Despite the dark times of antireligious persecution, Belarus preserved many temples and churches: both ancient from the 6th-9th century and relatively modern, built in the 20th century. Unfortunately, there are fewer monasteries as they were destroyed by numerous wars and fires. It is hard to find a functioning monastery left undamaged where you can meet monks and nuns, see their lifestyle and what a monastery means today.

Saint Euphrosyne Monastery in Polotsk is one of the few survived active monasteries for women in Belarus. Besides, the Orthodox shrine for nuns is one of the oldest and largest religious centers all over the country.

The monastery was founded by Holy Princess Euphrosyne of Polotsk in 1125. In 1161, she erected the stone Transfiguration Church, an excellent example of the ancient architecture of Polotsk. The princess also donated a gilded altar cross with saints relics made by the local master jeweler, Lazar Bogsha. Here, the sisters of St. Euphrosyne, Evdokia and Evpraksia, were later tonsured into monasticism.

In 1680, after Polish King Stefan Batory came to power, the monastery was given to the Jesuit religious order. More than half a century later, it returned to the Orthodox Church for a while but then was given to the Jesuits again. It remained under their responsibility until monks were expelled from Polotsk and the convent lands passed to the city treasury in 1820. In 1832, the government gave it to the clergy that restored the monastery and established the Saint Euphrosyne women's spiritual school within its walls.

Later, it was decided to build the Euphrosyne Refectory Church and the five-domed neo-Byzantine Cross Exaltation Cathedral designed by the famous Belorussian architect and civil engineer, V.F. Korshikov.