The rubble of a late 19th-century Catholic church is being cleared: this is the first stage of a major project to preserve the monument. The restoration of one of Smolensk’s calling cards is scheduled to be completed in April 2026.
t.me/anohin67
The Polish church behind the Molokhovo Gate was built in 1894.
The Polish church behind the Molokhovo Gate was built in 1894. An impressive building in the neo-Gothic style, the main altar of which was consecrated in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1898, replaced the old church in the name of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who could no longer accommodate everyone. Three thousand people could pray at the same time in the new church. The parish at the beginning of the 20th century had about nine thousand people.
The central altar (there were five in total) was decorated with stained glass windows with images of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and venerated saints, brought from Warsaw. Five huge bells were also ordered there. The wall paintings were made by the Polish artist Antoni Tonchinsky.
After the October Revolution, difficult times came for Christians in Smolensk, as well as throughout the country. In 1922 the church bells were removed and in 1936 the rector was arrested. Divine services were suspended “for technical reasons” and there was no place for congregations to gather. Since 1940, the Polish temple was officially closed.
The building housed the NKVD archive. For the first ten years, security officials paid no attention to the organ that once played at masses. It was then scrapped.
From the middle of the last century until 2013, the funds of the State Archive of the Smolensk Region were kept in the church. For the 1150th anniversary of the city, a new building was built for them.
And the church remained empty and crumbling. For security reasons, the building was closed to access, partially covered with mesh and fenced.
The fate of the Polish temple has long worried both local Catholics (who hold religious services in the cemetery next to the temple, in the Komarovsky family crypt) and the cultural community of Smolensk. Various proposals were put forward, from transferring the church to the parish and requesting the allocation of Polish funds for restoration to adapting the building into a concert hall with an organ.
Finally, it was decided to allocate funds from the state budget to the architectural monument of federal significance. In February 2024, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation concluded a contract for the development of documentation and the implementation of emergency, conservation and restoration work with JSC Interregional Scientific and Restoration Art Management (Moscow) for 100 million rubles. The contractor hired Smolensk LLC Dargel, to which he planned to pay 30 million. These funds were transferred in the form of an advance payment, but then the contract was terminated by agreement of the parties and the funds had to be returned to the treasury.
In September, a new tender was held and a contract was signed directly with the Dargel company for the same amount: 99,999,925 rubles 97 kopecks. Work must be completed by March 30, 2026.
The other day, the governor of Smolensk, Vasily Anokhin, announced the start of preparations for the preservation of the monument. First of all, it is necessary to stop the destruction of the building; at the same time, documentation for emergency work is prepared.
“The church and its territory are currently being cleaned. CCTV cameras have been installed that will record everything that is done at the site. The emergency response project is being prepared using modern 3D laser scanning technologies, which will make it possible to create a detailed information model of the church and monitor its condition at all stages of restoration, explained Vasily Anokhin.
It was previously reported that until 2028 the Smolensk region will receive 7.5 billion rubles from the federal budget for the restoration of several iconic historical and architectural monuments, including the Polish church, several towers and shafts of the fortress wall.
