Gavriil Vashchenko

People's Artist of Belarus Gavriil Vashchenko was an outstanding painter, muralist, teacher who brought up a whole generation of talented Belarusian artists during 40 years of his teaching work. In the British Cambridge and in the USA Gavriil Vashchenko was recognized as the Man of the Epoch, Man of the 20th Century. The most famous works of the artist are odes to the native Polesie region. Gavriil Vashchenko made the stork with spread wings a symbol of Polesie, and then of the whole Belarus. The themes of war and courage, the Chernobyl disaster brought him pain and inspiration. The artist's native village was put onto the Chernobyl exclusion list. He dedicated his heartfelt works Radiation, Chernobyl Requiem, Wormwood Star, Mother Martyr to this tragedy of people… It was Vashchenko who saved the capital’s Red Church (The Church of Saints Simon and Helena) from demolition and alterations. In the dilapidated building there was a warehouse for a film studio and it was assumed that there would be the Cinema House in this place. The artist was offered to design the interior and make stained glass windows. Vashchenko dedicated these colored stained glass windows to the theme of cinema. He breathed new life into the building, thanks to which it was decided not to demolish and rebuild the building, and later it became a church again.