A large-scale artwork depicting a 1920 Polish victory over invading Red Army forces in a church in northwestern Belarus has been painted over by the authorities after pro-government media criticized the historic mural.
Poland's Foreign Ministry on February 28 condemned what it called "the destruction of Polish cultural heritage in Belarus by the Lukashenka regime," after a mural inside a Catholic church in western Belarus was painted over by the authorities.
The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Soly, around 30 kilometers from the border with Lithuania
Pictures released online showed the large mural inside Soly's Catholic church being covered up by unidentified workers on February 25. The mural depicted Poland's military victory over invading Soviet forces in 1920.
Images released online show workers inside the Soly church on February 25.
The 1920 Battle of Warsaw, popularly known as the Miracle on the Vistula by Poles, was a decisive battle during the Polish-Soviet War, in which resistance from a newly reborn Poland is credited by some historians with halting the spread of the "revolutionary fires" of Soviet communism into Western Europe a century ago.
Workers obscuring the mural with white paint.
The mural in the Soly church, and several other works inside the church, were made by Belarusian artist Pyotr Sergievich in the 1930s. The painting is a copy of a famous 1930 artwork called The Miracle On The Vistula by Polish artist Jerzy Kossack, which features a communist flag bearer being overwhelmed by a Polish fighter as priest Ignacy Skorup, who died in the 1920 battle, advances with a cross.
The site of the mural as it appeared after the workers had finished.
In late 2022, a report on Belarus's state-funded media singled out the mural in the Soly church, accusing it of "inciting national and religious hatred." The report also claimed priests of the church "do not care about saving souls, but about returning western Belarus to Poland."
The mural as it appeared before being painted over
The painting had reportedly previously been covered up by Soviet authorities, then was revealed and re-sanctified after the fall of the U.S.S.R.
A priest in the church declined to comment to RFE/RL when reached by telephone on March 1.