Glybokae

Glybokae in Skaryna’s times

Officially, the first date of mentioning Glybokae is considered to be 1414, when the settlement was mentioned in connection with the permission issued by the Grand Duke Vytautas the Great to Zyanoviy Bratoshych awarding the latter the right to own the hereditary lands of his father Bratosha, among which Glybokae is indicated. Bratosha is considered the founder of the Zyanovich family, which is well known in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

In 1514, the Metric of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania records a criminal story about how “the elder of Sir  Yuriy Disnensky (…) killed a man of his grace Verkhnyanets (…), while leaving the trade held at the estate of Sir Yuriy from Glybokae (…)”. This mention shows that Glybokae was the property of Yuryy Ivanavich Zyanovich, the great-grandson of Bratosha, who by that time was the governor of Mahilyow, and in 1515 he received the post of marshal at the court. According to this mention, Glybokae was a trading settlement where trade took place.

It is known that in 1552 the town (Pol. miasteczka) of Glybokae was divided into two parts by the river Byarozawka. The south-western part belonged to the Zyanovich family and was part of the Ashmyany district of Vilnius Voivodeship. Glybokae Castle was built in this place, marked on the map of M.  Strubich “Theatre of the War for the Inflanty” (1589), and stood until the end of the 18^th century. No descriptions of the Castle of that period are known, but most likely, it did not differ fundamentally from traditional buildings of that time and must have included a rampart, wooden walls and towers. There was a market square in the centre of this part of town, with shops and warehouses. The Zyanovichs owned this part of Glybokae until 1668, when it passed to the Radziwills, and in the 19th century – to the Wittgensteins.

The north-eastern part of the town belonged to the Korsak family and was part of Polatsk voivodeship. There was also a market square in the centre that had roads leading to Polatsk and Dzisna. It is probable that this part belonged to the Korsaks for a long time, as it is known that the founder of this family Fyodor received land near Lake Berazvech from prince Andrey of Polatsk in 1385. The Korsaks owned this part of the town until the dissolution of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and afterward, it passed to the state ownership.

Glybokae from the 17^th century to this day

Traditionally, Glybokae was under the influence of the Orthodox Church. However, Protestantism became very popular among the nobility (Pol. szlachta) due to the strengthening of multilateral contacts with Western Europe, the spread of printing, and the adoption of the Renaissance Humanist culture by the elites of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the second half of the 16th century. At that time, the Polatsk castellan Yuryy Zyanovich, who owned the southwestern part of Glybokae, initiated the construction of an Evangelical Reformed (Calvinist) Church in his part of the town, with a library and a school. At the beginning of the 17^th century, his grandson, Mikalay Bahuslaw Zyanovich, a native of Polatsk, who converted to Catholicism under the influence of the Counter-Reformation, assisted in the construction of the former church of St. Michael, which existed until 1650.

In the first half of the 17^th century, the north-eastern part of Glybokae has promoted as a regional cultural centre thanks to the activities of its owner Jozef Korsak (ca. 1570–1643), the Voivode of the Mscislaw Voivodeship. In his estate, he founded three places of worship: the Discalced Carmelite Church and Monastery (1636–1640), the Roman Catholic Parish of the Blessed Trinity (1628) and Basilian Greek Catholic Monastery (1643) nearby town of Berazvechcha, which is now part of Glybokae.

The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary

The Carmelite Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Glybokae was built of brick in 1639–1654 at the expense of Jozef Korsak, who is buried in its crypt. During this period, the Order of Carmelites was expanding on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and new churches were being founded. Apart from Glybokae, monasteries of this order were established in Hrodna, Myadzel’ and Hudagay. The Glybokae Church was built in the style of Sarmatian Baroque. Its carved gold-plated doors from the 17th century are still standing up to this day. Adjacent to the church, there was a three-story rectangular monastery building with an inner courtyard (the eastern wing has survived to this day). In 1735, the Church was rebuilt in the Vilnius Baroque style under the direction of one of the most popular architects in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of those times – Johann Christoph Glaubitz.

The monastery had a large land estate, which allowed it to accumulate considerable material resources. As in other monasteries, educational activities were conducted here. In 1803, 84 people attended the Carmelite School. It is known that, in 1829, the school was reformed and the Lancaster method (so-called “mutual instruction”) was introduced. The monastery also had a large library (2621 volumes in 1830), a hospital for the poor (in 1830 it accommodated 12 people), a music orchestra of 40 people and a pharmacy.

The Carmelite Monastery was abolished in 1862. Following the uprising of 1863, the Church was also closed and transformed into an orthodox church. In 1878, after reconstruction, it was consecrated as the Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. The Vilnius Baroque building was supplemented by a fifth dome and acquired a corresponding Orthodox look. The main shrine of the temple since 1911 has been the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, brought from Mount Athos in Greece. A significant artistic value pertains to the icon of “Mother of God and Child” (1738), which was brought from a church in the Saroki village.

In the 20th century, the Church experienced many hardships associated with wars and changes in the government. During World War II, the building was partially damaged. In the modern era, the large cellars of the Cathedral were improved; during improvement works, there were dozens of skulls and bones of people found buried under the temple under unknown circumstances.