Intercession Church (Krasnoyarsk): description, history, photo, address

Towering in the old part of Krasnoyarsk, near the shore of the great Siberian river Yenisei, the church, built and consecrated in honor of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the oldest and most famous building of the city. Returned after many decades of mockery to the Orthodox community, nowadays it has taken a proper place among the leading spiritual centers of Siberia.

The disaster that befell the city

Located in Central Siberia, Krasnoyarsk was built almost exclusively of wood from time immemorial - the supply of this material was abundant in the surrounding taiga. But the cheap and easy processing material had a significant drawback - it caught fire the first time the fire was negligent. This is its natural property for centuries, was the cause of fires that destroyed entire cities in Russia.

Krasnoyarsk was no exception. The terrible fire that happened in it at the end of May 1773 destroyed most of the city's buildings, including a number of administrative buildings (also wooden ones), churches and townsmen's dwellings. The pile of ashes was converted into a voivod's house, wine and powder cellars. Killed in the fire and built here in the middle of the XVII century, a small Pokrovskaya church.

Krasnoyarsk, having barely recovered from the misfortune that befell him, began to rebuild anew, and to avoid a repetition of the incident, the strictest instruction was issued from the capital: from now on, the administrative buildings should be erected exclusively from stone. As for the churches of God, they were also forbidden to build from wood - the Holy Synod informed the Krasnoyarsk people about this with a special circular .

Report of the city governor

It is known that it is easy to point out and forbid, but what to do if there is not a single bricklayer in the whole city, and have not produced bricks from the century since? On the metropolitan directive, operative, but very peculiarly reacted only to the city governor Semyon Polymsky. For public money, he hired in Yeniseysk masters, from there he wrote out all the necessary material and built himself a stone mansion, albeit one-story, but spacious and roomy. Having completed the case, the voevoda reported to the capital on the fulfillment of all the regulations, which made St. Petersburg officials very happy.

Unhappy undertaking

However, his initiative was not picked up by fellow countrymen. The imported brick was expensive, and the new bricklayers broke prices at exorbitant prices. So the city was built in the old fashion - the axes were pounding everywhere, and the smell of fresh pine resin dislodged the fires of the recent conflagration. The Church of the Intercession was also restored.

Krasnoyarsk, as you know, is a thousand miles away from the capital, so the parishioners dared to turn to the Bishop Vladika Archbishop Varlaam with a request to condescend to their wretchedness and allow them to cut down the wooden church again. They promised to build with such a calculation that later, if there is God's Will (and money) for this, lay a stone temple next to it.

The Tobolsk lord entered their position and in September 1774 gave his permission. The new wooden church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin was laid in the same year, but its fate was sad. After the construction was completed, it was renamed twice, moved three times from place to place until, finally, in 1792, it burned out, sharing the fate of its predecessor.

Stone temple - the whole world

But even before this regrettable event happened, the pious Krasnoyarsk people were concerned about erecting the very same stone structure, which Archbishop Varlaam had written about in his time. The new, this time the stone Pokrovskaya church (Krasnoyarsk) was built in the same way as it was started by the whole world.

From the archival material that has come down to us, it can be seen that the volunteers were the residents of three hundred and twenty-two households located both in the city itself and in its environs. The post of the "church builder", that is, the leader of all the works, was entrusted to the retired official, the nobleman Mikhail Stepanovich Yushkov, who came from an ancient Cossack clan.

And again the Yenisei masters

Having started to fulfill his duties, Mikhail Stepanovich faced with traditional problems for Krasnoyarsk - the lack of specialists in the city-masons and the material necessary for their work. Again, as in the recent past, the Yenisei masters were invited, and the train with bricks was again pulled into Krasnoyarsk. Arriving at the place, craftsmen brought with them a ready-made plan of construction, the model of which was the Trinity Church built in Yeniseysk in 1726.

The construction of the stone church began with the fact that in the place where the voivod's office was formerly located (today the corner of Mira Avenue and the Surikov Street) in February 1785 the military command cleared the necessary territory on which they began digging the foundation pit.

