Ministry of Culture refused to grant highest status to Polesia churches from UNESCO list, calling it its "sovereign right"

As early as January 30, 2004, Belarus submitted the nomination "Religious Wooden Architecture of Polesia of the XVII-XVIII centuries" to the UNESCO Tentative List of World Heritage. According to Article 96 of the Code of Culture of the Republic of Belarus, historical and cultural values proposed for inclusion in this list must automatically receive the highest category "0", which is explained as: "historical and cultural values included or proposed for inclusion in the World Heritage List".

However, for 22 years, none of the Polesian churches has received it, remaining under weak protection (usually category 2). As reported by the Telegram channel "Spadchyna" (Heritage), activists sent an official appeal to the Ministry of Culture demanding compliance with the law, but received a refusal.

In the official response signed by Deputy Minister Sergey Sorokach, the department effectively acknowledged its lack of intention to change anything in this situation.

Officials stated that inclusion in the UNESCO Tentative List is exclusively a "declaration of intent" and an "obligatory technical condition" that imposes no legal obligations on the state for further development of the dossier.

As for the direct requirement of the Article of the Code of Culture, the Ministry interprets it exclusively as a "classification norm". According to the department's logic, the law does not oblige to revise the category, but only gives state bodies the right to do so.

"Further development of the nomination and granting category "0" to the objects of Polesian wooden architecture remains the sovereign right and voluntary plan of the state and is not directive in nature," states the official response from the Ministry of Culture.

The lack of proper protective status leads to the physical loss of monuments. Wooden churches in Polesia are massively clad with plastic siding, losing authentic shingle roofs and crowned with golden Russian "onion domes" made of titanium nitride, as happened with the church in Valoveli.

A tragic example was the fate of the St. Michael's Church in Stsyapanki, Zhabinka district, built around 1780, which was one of the striking examples of the West Polesian school of architecture with Baroque features. In July 2025, due to violations during repair and restoration work (a short circuit due to electrical grid overload), the building burned down.

Despite the availability of detailed measurements and photo documentation allowing for accurate scientific restoration, the Scientific and Methodological Council under the Ministry of Culture decided on the "impossibility of restoration". By Resolution of May 6, 2026, the department officially stripped the burned church of its protected status, allowing local authorities to clear the site for the construction of a new object. Experts note that this precedent paves the way for legalizing the destruction of historical buildings: burning a monument becomes easier and cheaper than restoring it.

The real attitude of the state towards the Polesian architecture nomination is vividly illustrated by the official page of the site on the UNESCO World Heritage Centre website.

In the English description, which has been on the UNESCO website since 2004, only two churches are mentioned: St. Nikita in Zdzitava and Transfiguration of the Savior in Oltush. However, immediately after the description of the cladding of the Zdzitava church, the text literally breaks off mid-sentence and, without a logical transition, begins the description of the development of Francysk Skaryna Avenue (now Independence Avenue) in Minsk – another contender for high international status.

And further in the document about Polesian wooden architecture, it tells in detail about the Victory Monument, lampposts, urns, and the State Prize of architects Parusnikov and Badanov.

This result of careless copying of texts from different nominations remains uncorrected on the international resource for 22 years, being the only information available to the world about Belarusian candidates for the World Heritage List – and no one in the Ministry of Culture cares about it.

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