The oldest temples (Belgorod). Transfiguration Cathedral and other monuments

How many ancient churches have preserved the city of Belgorod? Transfiguration Cathedral, Ioasafovsky, Smolensky, Uspensko-Nikolayevsky - all of these monuments of architecture will be discussed in our article.

White City on the Seversky Donets

Obviously, this toponym is derived from the phrase "white city". However, why the village in the Seversky Donets began to be called exactly this way - it is not known exactly. According to one interpretation, the fortress, which existed here in the 17th century, was built of local white stone. On the other - the name comes from the color of the Cretaceous hill on which the city is located.

Belgorod was founded in 1596 on the site of the ancient city of Romny culture. Soon the first temples began to be built here . The cathedrals of Belgorod are beautiful and ancient, they will be discussed further on.

The oldest temples of the city

Belogorye is rightfully considered an important center of Orthodoxy in Russia. At least two dozen temples number today the city of Belgorod. The Transfiguration Cathedral is the largest of them. But the Uspensko-Nikolaevsky is the oldest. It was built in the early 18th century.

Let's enumerate all the ancient temples with which Belgorod is rich:

• Transfiguration Cathedral.
• Uspensko-Nikolaevsky.
• Smolensky.
• Joasaph's.
• St. Michael's.
• Holy Cross Temple.
• Polish church of the beginning of the XIX century.

Then we will talk about the most famous temple structures of the city.

Belgorod: The Transfiguration Cathedral

The Preobrazhensky Cathedral was built in 1813. It is considered to be the main temple of the dioceses of Belgorod and Stary Oskol. The construction of this cathedral in 1807-1813 on the site of the old wooden church - the merit of the parishioners who donated money, as well as the architect Vasiliev, who developed the project of the building.

116 years after the construction of the Transfiguration Church, it is to become a cathedral. However, in 1930 the temple was closed. Only after 12 years, during the occupation of the city, the building was once again allowed to be used for worship.

Since 1973, the building of the cathedral housed a museum of the history of the Belgorod region. The process of returning the temple to the ownership of the Russian Orthodox Church began only in 1990. A year later the Transfiguration Cathedral became the site of the relics of St. Joasaph. The relic was personally moved inside the church by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.

What are the architectural features of the main church in the city of Belgorod? The Transfiguration Cathedral is built in the style of the provincial Russian classicism. However, the internal arrangement of the temple, executed in the style of the new-Russian splendor of the 10th-11th centuries, is not at all combined with the exterior decoration of the building.

Belgorod: Smolensk Cathedral

This temple was erected in the beginning of the XVIII century, after the icon of the Smolensk Holy Virgin showed the world a sign. Tradition says that on the night of October 2 the Methodist monastery was the Smolensk Mother of God, who was at the gates of the city. The man saw a flash of bright light that lit a wax candle. The miracle of the Mother of God decided to honor the construction of the chapel. And two years later, in 1705, a church was erected in the same place from a tree. Still later, the wooden church was replaced by a stone one.

The consecration of the first floor was in 1747, and 16 years later it was possible to consecrate the second floor of the building. During the Second World War, Smolensk Cathedral was half destroyed. Only in the 80s of the last century it was restored. Then he served as an organ hall, and the parishioners were not returned to the premises until 1991.

What is the architecture of this ancient temple located in the city of Belgorod? The Smolensk Cathedral is distinguished by a massive and vertically extended main volume of two floors. The building is made in an elongated form and is located in the direction from south to north. It should be noted that on the western side of the cathedral is a small refectory and a bell tower, consisting of 4 tiers. The described voluminous composition of the cathedral is a distinctive feature of architectural structures on the territory of Slobodskaya Ukraine, built in the late XVII - early XVIII century.

St. Nicholas Cathedral

St. Nicholas cemetery chapel was erected on the territory of the New Town Cemetery in 1799 thanks to the donations of parishioners. The room for meals was added to the main building in 1837, and after 30 years the parishioners expanded the altar and the limits of the main cathedral.

In 1990 the cathedral was renamed to Nikolo-Ioasafovsky.

Material of construction - a brick, the architectural style of the cathedral - early classicism. The main building of the temple is completed with a long one-story refectory, topped with a gable roof. The facade of the refectory is decorated with a 4-columned portico. At a distance of 10 meters from the church there is a bell tower, which is an architectural monument in the style of late baroque and classicism.

Uspensko-Nicholas Cathedral

The building of this cathedral is considered the oldest in Belgorod. The temple is distinguished by the presence of three thrones: in the name of the Assumption of the Mother of God, St. Nicholas and John the Baptist. The year of erection of the latter is 1851th.

The cathedral was built in 1703. It is interesting that the donation of 100 rubles for the construction of the church was made by Peter I. Because of the severe fire that happened in 1789, the iconostasis was destroyed in the church, and the building itself was very damaged.

Restoration of the iconostasis took place only at the beginning of the last century, and a little later the representatives of the Soviet government banned the use of the premises for worship services. The new purpose of the building in Soviet times was the placement of prisoners.

During the Second World War, the territory near the walls of the temple served as a place for the shooting of townspeople by fascists. It is also worth noting that the cellars of the cathedral were one of the most reliable shelters from bombing. So the temple saved the lives of many Belgorod citizens.

In the early 90's, the Uspensko-Nicholas Cathedral was declared a historical and architectural monument, and a little later the Marfo-Maryinsky Convent was built here. The cathedral, transferred to the holy abode, is now located within the confines of the monastery.

Finally...

Located near the border with Ukraine, the "white city" can easily be called one of the most important centers of Orthodoxy in Russia. Many beautiful temples are built here: Transfiguration Cathedral, Smolensk, Uspensko-Nikolaevsky, Ioasafovsky Cathedral. Belgorod carefully keeps all these priceless monuments of architecture and honors the Orthodox traditions of the region.