Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier in Grodno (Farny Church) is one of business cards Grodno. The church stands on the main square of the city, the doors are open from early morning until late evening. That is why there are not only many parishioners, but also tourists. The church has seen almost everything in its lifetime, although it has not changed a bit in three hundred years. And the history of the temple itself dates back even earlier. The idea of its construction was cherished back in the 16th century by the Polish king Stefan Batory, who chose Grodno as one of his favorite residences. He donated ten thousand zlotys for the construction of the church.
However, the plan of the ruler began to be realized only many years later, after his death. In 1622, the Jesuit Order, powerful at that time, settled in Grodno, through whose efforts the wooden church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul was first erected. And in 1678, the first stone was laid in the construction of a stone church in honor of the French missionary Francois Xavier, a real historical figure who initiated many African peoples into Christianity.
The building was erected for more than a quarter of a century, and only in 1705, as documentary sources testify, the church was consecrated. This great celebration in itself was marked by a serious political event. Russian Tsar Peter I and Polish King August II timed their visits to Grodno to coincide with it. The consecration of the temple was the occasion for the meeting of the two autocrats.
Farny, i.e. It became a parish church in 1783. Farny church and monastery are truly outstanding monuments of Belarusian architecture. At one time, the ensemble of houses of the church and the monastery occupied a whole block in the very center of Grodno, with all this, the church was the most luxurious in the entire Commonwealth. The building ensemble included a collegium, a pharmacy (the first in Belarus, operating in the same place), a library and a large number of utility rooms. The height of the church is approximately 50 meters, making it the dominant feature of the region. "Farny" in the very center of the city, it's like the Eiffel Tower in Paris - visible from everywhere. It would not be superfluous to note that, earlier, the towers were completely open, but at the moment they are covered with shutters that protect them from rain and wind.
At the beginning, the main facade was rather uncomplicated, its 2 towers were deprived of the plasticity inherent in the developed Baroque. At present, the facade assumes a three-tier composition with 2 bell towers towering on the sides. The facade is saturated with orders, there are many difficult profiles, arched and rectangular niches and openings, the towers are openwork and silhouetted. In the interior decoration, architectural plastics, statues and paintings were widely used.
One of the main attractions of the church is a wooden altar the height of a seven-story building, it is decorated with more than 20 rare figures of apostles, patrons, saints. The 20-meter central altar was created in 1736 from wood and then tinted like marble. special beauty interior decoration give a developed multi-figure composition in the altar and supporting pillars, beautifully decorated with decorative columns of iconostasis, made entirely of wood. Its decoration even at the moment strikes imagination: amazing woodcarving, frescoes, beautiful statues - the Jesuits spared neither strength nor gold to decorate the main temple of the Grodno region. The fresco painting of 1752 consists of multi-subject compositions located in arched niches and vaults. Part of the unique wooden altar of the church was destroyed in July 2006 during a fire that broke out 
due to a short circuit. Relief columns, part of the balustrade, decor, four sculptures were lost: patron Lozovoy, the apostles Jacob and Thomas, St. Ambrosius. All four sculptures were restored from photographs by woodcarvers from the town of Voronovo Kazimir Misyura and his son Igor. The craftsmen carved the figures, as required by the original - from a solid linden. In the course of restoration work, previously lost elements (parts of decoration, etc.) were restored. For example, the figure of the Apostle Andrew, as it turned out, lacked the left arm to the wrist. Her absence was hidden by the wooden folds of the garment to which the brush was attached. As a result, the position of the figure was greatly changed, but the restorers corrected this shortcoming.
Gilding was carried out by craftsmen from Vilnius. The color solution was determined after researching the shades of the part that survived the fire and the four side altars, since the central altar, although it is the main one, was painted last and stood unpainted for almost 50 years. Thus, his artistic decision was already determined by the spirit of another era. When making the decision, the influence of the stained-glass window located in the upper part of the 21-meter altar and depicting a dove in the rays of the sun was also taken into account, since it is the center of the artistic design of the entire church. By the way, the colorist of the stained-glass window is based on an analogue from the Roman basilica of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.
