Known in the local vernacular as the Red Church, the city’s best-known Catholic building was constructed between 1908 and 1910 on the orders of a rich Belarusian family upon the premature death of their two children after whom the church is dedicated. The two smaller towers are named after the offspring, while the larger one represents the grief of the parents. Under the Soviets the church was turned into a cinema then a film studio. Now once again used for its original purpose, the building adds a nice splash of history to an otherwise modern square. The bronze statue in front of the church represents Archangel Michael slaying the Devil, represented as a dragon. Also of interest is the so-called Nagasaki Bell, a replica of the one that used to hang in Nagasaki’s Urakami Cathedral before it was destroyed in the nuclear attack on August 9, 1945.
