The Cathedral of Holy Wisdom () was a cathedral in

Polotsk Polotsk () or Polatsk () is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is situated on the Dvina River and serves as the administrative center of Polotsk District. Polotsk is served by Polotsk Airport and Borovitsy air base. As of 2025, it has a pop ...

that was built by Prince Vseslav Briacheslavich (1044–1101) between 1044 (first mentioned in the Voskresenskaia Chronicle under the year 1056) and 1066. It stands at the confluence of the

Polota The Palata () or Polota () is a river in Belarus and Russia. The 93 kilometers long Palata is a tributary of the Western Dvina river. Rising in Pskov Oblast of Russia and flowing through northern Belarus, it merges with the Western Dvina at Polat ...

River and the

Western Dvina River The Daugava ( ), also known as the Western Dvina or the Väina River, is a large river rising in the Valdai Hills of Russia that flows through Belarus and Latvia into the Gulf of Riga of the Baltic Sea. The Daugava rises close to the source of t ...

on the eastern side of the city and is probably the oldest church in Belarus. Usiaslau sa 2005

The cathedral is named after the Holy Wisdom of God, similar to the

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv The Saint Sophia Cathedral (, або Софія Київська) in Kyiv, Ukraine, is an architectural monument of Kievan Rus'. The former cathedral is one of the city's best known landmarks and the first heritage site in Ukraine to be inscribe ...

and

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod The Cathedral of Saint Sophia, the Holy Wisdom of God () in Veliky Novgorod, Russia, is the cathedral church of the Metropolitan of Novgorod and the mother church of the Novgorodian Eparchy. History The 38-metre-high, five-domed, stone cat ...

. After building his own cathedral, Vseslav, who was an

izgoi Izgoi is a term that is found in medieval Kievan Rus'. In primary documents, it indicated orphans who were protected by the church. In historiographic writing on the period, the term was meant as a prince in Kievan Rus' who was excluded from succe ...

prince, tried to seize the Kyivan throne. Failing in that attempt, he raided the surrounding principalities. In 1067, he raided Novgorod the Great and looted the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, bringing a bell and other looting back to decorate his own Cathedral of Holy Wisdom. The cathedral is mentioned in

The Tale of Igor's Campaign ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'' or ''The Tale of Ihor's Campaign'' () is an anonymous epic poem written in the Old East Slavic language. The title is occasionally translated as ''The Tale of the Campaign of Igor'', ''The Song of Igor's Campaign'' ...

, where it says that Vseslav would make nocturnal trips to Kyiv as a werewolf and would hear the bells of Holy Wisdom at Polotsk as they rang for matins. The cathedral has been significantly rebuilt and heavily modified between the eleventh and eighteenth centuries. Indeed, only parts of the church date back to the time of Vseslav, although the names of the builders are inscribed in a stone at the base of the cathedral: David, Toma, Mikula, Kopes, Petr, and Vorish. The burial vaults of 16 Polotsk princes dating back to the eleventh century have been uncovered (indeed, Vseslav himself, said to have been a sorcerer as well as a werewolf, was buried in the cathedral he built). According to the ''Voskresenskaia Letopis'' (s.a. 1156), the cathedral originally had seven domes, later reduced to five after it was rebuilt following the fire of 1447. From 1596–1654 and 1668–1839, it served as the cathedral church of the Archeparchy of Polotsk–Vitebsk in the

Ruthenian Uniate Church The Ruthenian Uniate Church (; ; ; ) was a Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites, particular church of the Catholic Church in the territory of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was created in 1595/1596 by those clergy of the Ea ...

. It was rebuilt again in 1618–1620 by a

Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...

Archbishop St.

Josaphat Kuntsevych Josaphat Kuntsevych, OSBM ( – 12 November 1623) was a Basilian hieromonk and archeparch of the Ruthenian Uniate Church who served as Archbishop of Polotsk from 1618 to 1623. On 12 November 1623, he was beaten to death with an axe ...

