Orthodox churches of Estonia

Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ

Panoramas:

  
  

 

Date of construction: 1890 - 1896 (architect Alish)

Date of consecration: 17 November 1896 by Archbishop Arseny (Briantsev) of Riga and Mitava

Side-altars: Consecrated in 1897 in the name of All Saints and Icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All the Afflic ted". After WW2 north side-altar was reconsecrated in the name of St Nicholas.
Lower side-altar: Consecrated at 16 November 1996 by Metropolitan Cornelius of Tallinn and all Estonia

In 1890 shareholders of Krenholm Manufactory, through the initiative of the director Ivan Prove, decided to build an Orthodox church for the workers. Shareholders gave 500 thousand rubles for building the church which was built on land belonging to honorable citizen of Narva, I. Prove, donated it to the parish.

The solemn ceremony of the foundation of the church took place on August 5, 1890 by Bishop Arseny (Bryantsev) of Riga and Mitav in the presence of Emperor Alexander III and Empresses Maria Fedorovna. The first brick in the foundation of the church was placed by Alexander III. The church was built to the design of an architect Pavel Alish working in 1888-1907 at Krenholm Manufactory. The church was built in Byzantine style and in the plan looks like a Greek cross. The basic building materials were red and yellow bricks made at Kulgu plant belonging to Krenholm Manufactory. The foundation, stairways and ornaments were made from Finnish granite. The carved gilded three-row iconostas was made by Afanasjev and the icons were painted in the workshop of a Moscow artist icon-painter Michail Dikarev. In 1912 the drum head, pendentives and semidome space above the main altar were painted. The image of the Lord of the Pantokrator is in the best condition, the others are in bad condition, and the painting of the east semidome is lost. On pendentives there are images of apostles and evangelists — Matthew, Mark, John and Luke.

The main altar in the name of the Resurrection of the Jesus Christ was consecrated on November 17, 1896 by Archbishop  Arseny of Riga and Mitav in the presence of Governor E. Skalon of Estonia. The northern side-altar in the name of All Saints was consecrated on June 1, 1897. In the middle of the 50s of the XXth century, after repair work, the side-altar was reconsecrated in the name of Saint Nicholas. Among the icons of the church it is interesting to note the wonderworking images of Saint Nicholas and the icon of the Mother of God, the "Sign". Our attention is also attracted by the big Crucifix standing at the left-side altar. The Crucifix was made for the church of John of Jerusalem in XVII century in gothic style by master Elert Thiele. The Crucifix belonged to the church of the Transfiguration of the Lord and was saved during the bombardment of 1944.

After the World War only the Resurrection of Jesus Christ church towered above the ruined Narva. On January 20, 1958 it was renamed the Cathedral of the Resurrection of the Jesus Christ. To mark the 100-anniversary of the Cathedral significant restoration work was undertaken. The basement church was repaired and consecrated in the name of Seraphim of Sarov in which in 1945 the first Liturgy was celebrated at Easter.

After the restoration the basement church was consecrated by Archbishop Cornelius of Tallinn and all Estonia on November, 16, 1996.

 

Address: Bastrakovi 4, 20308 Narva
Web site: www.narvasobor.ee

 



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