Kolozha Church being prepared for inclusion in UNESCO World Heritage List

Sts. Boris and Gleb Church (Kolozha Church) is an architectural gem of ancient Grodno, a unique monument of ancient Orthodox architecture of the 12th century in Belarus and all of Eastern Europe. The shrine is unrivalled worldwide. The church was built in the 1180s by the children of Boris and Gleb Vsevolodkovich. Its value is difficult to overestimate. The facades are decorated with decorative inserts made of polished granite and gneissic boulders of different colours and ceramic tiles; numerous pitchers are built into the walls of the church to improve acoustics.

The Kolozha Church is currently being prepared for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List – as was recently discussed at a meeting with the rector of the Grodno church, Archpriest Aleksandr Bolonnikov, Director of the Institute of Art History, Ethnography and Folklore of the Centre of the Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature Researches at the Academy of Sciences of Belarus Tatiana Goranskaya, Head of the Fine and Applied Arts Department Irina Skvortsova and representative of the Grodnograzhdanproekt Institute Yelena Schasnaya.

The purpose of the scientists’ visit was to collect material and visually inspect the Sts. Boris and Gleb (Kolozha) Church for the preparation of a nomination dossier. The document develops a management plan for the site, which should ensure the preservation of the object and its unique values. This is a necessary procedure for the inclusion of a monument in the UNESCO World Heritage List.