Explore Religious Heritage Across Europe

The Cistercian abbey of Le Relec has been for more than 8 centuries an atypical place that you sometimes have to look for and that always gives the visitor who arrives there the feeling of arriving in an oasis, a little apart from the world. Far from the urban centres, sheltered from any human agitation, the Abbaye du Relec has been present on the territory of the Monts d'Arrée since the 12th century. The second Cistercian abbey established in Brittany, it is representative of the Cistercian ideals of that time. Today, the abbey-church of Romanesque origin but modified several times, the remains of the cloister, the ponds, the pavement lined with tall trees, the 18th century fountain and the old gardens surrounded by a deep moat, give the place a dual heritage identity: cultural and natural.

The Remonstrant church from 1883 was given a completely new destination in 2006. The church and outbuildings have since been widely used for meetings, trainings, conferences, workshops, concerts and lectures.

The Remu Synagogue was first built in 1553 and called the New Synagogue to distinguish it from the Old Synagogue ( Stara Boznica). The first building was destroyed in a fire in 1557 and restored in stone in 1557 under plans by Stanislaw Baranek, a Krakow architect. The current building was restored in 1829 and again in 1933. The synagogue is in late Renaissance style and is still an active place of worship.

The church of Renko is a medieval stone church built in the late 15th or early 16th century. The octagonal church was abandoned in the 17th century. Very little remains of the medieval church, because in 1783 the stone ruin was demolished, except for the foundations, and rebuilt from it.

The Rennebu church was completed in 1669 using parts of the stave church which it replaced. The interior underwent a major restoration in 1948-52.

The current site of the cathedral has been used as the seat of a bishopric since the 6th century. It is likely that it was built in place of an older sanctuary. The old building was completely replaced by a Gothic church in the 12th century. In 1490, the tower and the western facade of the Gothic church collapsed. An endless reconstruction of the western massif was undertaken, which lasted 163 years and resulted in the granite facade that we know today, which is largely in the classical style.

Repovačka mosque was probably built in the second half of the 16th century. During the Austro-Hungarian domination (1878-1918) the mosque building was used as a warehouse. After the restoration in 1924, the mosque was again used by the faithful for prayer. From 1943, the mosque was converted into a warehouse and shortly afterwards the harem was converted into a cattle market. The building was last repaired after the war, between 1992 and 1995.

The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown, but it can be assumed that the cemetery emerged in the early 19th century. First, it appears on a cadastral map of 1863, but the earliest preserved gravestone relates to the 1820s.

The Resurrection Cathedral was built in 1995 in honour of the victory day of the Second World War. It is the largest religious building in the city of Brest and one of the largest in Belarus. In 2011 and 2012, the upper parts of the domes were decorated with gold leaf instead of silver according to the orthodox tradition of religious architecture.

The Revheim church is a wooden church built in 1865 by the famous Norwegian architect Linstow. The church was restored in 1954 and received a new part of the choir and a new extension to the east. The church was partially destroyed by fire in August 1992 when two 17-year-old boys broke in and set fire to the altar.