Church of the Immaculate Conception

The Church of the Immaculate Conception is a late Baroque Catholic church in the southern part of the city, one of the more unusual buildings in Smolensk and a reminder of the city's long period under Polish rule. The yellow-and-white facade has a theatrical quality typical of Jesuit architecture, with pairs of columns and a curved pediment that stands out among the Orthodox churches and Soviet buildings that surround it.

The church was built by Jesuits in 1764 during a period when Smolensk was politically Russian but still had a substantial Catholic population from the years of Polish occupation. It is now an active Catholic church, restored and open to visitors. The interior retains some original elements, though it was heavily damaged in Soviet times. The church is located in the lower part of the city, below the main kremlin wall.

things to do sight
A story
This was the principal Catholic church in a city that was Polish for most of the 17th century. The Jesuits who built it in 1764 were operating in a city that had spent 50 years under Polish-Lithuanian rule, and the Catholic community was substantial. After Smolensk returned definitively to Russia, the church's fortunes declined. It was closed in Soviet times and used as a storage facility. Its current restored state is relatively recent.

Other places in Things to Do