Abandoned churches of the Urals. Abandoned churches of the Urals Between Orthodoxy and the club
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the “patrimony of the Demidovs” in the Middle Urals extended far beyond the administrative borders of the Mining District and the Nizhny Tagil Diocese that exist today. In fact, this clan was the rightful owner of part of the region. Under the Demidovs, part of the Ural temple architecture was also formed. Often, the family of the richest factory owners in Russia dictated the architectural style. Specialists from Yekaterinburg were often involved in the construction of stone churches, which ultimately created an architectural connection between objects in the Nizhny Tagil region and the current Ural capital.
EAN wrote about one of these churches using the example of Kaygorodka, where the building was built according to the design of Julius Dutel, also known as the author of the Zheleznov estate in Yekaterinburg. Another such link that connects the architectural history of two Ural cities is the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Visim.
Small Motherland of Mamin-Sibiryak
The village of Visim is located fifty kilometers from Nizhny Tagil. The electronic guide “Our Ural” lists it as one of the attractions of the region. As the portal indicates, the famous writer and chronicler of Yekaterinburg Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak was born here. Here in the village his father Narkis Mamin served as a priest for a quarter of a century. However, it is indicated that the father of the famous writer worked in the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which is fundamentally wrong.
The stone church was founded in 1889 and consecrated in 1895. Narkis Mamin, meanwhile, died 10 years before construction began. His son had long left his native land by the time the first stone was laid. This misconception has spread to other open sources telling about the Mamin-Sibiryak family.
Kerzhaki- an ethno-confessional group of Russians. Representatives of the Old Believers. The name comes from the name of the Kerzhenets River in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Carriers of culture of the North Russian type
Visim was not one of the wealthy settlements. From the mid-18th century, it was formed as a factory village, where the Demidovs brought natives of the Tula region and Ukraine for the needs of a metallurgical enterprise. In addition, Old Believers, or, as the locals call them, Kerzhaks, lived here. According to the territory of residence, the population was divided into parts - Old Believers settled on one side of the river, Orthodox Christians settled on the other. Each group had its own church. The Orthodox built a wooden church in 1839 in honor of St. Martyr Anatoly of Nicomedia.
The welfare of the village could be judged by the fact that the family of the parish priest Narkis Mamin barely made ends meet. There were more than 200 households in the village, but it must be taken into account that part of the population of Visim attended the Old Believer church. By the end of the 19th century, the population of the village and, accordingly, parishioners tripled - to 2.8 thousand people (more than 600 households). The old wooden church became crowded, and the question arose in the village about building a new church.
From the author of the Tsar's Bridge
Sergey Kozlov- From 1884 to 1890 - diocesan architect Yekaterinburg. As a city architect(1884-1890) was involved in adjusting the general plan of Yekaterinburg. Drew up projects for reconstruction: Gostiny Dvor, city theater, city council building
The actual customers of the new church were representatives of the Demidov clan. And, as follows from further work, they spared no expense. The chief architect of Yekaterinburg and concurrently the chief diocesan architect Sergei Kozlov was brought in to design the church. After himself, he left an impressive architectural heritage for the Ural capital. His most famous work is the stone bridge across the Iset on Dekabristov Street (known in the city as Tsarsky).
He also designed private houses and public buildings. In particular, Kozlov, in coordination with Dutel, rebuilt the house known today as the “Estate of Captain F. A. Pereyaslavtsev” on Karl Liebknecht Street, 3.
Tsarsky Bridge— bridge in Yekaterinburg over the Iset River. Built in 1889-1890 according to the design of architect S. S. Kozlov. The bridge was built to replace the wooden one built in 1824. The object has the status of a historical and architectural monument of federal significance
As the chief diocesan architect of Yekaterinburg, Kozlov was actively involved in the design of religious objects. He worked far beyond the city limits and on a grand scale. Judging by the surviving objects, the architect carried out large orders in the Byzantine style, often with elements of eclecticism and classicism.
St. Nicholas Church before destruction
The Church of St. Nicholas was no exception. Unlike the “ships” common in the 19th century, the church in Visim was designed in the shape of a “cross”. The basis for the dome was a powerful drum, laid out in several brickwork. The source of natural light was also located in the central dome - the drum was surrounded by windows. The four edges of the roof were crowned with small domes, where the belfry was located. The entrances to the building are designed in the form of arches, richly decorated with ornaments, which is a characteristic feature of the Byzantine style.
The consecration of the new church took place on May 9, 1895. On the same day, crosses were installed on the domes.
