How many ancient churches have preserved the city of Belgorod? Transfiguration Cathedral, Ioasafovsky, Smolensky, Uspensko-Nikolaevsky - all these monuments of architecture will be discussed in our article.
It is obvious that this toponym is derived fromword combinations "white city". However, why the village on 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.
Belogorie is considered to be an important centerOrthodoxy in Russia. At least two dozen temples now number 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:
Then we will talk about the most famous temple structures of the city.
Preobrazhensky Cathedral was built in1813 year. 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 start of constructionThe Transfiguration Church 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 again allowed to be used for conducting worship services.
Since 1973, the cathedral housed a museumhistory of the Belgorod region. The process of returning the temple to the property 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 temple inthe 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.
This temple was erected in the beginning of the XVIII century, afterthe 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 wooden church was erected on the same spot. Still later, the wooden church was replaced by a stone one.
Consecration of the first floor was in 1747, andAfter 16 years, it was possible to consecrate the second floor of the building. During the Second World War the 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 elongated shape and is located in the direction from south to north. It is worth noting 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 Sloboda Ukraine, built in the late XVII - early XVIII century.
The St. Nicholas cemetery chapel wasIt 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 - brick, architectural styleCathedral - 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.
The building of this cathedral is considered to be 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 temple 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 suffered greatly.
Restoration of the iconostasis took place only at the beginningthe last century, and a little later the representatives of the Soviet government banned the use of the premises for worship. The new purpose of the building in Soviet times was the placement of prisoners.
During the Second World War, the territories near the wallsthe temple served as a place of execution of the 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 waswas declared a historical and architectural monument, and a little later the Marfo-Mariinsky women's monastery was built here. The cathedral, transferred to the holy monastery, is now located within the confines of the monastery.
Located near the border with Ukraine "whitecity "can be safely called one of the most important centers of Orthodoxy in Russia.There are many beautiful churches built here: Transfiguration Cathedral, Smolensk, Uspensko-Nikolaevsky, Joasafovsky Cathedral .Belgorod carefully keeps all these priceless monuments of architecture and honors the Orthodox traditions of the region.
