The complex of Uniate Basilian monasteries consisted of two monastery buildings - male and female, which have survived to this day, and the Church of the Holy Spirit. The Basilian monastery was founded on the territory of the Upper Market of Minsk in 1616 on the site of the wooden orthodox church of the Holy Spirit of the 16th century, and in 1641 Metropolitan Anthony Selyava founded a women's monastery. The convent was connected to the church by a covered gallery.
The Uniate Church of the Holy Spirit was laid in 1636 - it was built on a donation of 2000 zloty by a wealthy citizen of Polotsk. The building was unique, it combined features of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles of architecture. The main artistic value of the Svyatoduhovskaya Church was represented by frescoes on the facade of niches depicting saints. The altars were decorated with stone and wooden figures of apostles. Probably by 1654 the construction of the monasteries was finished, because during the war with Russia in 1654-1667 the monasteries were already used for defensive purposes as a fortress. In 1795, after Belarus was annexed to the Russian Empire, the monasteries were closed, and the church became the Orthodox Peter and Paul Cathedral in 1799, turning from a monument of European importance into a very mediocre example of pseudo-Russian style. In 1936, by order of the Soviet authorities, the church was blown up.
For the first time in 1970 about the restoration of the temple thought S. Baglasov, under whose leadership a group of architects, having previously studied the available archival materials, made a reconstruction of the main facade of the temple. Further plans for the revival of the Upper Town differed on the issue of the restoration of the church. Now there is a real hope that the Church of the Holy Spirit will be recreated in its original form. Since 1799 the monastery was the residence of the archbishop of Minsk, and then it became a men's gymnasium. Its famous pupils were the composer Stanisław Moniuszko, the founder of Polish and Belarusian professional opera, Tomasz Zan, a close friend of Adam Mickiewicz, Eustach Tyszkiewicz, the founder of Belarusian and Lithuanian archaeology, and Belarusian writers Ivan Niesłuchowski and Anton Levitsky. After the fire in 1835 the complex of monasteries, except for the women's monastery, finally lost its original appearance. After a fire in 1835, the monastery complex, except for the women's one, finally lost its original appearance - the men's building was rebuilt in the Classicist style and housed the attendance offices. The "male part" of the complex is not planned to return to its former appearance. The women's building has been restored. Adjoining the men's building is the Moniuszko House, built in 1797 and belonging to the famous Polish family Moniuszko. The most famous member of the family is the composer Stanisław Moniuszko. He was born in 1819 in an estate near Minsk in Ubel, spent some time in Warsaw, and in 1830 his family moved to Minsk, where Stanisław was to continue his studies in the gymnasium located in the neighbouring building of the former Uniate monastery. Many musicians, artists and painters visited Moniuszko's house and organised musical and poetry evenings. Now there is a memorial plaque on the building. The ground floor houses the Byblos restaurant.