“The crosses were raised to a height of 13 fathoms (27.7 m - EAN’s note) and installed: one on the main dome, the others on the 4 towers of the temple.<…>The crosses were made in Moscow by the manufacturer of gold and silver items F.A. Ovchinnikov. The weight of these crosses was more than 40 pounds (about 655 kg, EAN note), and their cost with delivery to the Visimo-Shaitansky plant reached 2 thousand rubles,” according to data from the Yekaterinburg diocesan bulletin.
In the autumn of the same year, the church was consecrated in honor of St. Anatolia. The wooden temple that bore his name was dismantled. A parochial school was opened in its place. The name of the new religious building was finally assigned: St. Nicholas-Anatolyevskaya Church.
The temple is turned into a club, the believers are turned into a cemetery
The parish of St. Nicholas Church survived the October Revolution in 1917 and the first wave of the anti-religious campaign. However, the church was eventually closed in 1934. The building was transferred to the club. This decision will subsequently cause serious damage to the facility.
The local authorities took a thorough approach to turning the facility into a club. The central dome and four small towers were demolished. The remaining drum was covered with wooden floors. The building has lost its internal freedom of space.
During the redevelopment, some of the windows were bricked up, and new ones were cut in places not provided for by the architectural design. As a result of unauthorized intervention, part of the arched design of the building was damaged.
Apparently, the workers did not touch the church frescoes.
“In 1913-1914, the church in Visim was painted by my father with a group of artists, Dmitry Gavrilovich Chaikin. The work was completed at the end of 1914. After finishing work, my parents got married. In 1945 - 1947, the painting of his work was preserved on the ceiling under the dome. These were flying angels. There was a club in the church building at that time. My mother, an 11-12 year old girl, showed me and told me about my father’s work,” recalls L. D. Chukavina, a native of the village.
A dance floor was installed in the room where believers had previously prayed. Benches were also placed here during film screenings. The stage was set up in place of the altar.
Altar part of St. Nicholas Church
Having lost the stone temple, believers from among the residents of Visim began to seek from the authorities an alternative site for joint prayer. For this purpose, a delegation was sent to the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, Mikhail Kalinin.
As a result, believers were allowed to gather together for prayer, but away from the center of the village - at the local cemetery.
Cemetery meeting house
In 1935, a prayer house was built there. In 1936, a priest was sent to Visim. For services, believers went to neighboring Chernoistochinsk, where the temple continued to function.
“Our mother loved Iverskaya very much (Iverskaya Icon of the Mother of God - EAN’s note) and went to Chernoistochinsk on foot to see Iverskaya. They took me once - I asked for it myself at 15-16 years old. And I was a nanny, I didn’t want to be a nanny. Dad says: “It’s a good thing to pray, let’s go.” We're going on foot. The car stops. Sit down, since we're going along the highway. The father says: “No, the mother is suffering from stomach pain.” I ask: “Dad, why are you lying?” And he says: “And so as not to get into the car.” We came to Chernoistochinsk on foot - first in the evening, and then in the morning, and back on foot. Three or four hours along the road. It was very far away. All. I didn’t ask for more,” recalls one of Visima’s old-timers, Nadezhda Erokhina.
According to her, religious families also adhered to the tradition of not giving girls away in marriage without a church wedding. The groom, whether he was an atheist or an Old Believer, had to first convert to Orthodoxy.
Between Orthodoxy and the club
After the collapse of the USSR and the beginning of the return of the buildings of the Russian Orthodox Church churches in Visim, a difficult situation arose. Since religious life in the village was not interrupted during the Soviet years and there was a strong community, already in 1995 the question arose about the return of the St. Nicholas Church.
“Some people went to clean the temple, while others said: “The club should have been left.” There was a dispute, but the residents who were working for the temple did not give up on theirs and did not give it to the club,” recalls Erokhina.
Procession after restoration
The club's supporters eventually came to terms with the loss. Believers left the house of worship for the cemetery and moved to St. Nicholas Church. However, it turned out to be impossible to conduct full-fledged worship services at the historical site. A temporary altar was installed under the very dome of the temple, on the third floor, which appeared during the redevelopment of the building in the Soviet years. Due to the limited space and arched vaults, the room became more like a dungeon.
Recovery and costs
All that the believers have been able to do today is to fill the floor and arrange the third floor for prayer and rituals.
The parishioners do not have enough strength to carry out larger-scale work.
According to rough estimates, a complete restoration requires at least 40 million rubles.
