, the attempt to restore the Transfiguration Temple in Novospassk was still. One very wealthy woman was ready to restore the ruins. Unfortunately, she was not allowed to do it.

Then the stranger decided to build a new Orthodox temple near the ruins. The construction required cutting down the garden. The locals did not agree with this idea. The construction of a new temple was not carried out.

Tourists are told these stories during the excursions. Everyone willing can see the ruins of the temple. The village Novospassk is an interesting location with quite a rich history.

Visit this quite attractive sight with a hard fate. Do not worry that the temple has not been restored. It is worth believing that the memory of this temple and its history are transmitted from generation to generation.