Church of Saint Andrew Babola in Narač, Catholic church in Narach, Minsk Region, Belarus
The Church of Saint Andrew the Apostle is a Neo-Gothic Catholic church of red brick, built between 1897 and 1901. Its pointed-arch windows and buttresses are typical of the style, and a wooden bell tower from the earlier church stands beside it. The red brick was brought from Pastavy, and the timber was donated by Mr. Skirmunt of Shemetovo.
The present red-brick church was begun on 2 September 1897 on the initiative of parish priest Ignacy Rossolovsky, with bricks carted from Pastavy and timber given by Skirmunt of Shemetovo. It was consecrated on 9 September 1901, and the old wooden church was then dismantled. Bishop Edward von der Ropp, installed in Vilnius in June 1904, made Kobylnik his first visitation and consecrated the interior on 25 July 1904.
The parish's wooden church burned in 1896, and the brick church was consecrated on 9 September 1901. Its name day is marked on 30 November, the feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle. The wooden bell tower from the earlier church was restored in 1995 and 2019.
The building is cared for by a religious order and remains active with regular services and gatherings for worshippers. Visitors should plan their visit around service times to observe the place respectfully and experience how it functions as a living parish.
The wooden bell tower beside the brick church survives from the earlier wooden church; it was restored in 1995 and again in 2019. The organist Bronisław Korowacki, who arrived in 1930, founded a church choir of more than 40 singers. In 1943 the parish priest Kazimierz Pawłowicz was tortured to death by Soviet partisans for blessing the banner of the Polish Home Army brigade "Kmicica"; he is buried in the churchyard.
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