(rr. 1618–1623) following a fire in 1607, and again after a fire destroyed the cathedral and the city in 1643. In 1705–1710,

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

and

Aleksandr Menshikov Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov (; – ) was a Russian statesman, whose official titles included Generalissimo, Prince of the Russian Empire and Duke of Izhora ( Duke of Ingria), Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, Duke of Cosel. A highly ...

used the church as a Powder House, which later exploded. Over the next almost three decades (1738–1765), the Uniate archbishop,

Florian Hrebnicki Florian Hrebnicki (born as Franciszek Hrebnicki; ; 1683 – 18 July 1762) was the " Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia" On 14 March 1716 Hrebnicki was ordained by Primate of the Uniate church Leo Kiszka as a archbishop of Polock. On ...

, was rebuilding the cathedral. The

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

architect

Johann Christoph Glaubitz Johann Christoph Glaubitz (; – 30 March 1767) was a Lithuanian architect of German descent who is generally considered to be the most prominent Vilnian Baroque architect in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Early life Glaubitz was born in ...

is responsible for the current cathedral's appearance, which is an example of the

Vilnian Baroque The Vilnian Baroque (, ) or the School of Vilnius Baroque (, ) is a name of late Baroque architecture style in Catholic church architecture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which expanded well into Greek Catholic church architecture on territories ...

style. Currently, it is a baroque structure with towers and the domes have being removed (or at least not rebuilt). The cathedral used to have a library and other important cultural artifacts, but the library was destroyed when King

Stephen Báthory of Poland Stephen or Steven is an English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is widely regarded as the firs ...

took the city during the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) concerned control of Terra Mariana, Old Livonia (in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia). The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom ...

in the late 16th century. The town was occupied by the French during the Napoleonic Invasion of 1812 (indeed, two battles were fought at Polotsk in August and October, the second seeing house-to-house fighting). It was also occupied during the Nazi Invasion in the 1940s, when a large number of Polotsk's inhabitants were slaughtered.Duk, "Sviataia Sofii o Sed'mi Versiak." See also Gennadii Lavretskii, "Sofiia Premudrost' Polotskaia," ''Rodina'' (June 2007). The cathedral has changed functions several times over the centuries. With the

Union of Brest The Union of Brest took place in 1595–1596 and represented an agreement by Eastern Orthodox Churches in the Ruthenian portions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to accept the Pope's authority while maintaining Eastern Orthodox liturgical ...

, the church became the cathedral of the

Ruthenian Catholic Archeparchy of Polotsk–Vitebsk Ruthenian or Ruthene may refer to: Places * Ruthenia, a name applied to various East Slavic inhabited lands ** White Ruthenia, an East Slavic historical region ** Black Ruthenia, an East Slavic historical region ** Red Ruthenia, an East Slavic h ...

. During the Russo-Polish War of 1654–1667, the church was taken by the Russian troops of Tsar

Alexei Mikhailovich Alexei Mikhailovich (, ; – ), also known as Alexis, was Tsar of all Russia from 1645 until his death in 1676. He was the second Russian tsar from the House of Romanov. He was the first tsar to sign laws on his own authority and his council ...

, who visited the cathedral in 1654. In 1668, the cathedral again passed to the Greek Catholics and remained as such until 1839 when Bishop

Joseph Siemaszko Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

terminated the union and transferred jurisdiction to the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

. During the Soviet period, the cathedral housed the Polotsk Regional State Archive (from 1949 to 1954.) In 1967, the restoration work took place as the cathedral was to be turned into a museum of atheism, but the museum was moved to Vitebsk in 1969. The cathedral is now part of the State Museum-Preserve of Polotsk and used as a concert hall with an

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

. There is an ongoing conversation of returning the building to the

References

{{Coord, 55, 29, 10.00, N, 28, 45, 31.40, E, source:be-x-oldwiki_region:BY_type:landmark, display=title Cathedrals in Belarus Landmarks in Belarus Buildings and structures in Vitebsk region Museums in Vitebsk region Buildings and structures in Polotsk Eastern Orthodox church buildings in Belarus Eastern Catholic church buildings in Europe Catholic church buildings in Belarus 11th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings