Saint Michael's Cathedral, Sochi

The Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel is the oldest

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

church in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

and the entire Black Sea Oblast of the former

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. Its construction was decreed by

Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia (25 October 1832 – 18 December 1909) was the fourth son and seventh child of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia. He was the first owner of the New Michael Palace on the Palace Quay in ...

with a view to commemorating the victorious conclusion of the prolonged

Caucasian War The Caucasian War (russian: Кавказская война; ''Kavkazskaya vojna'') or Caucasus War was a 19th century military conflict between the Russian Empire and various peoples of the North Caucasus who resisted subjugation during the R ...

in 1864. The existing building was designed by

Alexander Kaminsky Alexander Stepanovich Kaminsky (1829–1897, russian: Александр Степанович Каминский, sometimes spelled Kamensky, Каменский) was a Russian architect working in Moscow and suburbs. One of the most successful and ...

. It was built between 1874 and 1890 with funds provided by

Savva Mamontov Savva Ivanovich Mamontov (russian: Са́вва Ива́нович Ма́монтов, ; 3 October 1841 (15 October N.S.), Yalutorovsk – 6 April 1918, Moscow) was a Russian industrialist, merchant, entrepreneur and patron of the arts. Busine ...

and Count Felix Felixovich Sumarokov-Elston, among others. The church, long neglected by the Soviets, was restored in 1993. The domed

baptistery In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...

and the

sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

were built next to the church in the 1990s. Buildings and structures in Sochi Churches in Krasnodar Krai Russian Orthodox cathedrals in Russia Tsentralny City District, Sochi Culture in Sochi Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Krasnodar Krai {{Russia-EO-church-stub