The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church ) was a

Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...

church constructed in 1909 in

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

. In Soviet times, the church was demolished, and the Puppet Theatre was built on its foundations. A new Greek church of the Annunciation was built close to the site of the demolished one in 2014.

History

The Greek Church of the Annunciation was built in Rostov-on-Don at the beginning of the 20th century. The temple was situated in Tkachevsky Lane (present-day Universitetsky) at its intersection with Malo-Sadovaya Street (now Suvorov Street) at the territory, which belonged to the Hellenic Charitable Society. Funds for the construction of a temple were donated by Greeks who lived in the city. The most significant contribution was made by the owner of the tobacco factory Achilles Aslanidi. The church was founded in 1907, and in 1909 the building was completed. Author of the project was the architect I.P. Zlobin. Construction was carried out under the direction of the city architect G.N. Vasilyev. The murals inside were drawn by the artist E.G. Cherepakhin. The temple was built in the

Neoclassicist Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

style. Above the main entrance with the portico towered a twenty-meter high bunk belfry. In the church operated a library with books in the

Greek language Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...

. In 1913-1914, the rector of the church was priest Parisis Sava. In the 1930s the church was closed. During the German occupation of Rostov it was reopened. On November 6, 1942 near the Church of the Annunciation there was held a parade of Romanian troops dedicated to the birthday of the Romanian King

Michael I Michael I may refer to: * Pope Michael I of Alexandria, Coptic Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark in 743–767 * Michael I Rangabe, Byzantine Emperor (died in 844) * Michael I Cerularius, Patriarch Michael I of Constantinop ...

. The event was attended by German officers. The parade ended with a solemn liturgy in the Church of the Annunciation. In 1959 the church was closed again. The building was handed over to School No. 7. The building housed gym and production workshops. In 1964 the church was demolished, and the Puppet Theatre was built on its foundations. Yet the old church walls were partially preserved.

The new church

After the

fall of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of Nationalities, Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. :s: ...

there was a discussion in Rostov about the possibility of restoration of the Church of Annunciation and transfer of the Puppet Theatre to another place. However, this idea did not find much support, and then it was decided to construct a new church nearby. In 2003, the land area of 0.2099 hectares at Kirov Avenue has been allocated for the construction of the church. Originally it was planned to recreate the initial project, but later it was decided to build a completely new church in

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. The author of the project was architect G. Shevchenko. The solemn ceremony of foundation of the church took place on 22 September 2007. In 2012, next to the constructing temple there was built a small temporary church where services would be held before the end of construction works. The Rostov museum of local history still possesses a memorial board of the first church that says "there was laid a stone in the name of the Annunciation Church" in August 1907. This board was planned to be given to the new church after its opening. The main construction works were finished in October 2014. Since January 2015 the church has been active. There also was a scandal about handing the building of the former church, which is now occupied by the puppet theatre, to the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

. The Church representatives stated that the theatre would stay in the building until another appropriate place for it was found.{{Cite news, title=В Ростовской-на-Дону епархии прокомментировали ситуацию вокруг здания Благовещенской церкви, где ныне находится театр кукол, url=http://www.pravoslavie.ru/91583.html, work=Православие.RU, accessdate=2017-01-12

References

Churches in Rostov-on-Don Greek Orthodox churches Greek diaspora in Russia Churches completed in 1909 Churches completed in 2014 21st-century churches in Russia 21st-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings