Opening with a Coronation
In the Blessed Virgin Mary Archicathedral Catholic Church in Minsk, the opening and consecration of the new main chancel and pipe organ and the coronation of the Lady’s icon presented to the church by Pope John Paul II took place
The Archicathedral Catholic Church situated in Svobody Square suffered a sea change last year. The restorers had a hard job saving the murals that had been plastered after the Great Patriotic War at the command of the Soviet government. Now the walls and the ceiling of the middle pace delight the eye again by the play of colours of the subject and ornamental murals dating back to the XVIII-XIX centuries. Last autumn a pipe organ made special for the Archicathedral Catholic Church with regard to its size and acoustics was brought from Austria. The organ has been set up and tuned for several of months. Now, after its consecration, the congregation can delight in the beauty of the sounds of the old instrument that will be played by the famous Belarusian organist Vladimir Nevdakh. This year a new main chancel was built in the church.
The central space on the chancel took up the Lady’s icon. This is a gift of John Paul II consecrated by him in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. The coronation ceremony of the icon was performed by the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Belarus, Cardinal Kazimir Sventek.
