The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (; ) is a Polish Orthodox church located in the city of

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

, in central

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It was built in the late 19th century as a gift from the local industrialists to the small Orthodox community present in Łódź at the time. The church consists of many ornate elevations and has a richly decorated interior featuring an iconostasis manufactured in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

History

The church was built during the period when

lost its independence and was divided between the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

and

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

s. It was constructed in the Russian sector (

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

) with the financial support from the local textile factory owners and the most prominent citizens who adhered to

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

and

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. The church was consecrated on 29 May 1884 by Archbishop Leontius the ordinary of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

and

Chełm Chełm (; ; ) is a city in eastern Poland in the Lublin Voivodeship with 60,231 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is located to the south-east of Lublin, north of Zamość and south of Biała Podlaska, some from the border with Ukraine. The ...

Dioceses. The orthodox church was designed and built in the

Neo-Byzantine Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a Revivalism (architecture), revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine architecture, ...

style in an octagonal shape. Stained glass windows and iconostasis, made from

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

wood, with three doors are the main decorations of the church.

Izrael Poznański Izrael Kalman Poznański (25 August 1833–28 April 1900) was a Polish Jews, Polish-Jewish businessman, textile magnate and philanthropist in Łódź, Congress Poland (part of the Russian Empire), and the husband of Eleonora Hertz Poznańska. ...

, who financed the enclosure and fence around the church was also the founder of the

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere withi ...

. The building is located at 56 Jana Kilińskiego Street in Łódź, near Stanisław Moniuszko Park and

Łódź Fabryczna railway station Łódź Fabryczna (Polish pronunciation: ) is the largest and most modern railway station in the city of Łódź, Poland. It was originally constructed at the initiative of industrialist Karl Wilhelm Scheibler in 1865. In the Polish classific ...

Gallery

File:Cerkiew Newskiego w Łodzi wnętrze.JPG, Interior

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Lodz Cathedrals in Poland Churches in Łódź Lodz Polish Orthodox cathedrals Church buildings with domes 19th-century churches in Poland 19th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings