The birthplace of the great Russian commander was the city of Nizhny Novgorod. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was built here only in 1868-1881. Its second name is Novoyarmarochny. The cathedral was consecrated in a festive atmosphere on July 20, 1881. The ceremony was attended by Russian Emperor Alexander III with his wife and Tsarevich Nikolai.
Glory that has never faded for centuries and deserved canonization
Russia is rich in geniuses in any field. But there are nuggets of very high standard, combining several divine virtues. Their fame does not fade for centuries. This can be confirmed by the 2008 TV project “Name of Russia”, which won Alexander Nevsky (1221-1263), who lived more than 750 years ago.
Through his efforts, the Christian faith spread in the northern lands among the Pomors. And even on the territory of the Golden Horde, an Orthodox church was erected by him. Not to mention the fact that he did not allow the Teutonic or Livonian knights to enslave the Russian lands, as a result of the victory of which - if this happened - Orthodoxy in these territories would disappear altogether. He was canonized thanks to the merits of the church and the state, and not because he was a prince of Novgorod. A thin politician, a commander from God, he became revered in Russia already under Vladimir. At the Moscow Cathedral in 1547, his general church glorification took place. Metropolitan was Macarius. The canonical version estimates the prince of Novgorod as the golden legend of medieval Russia. He glorified Nizhny Novgorod for centuries . Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is a worthy monument to this great man.
History of creation
The temple has its own story full of happy and tragic pages. It began with a visit to the Novgorod fair, which the city has been famous for since time immemorial, by Emperor Alexander II. The local merchants, in order to perpetuate this event, turned to the archbishop with a request to build a second city church. In 1822, a small copy of St. Isaac's Cathedral was built here - the Spassky Old Fair Cathedral. Architect Auguste Montferrand also built the original in the Northern capital: “I want to fly a white seagull in the morning, and not breathe over your miracle, Montferrand.” A copy of this miracle adorned Nizhny Novgorod. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, or Novoyarmarochny (following Spassky Staroyarmarochny), did not shame the city with its architecture either.
The construction of the temple
The construction was approved in 1856 by Nizhny Novgorod Bishop Anthony and Governor A.N. Muravyov. Donation collection began, which lasted until 1866, that is, 10 years. And the collected amount of 454 thousand 667 rubles 28 kopecks was not enough, since the initial project, proposed by the architect R.I. Kilevein, had to be redone. Since the proposed building was not strong enough. The second project did not fit. The government adopted a third, the author of which remained unknown. But the inaccuracies and errors made in it were corrected by L.V. Dahl, the author of the second plan. He led the construction of the temple, which in 1881, 17 years after the symbolic laying of the first stone (1864), adorned Nizhny Novgorod. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral has three thrones: Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and, in fact,
St. Alexander Nevsky.
Located in the heart of the city
The cathedral is located in the very center of the city, at the address: st. Arrow, 3a. This street (on it in 1868 was re-laying stone) is one of the oldest. She was considered noble, was sung in some works. For example, it is referred to as Gorky Street in the song “On the Volga Wide, on the Far Strelka”. That is, the main city street since the 18th century was not renamed by the Soviet government. And Alexander Nevsky Cathedral suffered, it had a warehouse with all the ensuing consequences. They did not spare, despite the name, although the cult of the Grand Duke was actively planted, especially before the 1941 war. The words uttered by Nikolai Cherkasov in the ending of the film of the same name by Sergey Eisenstein: “Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword,” sounded like a spell.
The originality of the temple
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is very beautiful. It is a building of five tents. All of them are octagonal, and the central one rises up 72.5 meters. The attached photo shows that different architectural styles are successfully combined in a unique facade decor. In our times, after reconstruction, the third largest bell in Russia is installed on the bell tower of the cathedral, its weight is 60 tons, its height coincides with the diameter and is 4 meters. Impressive. The cathedral originally had a winter church, which was heated, and therefore worked year-round. And the temple itself - only during fairs. Since he did not have regular parishioners. They were merchants coming to the fair. The church of Makariy Zheltovodsky and Unzhensky was located in the choirs of a large temple, in a protruding western narthex.
Sights of the trading capital of Russia
Since 2009, the words “Orthodox Cathedral” have been added to the full name “Cathedral of the Holy Right Prince Alexander Nevsky”. Of course, it belongs to the sights of Nizhny Novgorod along with such world-famous pearls as the Ensemble of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin and Zapochainie. On the territory of this settlement there is a good half of all the memorable places of the city. And all of them are included in the Unified State Register of Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of Russia. Monasteries and theaters, churches and monuments - Nizhny Novgorod has much to be proud of. Over its nearly 800-year history, the city has accumulated many priceless objects that are popular among tourists from all over the world.
Number of Cathedrals
The Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky is still in Simferopol, Slavyansk and Paris. The design of the cathedral, located in the French capital, was approved by Napoleon III, who allegedly owns the phrase: "Strange, original, but very beautiful." It was erected in 1861 for a large Russian colony, permanently residing in Paris, numbering at least 1000 people. The Russians were very devout, and they needed a spacious church. In 1983, this cathedral was ranked as a historical monument of France. The Simferopol Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky is very good (his photo is impressive). Built by order of Catherine II, destroyed on the night of September 27, 1930, it is now being restored.
Returned to the Church
In 1994, the cathedral was another cathedral of Alexander Nevsky. Izhevsk, the capital of Udmurtia, in 1990 rebuilt and returned to the faithful the beautiful church of the Udmurt and Izhevsk dioceses. Located in the very center of the city, the cathedral did not escape closure and plunder in the 30s. Then the cinema “Colossus” worked in the building for many years. Bishop Palladium took an active part in the reconstruction and return to a new life of the beautiful and so necessary Orthodox church of the faithful. It seems, except for the Paris Cathedral, not a single church for the glory of Alexander Nevsky did not escape the sad fate of being plundered, or even blown up. Neither the popular love of the prayed place, nor beauty stopped the militant atheists. Izhevsk Cathedral, built in the style of Russian classicism, representing its standard (square base, cubic shape, pylons and arches), was erected in 1823. The St. Andrew's Church in Kronstadt became a model. The author of both cathedrals was the genius Andreyan Zakharov.
North temple
Another victim of people who decided to live by the principle of “we will destroy to the ground” was the next Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Petrozavodsk “distinguished itself” in that it demolished five domes from a beautiful temple and turned the “transformed” building into a museum of local lore. Now it is also a cathedral and belongs to architectural monuments. Maybe he was spared because it was built (1826-1832) on the donations of workers and craftsmen of the Alexander Plant and was originally intended as a factory church. A worthy beautiful temple had three thrones, and in 1888 a school was opened here. Since 2000, restoration and restoration work began. In 2010, a
monument to Alexander Nevsky was unveiled near the temple
. Now the cathedral is an ornament and a
landmark of Petrozavodsk.Victim of Atheism
The saddest fate was the Army Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky. The Krasnodar authorities of amazing beauty first deprived the main temple of the city of domes, and in 1932 they blew it up altogether. Such blind hatred arose, perhaps because the foundation of the unique cathedral was an equilateral, perfectly symmetrical cross: try, place the museum of atheism here, all the same, people will begin to go to the cross.
In 2003, Governor A. Tkachev decided to restore the cathedral. The beginning of the work was consecrated by Alexy II, and the end by Metropolitan Cyril. Believers returned to the temple in 2006.