The Exaltation of the Holy Cross Church is a monument of architecture that is included in the List of Historical and Cultural Values of the Republic of Belarus and belongs to the third category, i.e. historical and cultural value of regional importance. It is located in the Ivatsevichi district, in a small village called Goshchevo. It's easy to get to the village. You can get to it in several ways. Goshchevo is located seven kilometers from the regional center of Ivatsevichi. In the village, there is a bus stop connected to the Minsk-Brest highway. If you travel from Ivatsevichi, you will pass through the village of Stayki. Once you see Stayki, you are going in the right direction. You can get to Goshchevo by train, you should get out of the train at the stopping points "Ivatsevichi" or "Kossovo-Polesskoe". But when you, dear tourists, see the beauty and majesty of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross church, you will immediately forget about fatigue that such a trip may cause.

History

The history of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Church begins in the 16th century, when Elizabeth Tyshkevich-Savitskaya, the well-known representative of the Tyshkevich family, built a church at her own expense. Unfortunately, in the XVII century, the church burned down. However, by the end of the century, in 1692, Nikolay Tyshkevich, the grandson of the Duchess, started the construction of a Dominican monastery and Catholic Church in Goshchevo, which functioned for over eighty years. In 1776, architectural monuments were destroyed by fire. The monastery was burned by order of nobleman Glukhovsky. And only in 1838, a church appeared on the Ivatsevichi land and we know it today as a monument of wooden Belarusian architecture. Since then, the church has never closed its doors, it continued to function even during the Great Patriotic War. The Exaltation of the Holy Cross Church was modified only in the present 21st century, when the building was reconstructed, which the wooden building became plastered.

Peculiarities of Architecture

The main attraction of the village of Goshchevo is unique. Its foundation is square, altar part is trihedral, and porch is rectangular. The church has a tambour. Inside the church, you will find a beautifully carved iconostasis, dating back to the XIX century. There is a gable roof, in the center of which - an octagonal drum and dome. Before the reconstruction, the walls of the church were decorated with carvings, rectangular and semi-circular windows. Inside, under the altar part of the church, there is a stone crypt, which served for the burials of martyrs. It is also called a lower church.

In July 2010, after the reconstruction of the church, a great event took place in the village of Goshchevo. To the joy of all Orthodox Christians, villagers, Archbishop of Pinsk and Luninets Stefan consecrated the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Church.