Location: Dunilavichy is located on the so-called “Batory Way” from Polatsk to Vilnius, about the same distance between Hlybokaye and Pastavy. In 1784, the roads from Dunilavichy were as described: “The road from Dunilavichy to Pastavy is smooth, good, sometimes planted with trees. The road from Dunilavichy to Hlybokaye, however, is broken and unfavourable”.
Dunilavichy in Skaryna’s times
Dunilavichy was the family property of the Halshanskiya Dukes. It was first mentioned in 1473, when the town was passed to the Duke Alyaksandr Yur’evich Halshanski, who built the first wooden church here around 1500. In 1511, the town became the property of his son, Pavel, who had previously graduated from the University of Krakow in 1504 (Francysk Skaryna was enrolled to this University in the same year), and in 1507 became the bishop of Lutsk. The owner of Dunilavichy and the Belarusian first printer could have also met in Rome in 1512 at the Lateran Basilica, while historians are working to clarify, whether Skaryna served there as the secretary of the Danish king, the bishop of Lutsk was there. In 1536, Pavel Halshanski was named Vilnius bishop, thus replacing bishop Yan, the guardian of the Belarusian pioneer printer; it is believed that this was the year when Skaryna left Vilnius.
Under Pavel Halshanski’s will, after he died in 1555, Dunilavichy became the property of King Sigismund Augustus, and later changed owners many times.
Dunilavichy from the 17th century to this day
The Church of the Holy Trinity an icon from Florence
The construction of the Holy Trinity Church in Dunilavichy is associated with the appearance of the Dominican Order, which was one of the first monastic orders to appear in the territory of the Great Duchy of Lithuania since Mindaugas. In 1683, the owner of Dunilavichy Elzhbeta Isakowskaya from Belazyoravy founded a Dominican monastery and built a stone church in Dunilavichy. At this time, the order was actively expanding on the territory of the Great Duchy of Lithuania, and new Dominican churches were built in the “Sarmatian Baroque” style, which was fashionable at that time. The reconstruction of the main pillar of the order in the region, the Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius, served as a reference point for the Church of the Holy Trinity in Dunilavichy.
As in other monasteries, the Dominicans led educational activity here; they collected a rich library and a hospital for the poor.
In addition, the Dominicans actively distributed copies of icons of the Mother of God from Rome in the region (the icon of Our Lady of the Snows was especially popular). In Dunilavichy, nonetheless, the main and venerated icon arrived from elsewhere: Bishop Mikołaj Stefan Pac endowed the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto, which he had brought from Florence, for the consecration of the church. This was the result of cultural exchange and the construction of genealogies characteristic of Lithuanian aristocratic families. The Pac family takes its roots from Florentine aristocrats Pazzi after a visit of vice-chancellor Stefan Pac to Italy in 1624–25. The Florentine aristocrats welcomed the Lithuanian magnate as one of their kinsmen. Vilnius Bishop Mikołaj Stefan Pac put a lot of effort to expand and strengthen this ideological connection. In his efforts, he organized the relocation of the relics of St. Casimir to Florence, and the simultaneous expansion of the cult of St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi in Lithuania. Therefore, it is not surprising that the icon arrived to Dunilavichy from distant Florence.
This icon survived many hardships: the closure of the Dominican monastery, the transfer of the Church to the Orthodox Church, and even theft. Nowadays, the altar of the Dunilavichy Church still hosts the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto from Florence, to which believers turn for help.