Church of St Cyril of Turau and All the Patron Saints of the Belarusian People

Church of St Cyril of Turau and All the Patron Saints (also known as Belarusian Memorial Chapel) is a wooden church in Woodside Park, London. It is the first wooden church built in London since the Great Fire. It is also the first purpose-built Catholic church of Byzantine rite in London, the first memorial dedicated to the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster erected in Western Europe, the first Belarusian Uniate church built outside Belarus and the first church building made principally out of cross laminated timber panels in London.

The chapel’s construction began in November 2015; the foundation was completed in January 2016 and the cornerstone brought from the Holy Trinity Church in Druja was laid during a ceremony presided by the Apostolic Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Mennini and Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Holy Family of London, Bishop Hlib Lonchyna on 7 February 2016. It was consecrated on December 17, 2016.

The design primarily draws inspiration from the rural wooden churches in Belarus. The materials palette was restricted to wood and glass to reflect their austere and tranquil beauty. The church will be clad in timber with restricted areas of clerestory windows and obscured glazing. It is therefore essentially ‘windowless’ reflecting the inward-focused Byzantine liturgical tradition. The design of the external walls was inspired by the traditional vertical timber cladding of the Baroque Uniate churches of Belarus.