True People's Democracy

Further, from the same archival sources, a rather interesting picture of the powers that the parish world possessed at that time, that is, ordinary people, with the means of which the church was built, is emerging. It turns out that they were the majority who voted for the project of the future construction, all the producers of the works were obliged to report to them for each penny spent and to provide them with an estimate of expenses. Through their trusted parishioners had the opportunity to monitor the overall course of work and make changes to it. That is, everything was extremely transparent.

It is curious that even at the beginning of the construction the diocesan authorities wished that the Intercession Church (Krasnoyarsk), in spite of the original plan, was renamed into Bogoyavlenskaya. This issue was put to a popular vote (referendum), and, after the parish world insisted on the former name by a majority of voices, the Tobolsk bishops could not help it. The explanation is simple - construction goes to people's money, and only the people have the right to decide how and what they will be spent on.

National construction

But the role of the townspeople was not limited to making donations and participating in parish meetings. Everyone helped, than he could. Those who had their own cartage transported bricks and sand, brought barrels of water. Who did not have horses, performed feasible auxiliary work or guarded building materials. In those years there was still no expression "national construction", but the Pokrovskaya church was built by all the people.

The construction was completed in 1795, at the same time the solemn consecration of the church took place. She stood for half a century before additional work was done, as a result of which the Intercession Church in Krasnoyarsk (the description of the building of those years was preserved in the archive) took its true form.

The result of general works

Today, as in those years, the basis of the composition of the church is the longitudinal axis east-west, at the beginning of which there is a semicircular altar, and then - directly the quadrangle of the building, the refectory and the bell tower. This layout is traditional for the temple buildings of Central Russia and the Urals, erected in the XVII-XVIII centuries, and is called the "boat". The original in the construction of the Intercession Church are only warm, heated side chapels.

Three-window, or, as they say, "three-light" building of the temple is crowned with an octagonal multi-tiered tower, carrying an additional drum, completed with a bulbous tetrahedral head. In the corners of the temple, the same, but somewhat reduced, drums stand out, which is typical for the Moscow style of five-headed. On the west side there is an octagonal two-tiered belltower, which ends with a small glade. The undoubted decoration of the temple is the decorative design of the facades, always integral and unusually rich.

The Troubles of the Soviet era

Today the Intercession Church in Krasnoyarsk, the history of which has been counted for more than two centuries, is again open after a long break. In the twenties, despite the complexity of the situation in the country, the church remained operational until the early thirties, when, at last, it was closed and handed over to one of the military units. But in October 1945, the service in it resumed and continued until the Khrushchev anti-religious campaign of the early sixties.

On the wave of perestroika

As is known, in the nineties, as a result of the perestroika that was occurring in the country, an active process of returning temple buildings to their former parish communities began. Among other was the Church of the Intercession. The temples of Krasnoyarsk needed urgent repair and restoration. As in previous years, the means for carrying out these works were collected by the whole world. After their completion and solemn consecration the church received the status of a city cathedral.

Pokrovskaya church in Krasnoyarsk: address and telephone number

Gradually, the forcibly interrupted religious life in it has entered its former course. Today, the Intercession Church (Krasnoyarsk), whose address: st. Surikova, 26, united around itself the largest number of parishioners in the diocese. It often hosts hierarchical services, which are attended by residents not only of other regions, but also of numerous suburban settlements. In advance you can find out about them by calling: +7 (391) 212 33 95. For those who wish to use the services of mail, we also indicate the postal code: 660049.

The ancient fresco, discovered in 2008 during the restoration of the arched vault, is dated to the end of the XVIII century and contains an image of one of the patronal feasts. It was restored and is now in the list of other sights with which the Intercession Church (Krasnoyarsk) is famous.

The reviews of the numerous tourists who visited it, very eloquently testify that this temple, rebelled from oblivion, did not leave anyone indifferent. Many note that it was under his arches that they came to feel the connection with God, which is the main goal of religion. It is important only to direct your thoughts in the right direction. This will help all the Church of the Intercession who came to Krasnoyarsk. The address, telephone number and postal code are listed in the article.