Cathedral Of The Nativity Of The Blessed Virgin Mary, Rostov-on-Don on:
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The Cathedral of the
/ref> It succeeded the Novocherkassk Cathedral as the main place of Christian worship in the Don region.
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In the mid-19th century, the population of Rostov was growing steadily. As a result, Emperor Nicholas I approved the draft for a new stone church instead of the old masonry temple with wooden domes that could not contain the crowds of worshippers.
The cathedral was built between 1854 to 1860 to Konstantin Ton's generic, or model design. As a result, the cathedral looks similar to other churches designed by Ton, such as the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, the demolished Presentation Church in St. Petersburg and the Cathedral of the Holy Ghost in Petrozavodsk. Alexander Kutepov was the architect in charge of construction works.
The funds for construction came from the rich merchant Konstantin Mikhailov-Nefedov. Another local merchant, Igor Panchenko, financed frescoes, icons, golden crosses for the domes, and the church fence.
In 1937 the cathedral was closed, and on its territory was opened a zoo, and the cathedral itself was used as warehouse. In the 1940s the upper tiers of the bell tower were destroyed.
The cathedral was opened again in 1942, when Rostov was occupied by German army. In 1950 the cathedral was redecorated and the old paintings were restored. In 1988 the interior redecoration was also done.
In 1999, on the 250th anniversary of the city of Rostov, the bell tower was restored in its original form.Описание Ростовского кафедрального собора Рождества Пресвятой Богородицы
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Nativity Cathedral is a five-domed stone church, the building itself has a shape of cross. It was built in Russian-Byzantine style. Three-tiered iconostasis in the eastern part of the cathedral is made in the form of a
Nativity of the Theotokos
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of Mary, the Marymas or the Birth of the Virgin Mary, refers to a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of Mary, mother of Jesus.
The modern canon of scripture does not record Mary's bir ...
(russian: Кафедральный собор во имя Рождества Пресвятой Богородицы) is the main church of the city of Rostov-on-Don and the Orthodox Diocese of Rostov and Novocherkassk.Ростов-на-Дону. Кафедральный собор Рождества Пресвятой Богородицы./ref> It succeeded the Novocherkassk Cathedral as the main place of Christian worship in the Don region.
Background
At the end of the 18th century, after a large-scale resettlement to suburbs of soldiers, burghers and merchants, the city authorities decided to build a temple dedicated to the Navity of the Theotokos. It was meant to be constructed in the same suburb, near the present-dayCentral market Central Market may refer to:
*Central Market, a 2009 album by Tyondai Braxton
Fresh food markets
* Adelaide Central Market, Australia
* Cardiff Central Market, Wales
*Central Market, Hong Kong
* Central Market, Casablanca, Morocco
* Riga Central ...
. The church was founded on February 20, 1781, and opened on September 5, 1781. Both the beginning of construction works and opening of the church were consecrated by Archpriest Ioann Andreev. However, only ten years after, on December 27, 1791, a lightning strike burned the temple.
The then mayor of the city ― M. Naumov, a merchant, petitioned to Metropolitan Gavriil, who was the head of Ekaterinoslav Diocese and supervised the territory of Rostov on the construction of the new church. In 1795 at the same place began the construction works of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. In 1822 the church received cathedral status on decree of the Holy Synod
In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod. For instance, the Holy Synod is a ruling body of the Georgian Orthodox C ...
.Ростовский собор Рождества Пресвятой Богородицы/ref>
History
In the mid-19th century, the population of Rostov was growing steadily. As a result, Emperor Nicholas I approved the draft for a new stone church instead of the old masonry temple with wooden domes that could not contain the crowds of worshippers.
The cathedral was built between 1854 to 1860 to Konstantin Ton's generic, or model design. As a result, the cathedral looks similar to other churches designed by Ton, such as the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, the demolished Presentation Church in St. Petersburg and the Cathedral of the Holy Ghost in Petrozavodsk. Alexander Kutepov was the architect in charge of construction works.
The funds for construction came from the rich merchant Konstantin Mikhailov-Nefedov. Another local merchant, Igor Panchenko, financed frescoes, icons, golden crosses for the domes, and the church fence.
In 1937 the cathedral was closed, and on its territory was opened a zoo, and the cathedral itself was used as warehouse. In the 1940s the upper tiers of the bell tower were destroyed.
The cathedral was opened again in 1942, when Rostov was occupied by German army. In 1950 the cathedral was redecorated and the old paintings were restored. In 1988 the interior redecoration was also done.
In 1999, on the 250th anniversary of the city of Rostov, the bell tower was restored in its original form.Описание Ростовского кафедрального собора Рождества Пресвятой Богородицы/ref>
Exterior and interior
Nativity Cathedral is a five-domed stone church, the building itself has a shape of cross. It was built in Russian-Byzantine style. Three-tiered iconostasis in the eastern part of the cathedral is made in the form of a chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
, topped with hipped roof and cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, fro ...
.
In the courtyard of the cathedral there are also situated a small Church of St. John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
and the baptistery of St. Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-day Demre ...
, as well as the bell tower and several office buildings: the diocesan administration, the residence of the Metropolitan of the Rostov diocese and diocesan departments and commissions; spiritual and educational center of St. Dimitry, Metropolitan of Rostov; printing house of the diocese; church utensils and spiritual literature shops.
The bell tower
In 1875, the west side of the bell tower of the Cathedral was founded. It was built on project of architect-engineer Anton Campioni and artist-architect Dmitry Lebedev. Construction was carried out at the expense of merchants P. Maksimov and S. Koshkin, of tobacco manufacturer and philanthropist V. Asmolov, and of I. Panchenko, who already then had become a churchwarden. The bell tower was completed in 1887. The bell tower has a height of 75 metres. It also hasClassicist
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
and Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
features. The top of the dome is blue, decorated with gold stars. In the top tier there were installed clocks. In the middle tiers there were placed bells It is believed that the ringing of the bell tower was heard over 40 kilometres.
During World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
there were fears that the bell tower can be used by the Germans as a reference point for artillery and bombers. In July 1942 the top two tiers were blown up. In 1949 the second tier was also demolished.
The bell tower was restored in 1999. Architect N. Solnyshkin was the author of restoration project. New bells differ from their predecessors with names and their smaller sizes.
References