Bialowieza – chapel

Introduction

Local historical sources claim that as early as the 17th century there was a small church in Bialowieza, located at the Brovsky Road, which was burned along with the village in 1710 during the raging plague epidemic. The Orthodox Church of St. Nicholaus was built in Belowieza together with the royal palace, from the same building material, red brick. Its exceptional feature is the iconostasis transferred from St. Petersburg, decorated with Chinese porcelain, i.e. majolica. It is an absolute unique, zero-class monument. In the world there are only three such porcelain iconostasis.

History of the chapel

Near the church of St. Nicholaus, on Sportova Street is a wooden chapel, built in 1900. t was originally located on Stoczek St., where it stood about the middle of the street, but after World War 2 it was moved to the present place next door to the main parish church. Such chapels are not typical of the Orthodox tradition of Podliasie, where the wooden crosses are dominated.

One interesting story told by the oldest residents of Bialowieza is connected with the construction of the chapel. About 100 years ago, somewhere in the center of the Stoczek, a Jew built a tavern. Then, trying to avoid competition from his fellow tribesmen, he built a Christian chapel that exists until today, because Jewish law allowed the construction of new facilities at a distance of a kilometer from Christian shrines. How much truth is there in this funny story? We’re not going to check it out now.

Architecture

The Bialowieza Chapel was built on a square plan. It is a wooden building of log structure, covered with wood. It is covered with a tent roof, topped with a drum with a small bulbous dome and an Orthodox cross. At the corners of the building are carved wooden columns. Above the entrance is a small wooden hit with a triangular top.

Interior

On a small inner space on the walls are icons of Jesus Christ and the Mary the Theotokos, and on the central Lectern is an icon of the Slavic apostles Saints Cyril and Methodius.