Tserkov' Svyatogo Velikomuchenika Miny

Очень хорошо сохранилась для такого старинного строения

The church of the great martyr Mina does not work, is in a deplorable state. The exact date of construction has not been established. Researchers date this structure differently from the end of the 12th to the beginning of the 15th century. Almost the entire height of the walls preserved ancient masonry of red shell rock. The city of Rusa was badly damaged during the Swedish invasion. There is a legend that the destroyers blinded in it in 1614 when they rode into the temple on horses. In the 1650s, the temple was renewed, and in 1751 it was completely renovated. In 1874, the church was made warm, and a wooden bell tower was built nearby, in which there was a bell with the inscription in Latin: "Albert Bennink poured me in Lubeck in 1672." During the Second World War, the belfry was destroyed, and on February 18, 2001, on the day of the liberation of the city, German authorities officially returned the relic to the city. The bell is installed in the exhibition hall of the Museum of the North-Western Front. After the war in the late 40s, the temple was partially renovated for economic purposes of the city executive committee, but after 1962 it was actually abandoned. In 2007 - 2008, archaeological research was carried out here, cracks were partially repaired, and the roof was renewed. Since then, the boarded up temple has stood on the vandals' fun

Near the house of Dostoevsky at the corner of the Writers' Lane there is a small building of cubic form, this is the church of the holy great martyr Mina. Before, this part of the ancient city, which was so well located between Pererytitz and Porus, was called Minin's end, after the name of the church. Its appearance, size, shape of bricks, as well as architectural and design features and decor allowed historians to assume that the time of the construction of the church was the first half of the fifteenth century. The church had a sub-church, the temple itself was located on the second floor. The asp was decorated with arches and vertical ropes. The overlap was pozakomamarny, which in those days was a rare phenomenon in the Novgorod region. Until now, the walls keep the ancient masonry of red shell. The Church of Great Martyr Mina is amazing due to the antiquity of architectural execution. It was built on a solid foundation: the walls are very thick, and they are made of brick, burned in a special way, natural stone, and slabs with iron connections; 4 pilasters with different decorations are on each side of the church. “The church has 8 sazhen 1 arshins in length, 4 saplings of 1 arshin are wide, 4 fathoms up to the roof, and 7 fathoms of 1 arshin with a head and cross”. Those attractions that had a church, now could make the pride of any museum. This is the temple image of the holy martyr Mina in miracles, the altar eight-pointed cross silvered and gilded, the gospel bound in legs, published in 1657. In the seventeenth century, difficult days came for the church. In 1614, it was ravaged by the Swedes and Lithuanians and for many years was completely desolate. Tradition says that the Swedes, not finding refuge in the city, which they destroyed, drove into the temple on horseback and were blind. The Swedes' military leader sent the blind to his homeland to show citizens living by example what miracles are happening in Russian Orthodox churches. Already in 1751, through the efforts of parishioners and Archbishop Stephanie Kalinowski, the church was restored. In 1874 there was a built stone bell tower and refectory. Today, the church of the Holy Great Martyr Mina is in a rather poor condition, although some work was done, the church is waiting for a real restoration.

My relatives live near the church. Obviously, this place is of historical interest. To the church does not go. You can only look at a short distance. Around the grass, the place untidy. It stands as an abandoned object, surrounded by a fence. To go only for the sake of visiting this place is not worth it. Nearby is the house-museum of Dostoevsky, and here you can take a walk.

I have not seen anything like it. A kind of architecture - a cube without windows without doors. So ancient that the exact time of the building is not known. In all ancient chronicles it was already called ancient. It would be interesting to visit inside, but now the church is closed until better times.