Church of St Cyril of Turau and All the Patron Saints of the Belarusian People (Belarusian: Царква Сьвятога Кірылы Тураўскага і ўсіх сьвятых заступнікаў беларускага народу, romanized: Carkva Śviatoha Kiryly Turawskaha i wsich zastupnikaw bielaruskaha narodu, also known as the Belarusian Memorial Chapel)[2] is a wooden church in Woodside Park, London. It is the first wooden church built in London since the Great Fire. It is also the first purpose-built Catholic church of Byzantine rite in London, the first memorial dedicated to the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster erected in Western Europe, the first Belarusian Uniate church built outside Belarus and the first church building made principally out of cross laminated timber panels in London.
The Belarusian Catholic mission existed in London since 1947, led by exiled priests Ceslaus Sipovich, Leo Haroshka and later Alexander Nadson. The mission is historically closely related to the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum, for which it became the initial base. During the first decades of its existence, the mission only had an in-house chapel for worship, not a separate church.
The construction of the church began in November 2015; the foundation was completed in January 2016 and the cornerstone brought from the Holy Trinity Church in Druja[3] was laid during a ceremony presided by the Apostolic Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Mennini and the Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Holy Family of London, Bishop Hlib Lonchyna, on 7 February 2016. It was consecrated on December 17, 2016.[4]
After installation of the walls and roof (June 2016)
Blessing of the cornerstone of the newly erected church of St Cyril of Turau and All the Patron Saints of the Belarusian People. London, 7 February 2016
Architecture
The design of the church was primarily inspired by the rural wooden churches in Belarus. The materials palette was restricted to wood and glass.[2] The church has been clad in timber with restricted areas of clerestory windows and obscured glazing. It is therefore essentially ‘windowless’ reflecting the inward-focused Byzantine liturgical tradition. The design of the external walls was inspired by the traditional vertical timber cladding of the BaroqueUniate churches of Belarus.[5]
Awards
Tszwai So, architect of the Belarusian Memorial Chapel, winner of the Young Church Architect or Surveyor of the Year
The chapel was chosen by the Royal Academy of Arts as one of the 10 buildings to see at Open House London 2017.[9]Architizer has named it one of the 10 Catholic Churches Designed to Uplift and Inspire.[10] On 21 October 2018, ArchDaily included the Belarusian chapel to the list of 32 best chapels previously published on the site.[11]
The iconostasis and the altar area of the church contain icons painted in 1926 by the Russian Catholic convert Duchess Olga Bennigsen and Mr Eric Ward (presumably a son of either William George Ward, theologian and mathematician, or of his son Wilfrid Philip Ward) for an Eastern Liturgical Week at the Westminster Cathedral[13] as well as several icons from the former iconostasis of the Belarusian Catholic church of Christ the Redeemer in Chicago, now closed.
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