One of the towers houses a unique pendulum clock. For a long time it was believed that they were made in the 17th century, although not so long ago, upon careful examination, historians found that the city clock in Grodno is significantly older than the clock in Prague, which was previously recognized as the oldest. In Prague, which is proud of its famous chimes with moving figures, the old clockwork has not been preserved, it was completely replaced with a modern one, but it survived in Grodno. It was believed that the clock mechanism was made at the end of the 15th century. But the fact is that the first mention of the tower clock was recorded in the acts on “Grodno privileges” for 1496. But even then the clock is characterized as “antediluvian”, i.e. vintage . During the restoration of the watch in 1995, it turned out that such a unique mechanism of the XII - XIV centuries. The fact is that there is a very important artifact in the clock mechanism - a two-wedge connection dating back to the epoch of the 12th century and considered lost. You can read more about the restoration of watches in the article by Alexander Nalivaiko.
Initially, they decorated the wooden tower of the Jesuit Collegium, built in the middle of the 17th century. Then it fell into disrepair and the clock was moved. It is difficult to say exactly when this happened, but in the painting of the Congregational chapel of the church, made in the second quarter of the 18th century, the image of the clock is already present. Interestingly, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the clock was officially considered a town hall clock, that is, the whole city checked the time by it, and their maintenance was paid from the magistrate's funds. The clock ticked until the outbreak of the First World War. During the war, German troops took the ancient clock bells to Germany, later the Polish authorities decided to change the antediluvian mechanism to a progressive one, although they did not have time. After that, the clock stood for many years, until it was possible to restore it in the post-Soviet period. And now, after years of silence April 1989 the townspeople heard the ringing of the hour bell. And now, despite its venerable age, these tower clocks go second by second.
Curious details: the action of the mechanism of an old clock occurs under the weight of a load - a 70-kilogram weight, which falls from a 15-meter height for 36 hours. The weight responsible for the fight, and all 150. The mechanism seems to be alive - everything is open here, every detail is in sight, everything is spinning, ticking. A two-meter pendulum swings regally. Until recently, the watch mechanism was wound by hand not only for the movement, but also for the striking of the clock. Now the hammers that beat time are disconnected from the clock mechanism - they are controlled by a computer. This simplifies the work, but, unfortunately, the strike of the clock has become more artificial, has lost its melodiousness.
Watch dials with a diameter of more than two meters. The hour hand on the watch face is 1 meter long, the minute hand is 115 cm long. To get to the clock and bells, one has to overcome 132 steep stone steps. As soon as the minute hand shows a quarter of an hour, one blow to the bell is heard throughout the district, 30 minutes - two blows, 45 - three, and exactly one hour - four.
Temple bells, cast in 1665, were of artistic and historical value. Three of the four, including the large sentry, were taken to Germany during the First World War. New bells appeared in 1938.
Over the centuries, Farny has acquired legends and true stories. So, Grodno old-timers remember that during the Great Patriotic War, a German shell hit the temple. It flew near one of the icons and did not explode. Grodno residents said that it was this icon that saved the ancient church. And later, in the sixties of the twentieth century, it was preserved by the townspeople themselves. The total struggle against religion, as you know, was accompanied by the destruction of Christian values, and Farny also got on this black list. However, having learned about the impending explosion, the parishioners kept a siege here for many days, without leaving the building for days on end. And they defended their Faro. Thanks to them, the Cathedral today still adorns the central square of Grodno.
The construction of the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer and the Redemptorist Pastoral Center on Kurchatov Street in Grodno began on November 14, 1997. The architectural plan of the monastery complex was developed by the Inarko design bureau (architect Heinrich Zubel) in the Polish city of Gliwice. The project was blessed during an audience by Pope John Paul II.
November 7, 2000 – a corner stone was built into the walls of the church. It was brought from the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome (donated and consecrated by Pope John Paul II). Bishop of the Pinsk diocese Anthony Demyanko, in the presence of the provincial of the Redemptorist province of Warsaw, laid the corner stone in the foundation of the church.
June 21, 1998 - the first Redemptorist from Belarus was held - Fr. Stanislav Stanevsky, who from June 26, 2008 to August 20, 2012 was the rector of the parish at Devyatovka.
Work to complete the construction of the shrine was continued by the next abbots: Fr. Youzef Ganza, Fr. Stanislav Stanevsky. The believing parishes of the Most Holy Redeemer and Redemptorists and believers from the USA, Poland, Italy and Germany helped in the arrangement of the church building.
October 15, 2011 - the solemn consecration of the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer took place. The temple was consecrated by the bishop of the Grodno diocese Alexander Kashkevich.
The decoration of the Red Church on Devyatovka
The church was built in neo-constructivism style. The temple is a three-nave rectangular volume under a segmented tin roof. To the left of the entrance to the temple rises a belfry tower. A two-three-storey monastery building and parish premises adjoin the second side facade. The laying of the walls of the shrine is made of red ceramic bricks. Residents of Devyatovka call the Church Red.
