The Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Polotsk was built by Prince Vseslav Briacheslavich between 1044 and 1066. It stands at the confluence of the Polota River and Western Dvina River on the eastern side of the city and is probably the oldest church in Belarus.
The cathedral is named after the Holy Wisdom of God, similar to the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod. After building his own cathedral, Vseslav, who was an izgoi prince, tried to seize the Kyivan throne. Failing in that attempt, he raided the surrounding principalities. In 1067, he raided Novgorod the Great and looted the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, bringing a bell and other looting back to decorate his own Cathedral of Holy Wisdom. The cathedral is mentioned in The Tale of Igor's Campaign, where it says that Vseslav would make nocturnal trips to Kyiv as a werewolf and would hear the bells of Holy Wisdom at Polotsk as they rang for matins.
Source: Wikipedia.org
Copyright: Creative Commons 3.0
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