Old Belarussian Orthodox Cathedrals

Saint-Siméon Cathedral was built between 1865 and 1868 in brick, according to the project of the architect of the city of Brest V. Polikarpov. The cathedral was built on a former monastery church, which burned down several times and finally closed together with the monastery in 1824. In 1865 the relics of St. Athanasius were brought to the new church. During the Soviet era, the church was abandoned and had to be restored in 1988.

St. Alexander Nevski's Cathedral was built between 1864 and 1868 on the graves of Russian soldiers who died in a battle with French troops on July 15, 1812. In the 1960s, the cathedral was closed and adapted to become a branch of the State Archives of the Brest region. In 1989, it was returned to the Orthodox community and was restored from 1990 to 1993.

The Cathedral of the Transfiguration is an Orthodox church built at the beginning of the 19th century as part of a monastery, abolished in 1832 and subsequently destroyed. The monastery church, built in the Renaissance style, was later transformed into the Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration. The temple was destroyed in the 1950s, and since 2000 it has been restored.

Pokrovsky Cathedral was built in brick in 1904-1905 according to the design of the architect Mikhail Mikhailovich Prozorov (1860-1914). The cathedral was built in memory of the soldiers who died during the Russian-Japanese war. Its size and style make it very similar to the Daugavpils Cathedral of Saints Boris and Gleb, the largest Orthodox cathedral in Latvia.

The Cathedral of the Resurrection of the Lord is an Orthodox church, a good example of Russian-style architecture in Belarus. Before the construction of the modern cathedral, there was a wooden church, built between 1620 and 1648, which burned down in the 1860s. The present cathedral was therefore erected between 1874 and 1907. The cathedral was built by highly skilled masons from Ivyanets, and artists Elishevsky and Trutnev (Russian) from Vilnius were invited to decorate the interior.

St. Nicholas Cathedral is an Orthodox church that was first mentioned in the 16th century. It changed its location at the beginning of the 19th century and was rebuilt in 1835. In 1892-94, the wooden church of the time was replaced by a new stone building. In Soviet times the church was closed and in 1964 it was converted into a swimming pool. In 2003, the entire church building was handed over to the faithful.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral is an Orthodox church, one of the best examples of classicism in Belarusian architecture. It was built between 1809 and 1819 by the architect John Clark. In 1907 the church became a cathedral. In 1929, the cathedral was closed by the local authorities, and from 1932 it housed exhibitions of the local history museum. The cathedral underwent major changes: the bell tower was destroyed, crosses were torn down, bells were dropped, and rich church utensils as well as icons were looted. After the Second World War, the cathedral became a planetarium, which was closed in 1985. In 1989, after restoration work, the temple was returned to the faithful.

The Cathedral of the Epiphany is an Orthodox church which is part of the complex of the former Monastery of the Epiphany, an architectural monument of the 18th century. In 1761, the monks began the construction of the present cathedral, which is made of stone. The cathedral was consecrated on 5 August 1777. Three fragments of frescoes from the second half of the 18th century have been preserved. In the cathedral was the famous list of the miraculous Iberian Icon of the Mother of God, whose paternity was attributed to the Evangelist Luke.

The Cathedral of Saints Boris and Gleb is a 16th-century Orthodox cathedral. The present church was founded in 1517 by Lithuanian Prince Konstanty Ostrogski and Metropolitan Joseph Soltan. In the 17th century, the church passed into the hands of the Uniates (Greek Catholics). The church returned to the Orthodox Christians after the dissolution of the Union in the annexed territories in 1839. The church was rebuilt by the Russians in the years 1873-1875 in the pseudo-Russian style. The building remained in use until 1961 when it was closed down and adapted for an archive. The Russian Orthodox Church received the church in 1996.