Boruny

Just 10 km from Golshany there is a small but interesting township called Boruny. Its name is Turkic and translated as “horseman”. In the outskirts of Boruny a legend explaining the name still survives. The first owner of the settlement was an evil and cruel man who was buried outside of the cemetery plot and his grave covered with stones. Unusual flowers grew through the stones which people named “boruny”. The name of the flowers transferred to the township.

Boruny’s history is also tightly linked to a legend about how in the 18^th century the local forester Yakub found a miracle-working icon of the Blessed Virgin. The icon appeared here in this way: in 1692 a supporter of the Uniate Church, Catholic priest Nikolai Peslyak laid the foundation of the Uniate church in Boruny and invited 7 monks from the St. Basilian Order. Monks brought with them a miracle-working icon of the Blessed Virgin, built a stone church and a monastery. Very soon both the township and the icon turned into a place of piligrimage.

St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church

Built by architect Osikevich in 1747-1757 as a Uniate Church, today it is the most typical example of so-called Vilno Baroque style. Best craftsmen from Minsk and Vilno were invited to decorate its interiors. Its wooden altars were made by famous masters Frederick Kvechura, Pavel Yakovitsky and Simon Vrublevsky.

At the present time the church has three altars finished with the stucco technique and a rostrum in the Rococo style. After liquidation of the Brest Union in 1839, the church was handed over to an Orthodox parish. In 1919 the church was handed over again – this time to Catholic followers and since that time it work has gone on without interruptions. In 1923 this Catholic church was blessed in the name of the Aposteles Peter and Paul.

St. Basilian Monastery

In 1778-1793 a two-story brick house for monks of the Uniate Church was built. In the 19^th century it was stylized to imitate Classicism. The house’s structure is of a gallery with many cylindrically arched rooms. At the beginning of the 18^th century secular school were set up to run in the monastery. In the first half of the 19^th century it was reorganized into a public six-grade educational institution and until its closing in 1833 the place was the biggest Uniate center in Belarus.

A chapel was built in the square in front of the church during the first half of the 18^th century for students of the St. Basilian School. The icon of the Blessed Virgin of Boruny titled the “Consoler of Sores” is a work of an unknown master. In 1692 the icon was bought to Boruny for placing in its wooden church. In 1715 the icon was proclaimed as miracle-working. After that the church received its present name: “Guardianship of the Blessed Virgin”. A festival to honour The Blessed Virgin of Boruny takes place every year on 29 August.