Location: Luchay is located not far from the ancient Polatsk road, practically at the same distance from Polatsk and Vilnius. At the end of the 18th century, the Ogiński family built a tavern in Luchay, near the road from Dunilavichy to Pastavy. Archaeologist Leonid Alyekseew described the road from Luchay to Pastavy in the following way: “the road is flat; the area is open and monotonous.”
Luchay in Skaryna’s times
Luchay changed its owners many times, it was owned by many influential families of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The first known owner of Luchay in the first half of the 16th century was the Zabyarezinski (Zabrzeziński) family, “which quickly became one of the most prosperous in the region, but also quickly faded away” (Cz. Jankowski), the heyday of this house fell on the border of the 15th and 16th centuries. The first mention of Luchay is connected with the cessation of the male line of the Zabyarezinski family. Following the death of Barbara Zabyarezinskaya, Luchay, together with Lake Narach, passed into the possession of her brother, the Samogitian Elder Stanislav Stanislavavich Zabyarezinski. However, he also had no male descendants, only one daughter Hanna, and in 1542, he pledged Luchay to Woytsiekh Yundzil (Lith. Voicechas Jundzila), the governor of Vilnius. King Sigismund appointed Yan Hlyabovich, the voivode of Vilnius, as the guardian of the orphan Hanna, who eventually bought Luchay.
Then Luchay passed from hand to hand of influential families; including Shemet, Rudamin, Ogiński, Van’kovich and Mastowski families.
Luchay from the 17th century to this day
The Jesuits appeared in Luchay in 1766 thanks to the foundation of the famous patroness ElżbietaPuzyna (from the Ogiński family). She became famous for her support of the astronomical observatory at the Vilnius Jesuit Academy. She also funded the purchase of expensive instruments and training for scientists, and even before her death bequeathed 6,000 thalers to support the observatory. Adam Mitskevich mentioned the patroness in his poem “Pan Tadeusz”. One of the portraits of Elżbieta Ogińska can be seen at the exposition of the Polatsk Art Gallery.
St. Jude the Apostle Church
At first, seven monks were living in the house of the Jesuit mission in Luchay. The church itself, however, was built in 1776 by the brother of the patroness, the Castellan of Trakai Tadeusz Ogiński (grandfather of the famous composer), and the Church was consecrated in honour of its patron Saint Tadeusz. During the construction, the Jesuit order was banned, thus, it is believed that this is the last Jesuit monument in Belarus. The architectural style of the church reflects the transition period from Baroque to Classicism, where features of both styles are combined.
The question of the personality of the architect is still discussed. According to Marian Morelowski, the Luchay Church is stylistically most similar to the “white hall” of the Vilnius observatory, which was built by Tomasz Żebrowski (teacher of mathematics at the Vilnius Jesuit Academy), and completed by the Italian Carlo Spampani (teacher of architecture at the same academy). The Italian architect is considered to be the most likely creator of the Church of St. Jude the Apostle. Tamara Habrus believes that the Polatsk Jesuit church, with which the Luchay Church has many stylistic similarities, could have been the prototype of the Luchay Church.
Another distinctive feature of the St. Jude the Apostle Church is the paintings using the “grisaille” technique, borrowed from the Italian masters, the illusionist painting that imitates sculptural forms. These paintings were executed by the master from Minsk Kazimir Antashewski, under the order of the next owner of Luchay, the Minsk deputy cup-bearer Tadewush Van’kovich, who also left the paintings of a similar technique at the Minsk Cathedral and Budslaw Church.