San Juan Bautista de Samaritan
The only Catholic temple in Samarkand, in the middle of the Silk Route, is the neo-Gothic church of St. John the Baptist: it was raised in 1915 and 1916 by the Polish-German community of the city and the Polish and Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war of the First World War.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- The Catholic community requested permission to build it in 1905, but the Russian authorities denied it; a decade later, the war brought to Samarkand the prisoners who would end up lifting it with their hands.
- The Soviet power closed it in 1930 and it was allocated to school and gym for almost seventy years.
- It was returned to the Catholic community in 1997 and rededicated on 27 March 1999, within the Apostolic Administration of Uzbekistan.
- Today it is served by Polish Franciscans: history gave a complete turn and the heirs of the captive builders returned as pastors.
San Juan Bautista (Samaritan)
In the city of Tamerlán, the small Catholic community of Samarcanda retains its church as a miracle of perseverance: built by captives, confiscated by State atheism and returned to prayer.
"Santa Maria, comfort of the captives," pray for the Catholics of Uzbekistan.
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