The Peter and Paul Cathedral in Gomel is one of the oldest surviving Orthodox structures in Belarus, its construction completed in 1819 — exactly two centuries before this coin's issue date. The Rumyantsev-Paskevich estate that surrounds it changed hands through two of Russia's most decorated military families before the Soviet state converted the cathedral into a museum, a fate common to religious architecture across the USSR. It was returned to the Orthodox Church only in 1989.
The Peter and Paul Cathedral in Gomel is one of the oldest surviving Orthodox structures in Belarus, its construction completed in 1819 — exactly two centuries before this coin's issue date. The Rumyantsev-Paskevich estate that surrounds it changed hands through two of Russia's most decorated military families before the Soviet state converted the cathedral into a museum, a fate common to religious architecture across the USSR. It was returned to the Orthodox Church only in 1989.