In the main altar there is a figure of the Most Holy Redeemer.
In the side altars:
- icon of the Mother of God of Perpetual Help (appeared in a chapel in 1996),
- the figure of the Mother of God of Fatima (in 1997 it was donated to the parish by the director of the Maria Radio Station),
On the central square regional center For more than three centuries, one of the most beautiful Catholic churches in Belarus has been rising in Prynemanya - the Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier, also commonly known as the Farny Church. This temple was founded by the Jesuits in the second half of the 17th century, and was part of the monastery complex of this order, and therefore for a long time it was called the Jesuit church.
Today the cathedral is one of the most valuable monuments of baroque architecture in our country, and one of the most important tourist sites of the city on the Neman. Visible from many points of the historical center, it impresses with its grandeur and monumentality. And no wonder, because this church was built for about a hundred years.
The Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier in Grodno (Farny Church) is one of the visiting cards of Grodno and the most beautiful catholic church Commonwealth. The name "Farny" comes from the word parafial (parafia) - main temple, its doors are open from early morning until late evening. That is why there are not only many parishioners, but also tourists.
The church has seen almost everything in its lifetime, although it has not changed a bit in three hundred years. And the history of the temple itself dates back even earlier. The idea of its construction was cherished back in the 16th century by the Polish king Stefan Batory, who chose Grodno as one of his favorite residences. He donated ten thousand zlotys for the construction of the church. But due to the sudden death of the monarch, his idea was realized only a century later.
Sasha Mitrahovich 03.11.2015 11:24
In 1622, the Jesuit Order, powerful at that time, settled in Grodno, through whose efforts the wooden church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul was first erected. And in 1678, the first stone was laid in the construction of a stone church in honor of the French missionary Francois Xavier, a real historical figure who initiated many African peoples into Christianity.
The building was erected for more than a quarter of a century, and only in 1705, as documentary sources testify, the church was consecrated. This great celebration in itself was marked by a serious political event. Russian Tsar Peter I and Polish King August II timed their visits to Grodno to coincide with it. The consecration of the temple was the occasion for the meeting of the two autocrats.
Farny, i.e. It became a parish church in 1783. Farny church and monastery are truly outstanding monuments of Belarusian architecture. At one time, the ensemble of houses of the church and the monastery occupied a whole block in the very center of Grodno, with all this, the church was the most luxurious in the entire Commonwealth. The building ensemble included a collegium, a pharmacy (the first in Belarus, operating in the same place), a library and a large number of utility rooms. Together with a pharmacy, a library and other premises, the church was part of the complex of the Jesuit monastery, which occupied an entire block in Grodno.
Sasha Mitrahovich 03.11.2015 21:59
The height of the church is approximately 50 meters, making it the dominant feature of the region. "Farny" in the very center of the city, it's like the Eiffel Tower in Paris - visible from everywhere. It would not be superfluous to note that, earlier, the towers were completely open, but at the moment they are covered with shutters that protect them from rain and wind.
At the beginning, the main facade was rather uncomplicated, its 2 towers were deprived of the plasticity inherent in the developed Baroque. At present, the facade assumes a three-tier composition with 2 bell towers towering on the sides. The facade is saturated with orders, there are many difficult profiles, arched and rectangular niches and openings, the towers are very openwork with pronounced silhouettes. In the interior decoration, architectural plastics, statues and paintings were widely used.
Sasha Mitrahovich 03.11.2015 22:00
One of the main attractions of the church is a wooden altar as high as a seven-story building, it is decorated with more than 20 rare figures of apostles, patrons, saints. The 20-meter central altar was created in 1736 from wood and then tinted like marble. The elaborate multi-figure composition in the altar and supporting pillars, beautifully decorated with decorative columns of iconostases, made entirely of wood, add special beauty to the interior decoration. Its decoration even at the moment strikes imagination: amazing woodcarving, frescoes, beautiful statues - the Jesuits spared neither strength nor gold to decorate the main temple of the Grodno region. The fresco painting of 1752 consists of several narrative compositions located in arched niches and vaults.
Sasha Mitrahovich 03.11.2015 22:04
Part of the church's unique wooden altar was destroyed in July 2006 in a fire caused by a short circuit. Relief columns, part of the balustrade, decor, four sculptures were lost: patron Lozovoy, the apostles Jacob and Thomas, St. Ambrosius.
