The current city of Pushkin was once called Tsarskoye Selo. It was the imperial residence around which the settlement grew. In January 1780, in order to streamline the expanded settlement, a royal decree was issued, which established a new city called Sofia. He became the center of the county of the same name. Here were the administration, headed by the mayor, the magistrate, the town hall.
Since it was forbidden to build residential buildings in Tsarskoye Selo, merchants, officials, and the clergy were settled in Sofia. Empress Catherine ordered a water supply there. The city was divided into regular squares with a large area in the center. Nearby, at first, a wooden church was built, named after Saints Helena and Constantine, and already in 1788 a stone church was erected, which the city of Pushkin is proud of today.
Sophia Cathedral
How to get to it tourists, will show any citizen. I must say that every day a lot of people come here to enjoy this architectural monument, which is considered one of the most significant cultural heritage sites of our country. At first, St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkino was conceived as a center, which was to become the architectural dominant of the town. Later, the settlement, in the middle of which he rises, was annexed to Tsarskoye Selo. Pushkin and Lermontov prayed under the arches of this beautiful temple, Suvorov and Kutuzov, many prominent artists, scientists and composers knelt here. Almost all famous foreigners who came to the city of Pushkin visited here. St. Sophia Cathedral, the second name of which is Ascension, literally made an indelible impression on everyone.
History of creation
In 1780, when the city of Sofia was founded, which for a short time became a county in the St. Petersburg province, there was no temple in it. Therefore, a temporary wooden church was built. But already in the summer of 1782, in the presence of Empress Catherine, a ceremonial laying of a stone cathedral was made. The architect C. Cameron was appointed the author of the project. Soon he was joined by another famous architect - Starov.
St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkino was built over six years. In 1788, it was consecrated. Archpriest Samborsky became rector. The main chapel of the temple was consecrated in honor of Sofia, and the other two, respectively, of Saints Konstantin and Elena and Alexander Nevsky. Until 1845, the cathedral was considered the chapel of the Order of St. Vladimir.
Annals
In 1817, the current St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkin by royal decree was transferred to the Life Hussar Regiment, stationed nearby. A marching church was established in its central aisle. In 1836, officers of the regiment presented the cathedral with an icon of their patron, Saint Paul the Confessor, framed in a silver gilded salary. It was installed in a case at the left choir in the central aisle.
In 1833, in honor of the reorganization of the regiment, a temple image of St. Julian of Tarsus was painted on a cypress board with a silver-salary salary. It has been kept in the cathedral for over sixty years.
It is known that in 1849-1850 new iconostases were exhibited in the church, the project of which was made by Chernik. However, there is no information about the very first in the annals. One of the new ones was a tall multi-tiered iconostasis - an example of art, which in its artistic components belonged to the best in the capital and its suburbs. It was painted in snow-white color and trimmed with gilding. In today's cathedral, only copies of the iconostases located here are installed.
Catherine II gave the church a silver chandelier. It weighed more than eighty-five kilograms. On the day of the consecration of the cathedral, the empress brought a cross and church utensils. However, in 1812, with the advent of Napoleon in St. Petersburg, the gospels with candlesticks, vessels, a water sanctuary, and wedding crowns were transferred to the Resurrection Church at the Catherine Palace. In 1903, Nicholas II granted the cathedral exact replicas of the liturgical objects which, when they were consecrated, received St. Sophia Cathedral as a gift. In Pushkin, baptism, marriage, and other rites are held with them today.
Architectural solutions
St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkin is a successful combination of the forms and proportions of classicism and the traditions of Russian canons. In plan, it is a square. Outside, this monument is crowned with five domes mounted on cylindrical low drums.
St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkino on the facades is decorated with porticoes of the Doric order. These monumental four-columned architectural elements are covered with gables that give the church a very solemn appearance. Its central and largest dome is very unusual. Inside it is a second, smaller one.
However, not only the city of Pushkin is famous for such a beautiful temple and, accordingly, a dome. St. Sophia Cathedral of Constantinople also has a similar architectural solution. True, in it this dome is not supported by the second drum.
Interior
Architects divided the interior of the cathedral with four pylons and eight columns made of polished granite and decorated with ionic gilded capitals. Several of them retained damage resulting from fires. The capitals with the bases of the columns are completely covered with gilding.
Initially, there was only one throne in the temple - the Ascension of the Lord. But a few decades later, the left, the north, and soon the right, was consecrated in honor of St. Alexander Nevsky.
Simplicity - it is precisely this decoration that St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkino is characterized by . You can learn how to get to it from a tourist guide, or you can just ask the locals who will be happy to show where this architectural monument is located. The walls of the temple were originally painted inside in light colors, and the window frames were once framed by gilded ornamental drafts. At the moment, the interior is made in white, and the ornament is completely absent.
Until 1849, inside the cathedral, above the branch of the Taitsky aqueduct, there was a well covered with an iron grate, but after a major overhaul, it, like the second one, built in the courtyard, was destroyed.
Comparative comparison
The similarity that St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkin has with its Constantinople counterpart is in the interior. This is expressed both in the central dome, made by the type of “soaring”, and in the unusual black and red color of all eight columns of granite, etc.
The cathedral also has obvious features of its famous prototype - of Constantinople - in its external appearance. The first thing that immediately catches everyone’s eye is its central dome with numerous large windows. However, it cannot be said that there is an unambiguous copying. According to some architectural historians, Sofia of Constantinople looks like a pile of stone with brick, because it was erected, following the principle of a conscious rejection of the external image. While the Tsarskoye Selo temple was built in the strict style of Russian mature classicism - with four-columned porticoes and crowned with five domes. It is in simplicity and in harmony of forms and proportions that beauty that excites St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkin.
Service Schedule
Since the temple is active, divine services are held there daily. On weekdays, at eight-thirty the confession begins, and at nine in the morning the liturgy begins. Evening services begin at five in the evening. On holidays, weekends, and Sundays, the liturgy can be visited at ten in the morning, and confession at nine thirty.
Sunday School
Saint Sophia Cathedral (Pushkin) is an active temple with its traditions that have developed over the centuries. There is a Sunday school at the temple, which is attended not only by children, but also by their parents. Different groups work here for young parishioners - in music, drawing, English, etc. For adults, classes are held in Catechization - teaching the foundations of faith, beginners attend Bible study classes.
Since the cathedral was once regimental, it still collaborates with military schools located in Pushkin. It is within its walls that cadets take the oath, prayers are held here.
At Christmas on the walls of the cathedral a real field kitchen unfolds , which feeds everyone.
How to get there
Arriving in the former Tsarskoye Selo, many tourists necessarily express a desire to see St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkin. Everyone knows how to get to it. It occupies almost the entire, with a few exceptions, the same area of the city.
From Vitebsk Station, you can take the metro to Pushkinskaya Station. There you can catch an electric train and get to the city of Pushkino. Then on
Station Square take the bus numbers 188, 378 or 381, get to the stop "st. Hussars. " From there you can walk to St. Sophia Cathedral.