Sights in Polatsk
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St Efrasinnia Monastery
The St Efrasinnia Monastery was founded in 1125 by St Efrasinnia (1110-73), Belarus' first saint and the first woman to be canonised by the Orthodox Church. She was the founder of the city's first library and had a strong independent streak, shunning numerous offers of marriage to establish her own convent here and to commission the Holy Saviour Church.
Still standing, it's one of the finest examples of early 12th-century religious architecture in Belarus, and the small, dark interior is mesmerisingly beautiful, with haunting frescoes. The saint's embalmed remains are in a glass-covered coffin inside. The small Church of the Transfiguration (Spaso-Preobrazhenski Sabor), …
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St Sophia Cathedral & Museum
Atop a small hill past the western end of vul Lenina is the finely moulded façade of the St Sophia Cathedral, its twin baroque bell towers rising high over the Dvina River. It's the oldest surviving monument of architecture in Belarus and one of two original 11th-century Kyivan Rus cathedrals (the other is in Novgorod) modelled and named after the St Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.
Its original appearance, however, has long gone. Damaged by fire in the 15th century, it was turned into an armoury which was subsequently destroyed by retreating Russians in 1710. About 40 years later the Poles reconstructed it - inside and out - as a baroque Catholic cathedral. The interior is a …
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