All four sculptures were restored from photographs by woodcarvers from the town of Voronovo Kazimir Misyura and his son Igor. The craftsmen carved the figures, as required by the original - from a solid linden.
In the course of restoration work, previously lost elements (parts of decoration, etc.) were restored. For example, the figure of the Apostle Andrew, as it turned out, lacked the left arm to the wrist. Her absence was hidden by the wooden folds of the garment to which the brush was attached. As a result, the position of the figure was greatly changed, but the restorers corrected this shortcoming.
Gilding was carried out by craftsmen from Vilnius. The color solution was determined after researching the shades of the part that survived the fire and the four side altars, since the central altar, although it is the main one, was painted last and stood unpainted for almost 50 years. Thus, his artistic decision was already determined by the spirit of another era.
When making the decision, the influence of the stained-glass window located in the upper part of the 21-meter altar and depicting a dove in the rays of the sun was also taken into account, since it is the center of the artistic design of the entire church. By the way, the coloring of the stained-glass window is based on the analogue from the Roman basilica of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.
Sasha Mitrahovich 03.11.2015 22:07
One of the towers houses a unique pendulum clock. For a long time it was believed that they were made in the 17th century, although not so long ago, upon careful examination, historians found that the city clock in Grodno is significantly older than the clock in Prague, which was previously recognized as the oldest.
Prague, which is proud of its famous chimes with moving figures, has not preserved the old clock mechanism, it was completely replaced with a modern one, and it survived in Grodno.
It was believed that the clock mechanism was made at the end of the 15th century. But the fact is that the first mention of the tower clock was recorded in the acts on “Grodno privileges” for 1496. But even then the clock is characterized as “antediluvian”, i.e. vintage.
During the restoration of the watch in 1995, it turned out that such a unique mechanism of the XII - XIV centuries. The fact is that there is a very important artifact in the clock mechanism - a two-wedge connection dating back to the epoch of the 12th century and considered lost.
Initially, they decorated the wooden tower of the Jesuit Collegium, built in the middle of the 17th century. Then it fell into disrepair and the clock was moved. It is difficult to say exactly when this happened, but in the painting of the Congregational chapel of the church, made in the second quarter of the 18th century, the image of the clock is already present.
Interestingly, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the clock was officially considered a town hall clock, that is, the whole city checked the time by it, and their maintenance was paid from the magistrate's funds. The clock ticked until the outbreak of the First World War. During the war, German troops took the ancient clock bells to Germany, later the Polish authorities decided to change the antediluvian mechanism to a progressive one, although they did not have time.
After that, the clock stood for many years, until it was possible to restore it in the post-Soviet period. And after long years of silence in April 1989, the townspeople heard the ringing of the hour bell. And now, despite its venerable age, these tower clocks go second by second.
Curious details: the action of the mechanism of an old clock occurs under the weight of a load - a 70-kilogram weight, which falls from a 15-meter height for 36 hours. The weight responsible for the fight, and all 150. The mechanism seems to be alive - everything is open here, every detail is in sight, everything is spinning, ticking. A two-meter pendulum swings regally.
Until recently, the watch mechanism was wound by hand not only for the movement, but also for the striking of the clock. Now the hammers that beat time are disconnected from the clock mechanism - they are controlled by a computer. This simplifies the work, but, unfortunately, the strike of the clock has become more artificial, has lost its melodiousness.
Watch dials with a diameter of more than two meters. The hour hand on the watch face is 1 meter long, the minute hand is 115 cm long. To get to the clock and bells, one has to overcome 132 steep stone steps. As soon as the minute hand shows a quarter of an hour, one blow to the bell is heard throughout the district, 30 minutes - two blows, 45 - three, and exactly one hour - four.
Sasha Mitrahovich 03.11.2015 22:12
bells
Temple bells, cast in 1665, were of artistic and historical value. Three of the four, including the large sentry, were taken to Germany during the First World War. New bells appeared in 1938.
legends
Over the centuries, Farny has acquired legends and true stories. So, Grodno old-timers remember that during the Great Patriotic War, a German shell hit the temple. It flew near one of the icons and did not explode. Grodno residents said that it was this icon that saved the ancient church.
And later, in the sixties of the twentieth century, it was preserved by the townspeople themselves.
In Soviet times, the church was constantly under the threat of demolition. It was such a sad fate that befell the famous Fara Vitovta, located in the neighborhood, who became Orthodox during the period of the Russian Empire. Sophia Cathedral, later - a garrison church, and blown up in 1961.
