The Russian Orthodox Church of Saint Nicholas ( it, Chiesa ortodossa Russa di san Nicola) is an
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...
church building
A church, church building or church house is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 and 256. From the 11th thro ...
in
Bari
Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...
, Italy.
History
The Russian Orthodox Church has a special veneration for St Nicholas, and many Russian pilgrims came to Bari. At the beginning of the 20th century ''The Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society'' decided to build a church and pilgrim house for Russian visitors. The head of the IOPS was Grand Duchess Elisabeth: the church at her convent in Moscow had been designed by
Aleksei Viktorovich Shchusev, and he was chosen to design the ''podvorie'' in Bari. The foundation stone was laid on 22 May 1913.
In the XIX – XX centuries many Russian buildings were created outside Russia, but the vast majority of them were designed in the Moscow-Yaroslavl style; the Bari church and ''podvorie'', however, are in the rare Pskov-Novgorod style.
After the Russian Revolution few Russian pilgrims were able to come to Bari, and in 1937 the buildings were sold to the municipality of Bari.
On 14 March 2007, on the occasion of the visit to Bari of Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
, negotiations began for the return of the church to Russia.
[ ]
The formal donation was held on 1 March 2009 in the presence of the President of Italy
Giorgio Napolitano
Giorgio Napolitano (; born 29 June 1925) is an Italian politician who served as president of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the first Italian president to be re-elected to the presidency. Due to his dominant position in Italian politics, some critics ...
and the President of the Russian Federation
Dmitrij Medvedev.
Fotogallery
Image:RR5110-0108R.png, Commemorative coin of the Bank of Russia with the image of the Church of San Nicola in Bari. 2 silver rubles, 2011
Image:Визит Дмитрия Медведева в Бари.jpg, Presidents Napolitano and Medvedev visiting the church
See also
*
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
External links
Official site (in Russian)
References
Churches in the metropolitan city of Bari
Eastern Orthodox church buildings in Italy
Russian Orthodox church buildings
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
1911 establishments in Italy
Churches completed in 1913
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