In Polotsk, a pre-revolutionary priest's house, which was protected on paper, was demolished
In Polotsk, a distinctive wooden house from the early 20th century, located on one of the city's oldest streets, was destroyed. Less than three years ago, the state legally prohibited its demolition with a special document, which was simply ignored.
Ruins of the ground floor that remained from the house. Photo: Facebook community «Polotsk: Past and Present»
Nizhnie-Pakrouskaya Street is one of the few in Polotsk where the historical scale and atmosphere of the pre-revolutionary city are still preserved. House number fourteen was an integral part of it. According to data from the National Polotsk Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve, it was built in the early 20th century by Foma Antanevich, a priest of the St. Nicholas Cathedral.
The priest's house on Nizhnie-Pakrouskaya Street, 14, retained its traditional appearance before demolition. 2024. Photo: partizan-ch
The St. Stephen's Church, built in the early 18th century in the Baroque style, was called St. Nicholas Cathedral after being transferred to the Orthodox. The main dominant feature of Polotsk was blown up by the Bolsheviks in 1964 amidst Khrushchev's "struggle against religion".
St. Stephen's Church, converted into an Orthodox church, in a 1910 photo. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The priest's house was built on the slope of the Dvina floodplain, so that the wooden volume faced the street level, while the brick ground floor was cut into the slope.
Until its last days, the house retained its traditional appearance, including original shutters, architraves, carved cornices, and corner overlays decorated with panels. After the war, it was divided into apartments, and later it passed into private hands.
Recently, in the local history community «Polotsk: Past and Present», photos appeared showing that only the ruins of the brick ground floor remained from the house. The entire wooden historical volume was completely destroyed.
Ruins of the ground floor that remained from the house. Photo: Facebook community «Polotsk: Past and Present»
A Law That Doesn't Work in Practice
Usually, in such cases, local authorities justify the demolition by stating that the building is not included in the State List of Historical and Cultural Values. Formally, house No. 14 was indeed not a separate architectural monument. However, the Telegram channel «Spadchyna» draws attention to a direct legal conflict.
In September 2023, the Ministry of Culture approved the project for protection zones of Polotsk's historical center. The document was developed by specialists from «BelNDIPgradostroitelstva» based on archival and on-site research.
According to the project for protection zones of Polotsk's historical center, the house was identified as an example of typical historical development that could neither be destroyed nor altered. On the diagram, the house is marked in gray, the right one of those closest to the Dvina. St. Nicholas Cathedral was located at the place where the crossed-out large rectangle is drawn — a multi-story residential building, which is considered discordant by the project. Photo: Project for protection zones of Polotsk's historical center
List of typical historical buildings from the project for protection zones of Polotsk's historical center
The appendix to this resolution provides a list of objects of «typical historical development» that form the historical environment of the city and are subject to preservation. The demolished building on Nizhnie-Pakrouskaya was explicitly included in this official list.
The document's regulations strictly prohibit the loss of distinctive spiritual, artistic, or documentary values of typical historical development, even if it does not have the status of a historical and cultural value. The same clause explicitly prohibits the unjustified alteration of the architectural character of the facades of such houses.
Thus, the complete demolition of the building is a direct violation of current Belarusian legislation in the field of heritage protection, but this does not stop the owners.
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