Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin () is one of the oldest churches 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 ...

(there is a common misconception that it was the first church in the city). The original building was situated approximately at the corner of Bolshaya Sadovaya street. Over time, it has somewhat shifted towards Bogatyanovsky Lane (now Kirov Avenue).

History

In 1762, after the demolition of

St. Anne According to apocrypha, as well as Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's na ...

fortress, located near Cherkassk (nowadays ―

Starocherkasskaya Starocherkasskaya (), formerly Cherkassk (), is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a ''stanitsa'') in Aksaysky District of Rostov Oblast, Russia, with origins dating from the late 16th century. It is located on the right ...

village) on Vasilyevsky hills, it was decided to transport the Holy Protection Church located therein to the newly built St. Dimitry of Rostov fortress. The church was dismantled, all logs were numbered and transported to the chosen place. In 1781 the chief commandant Major General Simon Guryev sent a petition to

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Nikiforov, head of the Slovenian and Kherson diocese, "for permission to organize a new and bigger church, to replace the dilapidated one." In 1782, the permission was granted. The old church building was dismantled and almost at the same place a new building (also wooden) was constructed. The consecration of the church took place on September 28, 1784. On November 2, 1895 due to the negligence of the caretaker there was a fire, which has burned down the bell tower and damaged the building of the church itself. On August 10, 1897 a new stone building was constructed on the project of architect Nikolay Sokolov. However, the old damaged church had still stood for quite a long time and was demolished only in 1917.

Description of the church built in 1909

The building was constructed in

Russian Revival The Russian Revival style comprises a number of different movements within Russian architecture that arose in the second quarter of the 19th century and was an eclectic melding of Byzantine elements ( Neo-Byzantine architecture in the Russian E ...

style and had a width of 34 metres, 53 metres in length and also 53 metres in height (together with the cross). The height of the bell tower was 74,5 meters, with the main bell weighing 5100 kg. In 1930 the church was demolished. In the following years a fountain was constructed on its place.

Restoration of the church

In the post-soviet times, there were talks about the restoration of the church. On 3 February 2005, at the Kirov public garden was installed and consecrated a memorial cross and was laid the first symbolic stone in the foundation of the new church. The church, built on the project of architect G. Shevchenko, received the name of Old-Intercession (''Старо-Покровская'') and was consecrated on November 11, 2007.

External links

Virtual Tour, Rostov-on-Don

ХРАМЫ РОСТОВА-НА-ДОНУ. ХРИСТИАНСКИЕ ИМЕНА НА КАРТЕ ГОРОДА

Покровский храм Ростова
{{coord, 47.2259, N, 39.7321, E, source:wikidata, display=title Churches in Rostov-on-Don Churches completed in 2007