The Temple of St. Anthony in Kosovo

Kosovo is a town situated in the territory of Ivatsevichi district in Brest region. The distance from Kosovo to Ivatsevichi is about 15 kilometers north-westward.

The population of the town is about two thousand people; however, there are several historically important sights that can be attractive for tourists.

There is one attraction that stands apart amongst the town, the so-called Kosovsky castle – Puslovsky Palace, the construction of which was started in the 30-s of the XIX century. Here there is a mansion of the famous political personality of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Tadeush Kostyushko. The mansion was one and a half kilometer westward from Kosovo and presented an isolated farmstead in Merechevshchina. Today it is a memorial museum opened in 2004.

There are some religious objects deserving special attention, such as the Church of the Holy Trinity constructed in 1877 and the Temple of St. Anthony constructed in 1868.

That temple was constructed on the place of the former orthodox temple made of wood, and first mentioned in the sources of the end of the XVI century.  The construction of a new temple was required due to the fact that the wooden temple had been destroyed by the fire.

The representatives of the Puslovsky family, Count Muraviyov and the local authorities took part in the construction of the new temple. The church men also contributed to the construction: some of them rendered financial assistance, others took part in building works.

At the moment of its construction, the temple seemed to be typical for the time, designed in Old Russian style that dominated in the second half of the XIX – early XX centuries.

Nowadays the temple refers to Pinsk diocese and it is still functioning.

Generally, the temple consists of four parts: a catholicon, a belfry, an apse and a refectory. The temple has an oblong shape in architectural terms; the two-tiered quadrangular belfry with a sphere dome adjoins to the catholicon. There is another dome above the catholicon presenting “an onion”.

The main entrance of the temple is arch-shaped, with a gable overhang resting on two columns. There are numerous arched windows.

The decoration is marked by rusticate footstalls, castled frames and rectangular panels. The temple is painted in gentle blue that makes it look airy and elegant.

The inner part of the temple presents premises connected by openings with a timber ceiling that does not require any special ornaments and frills from the point of view of design.

The temple is located in the centre of Kosovo in Vesyolaya St., 2.

Due to the fact that the temple is functioning, it can be visited both as a religious object and historical monument of the past.