“The drum, for example, is very thick, and you need a lot of bricks to hold the masonry together to recreate the dome. You can’t do it with a kandachka here. Yes, and there are more significant questions. Heating needs to be adjusted, and for this you need a suitable boiler. Winter is a difficult time for us. Last year, at the end of November, it was -40 degrees for two weeks, and it was already difficult,” says the rector of the temple, Priest Alexander Kichenko.
He admits that he does not yet count on serious financial assistance, including from outside. There are few parishioners at services in the St. Nicholas Anatolyevsky Church - from two to 20 people. On very large church holidays - up to 30 people. Many of those who began to engage in restoration have already died. Young people in Visim try not to linger and move to Nizhny Tagil or Yekaterinburg.
According to the rector, the number of people at services and, accordingly, income depend on seasonality: in winter, the parish budget goes into the red. The debts are then repaid due to the summer influx of people who come to Visim on vacation.
“Many who were born here come to be baptized or just to pray.
Our fellow countrywoman came to see me from Yekaterinburg. She confessed to me that she could not go to city churches, but here she felt calm. In big cities, the priest has a lot to do, the movement is fast, everything is in flux, and the parishioners do not receive much attention.
The abbot does not count on the appearance of sponsors. The priest explains his skepticism by the fact that his colleagues in large cities cannot always find financial support for the restoration of other destroyed churches. An example of this is the Assumption Church at VIZ in Yekaterinburg, the restoration of which has been going on since 2011. In addition, as priest Alexander Kichenko notes, the village residents themselves should feel involved in the restoration of the parish.
Priest Alexander Kichenko
“If a priest relies solely on sponsors, he may lose contact with his flock.”
St. George's Church is one of the youngest churches in Chelyabinsk. Construction was carried out from 1998 to 2009, mostly with donations from the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant. The townspeople took an active part in the construction of the temple.
Rising among the surrounding residential buildings, the red brick temple amazes at first glance with the grandeur and power that are so inherent in St. George the Victorious himself. The largest bell weighs about 3 tons, and the height of the central dome is 41 meters, thanks to which the beautiful ceremonial building can be seen from afar. For the residents of Chelyabinsk, this is not just a temple, but a sanctuary, the construction of which united them; the construction was carried out thanks to a large number of donations from ordinary residents and their labor.
Townspeople came to the construction site and helped the masons and other professionals, and some simply cooked lunch for everyone. St. George's Church can confidently be called the pride and dignity of the Metallurgical District of the city.
Kaptikov Anri Yurievich, favorite teacher of hundreds of students and graduates of UrGAKhA and Ural State University (UrFU). A man so passionate about architecture that with his lectures and unique sense of humor he awakened and awakens a passion for architecture in his listeners.
This issue contains five objects of temple architecture. And bonuses!
5 monuments from Anri Kaptikov:
1. Trinity Cathedral, Solikamsk. 1685 - 1697 Chronologically, this is not the very first stone building in the Urals, but it is with it that all Ural stone temple architecture begins. Style: patterned.
Bonuses:
For such a specialist as Anri Yuryevich, five monuments are very few. We don't limit the expert - so two more objects!
Kharitonov-Rastorguev Estate, Ekaterinburg. One of the most famous manor and park ensembles (not only in his hometown). The complex was built over 30 years - from 1794 to 1824. The future chief architect of the Ekaterinburg factories, Mikhail Malakhov, who was then gaining popularity, took part in the formation of its architectural appearance. The history of the estate is very rich, and even Wikipedia will tell you many interesting details.
Sevastyanov's House, Ekaterinburg. An amazing building, the architecture of which is a mix of many styles. It went down in history as the only example of neo-Gothic architecture in the Urals. Built at the beginning of the 19th century. in the then popular classical style, but already in the 1860s, when collegiate assessor Nikolai Ivanovich Sevastyanov became its owner, the house was completely rebuilt. Architect Alexander Ivanovich Paduchev helped the owner. According to one legend, Sevastyanov collected many drawings of buildings that he liked and asked the architect to collect all the beauty when decorating his new house. You can argue as much as you like about the architectural merits of Sevastyanov’s house, but Yekaterinburg is adorned with a truly rare example of the imagination of the customer and the architect.
The Ural Federal District was formed on May 13, 2000. It includes 6 subjects of the Russian Federation: 4 regions: Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Tyumen and 2 autonomous districts: Khanty-Mansiysk - Yugra, Yamalo-Nenets. The total area of the Ural Federal District is 1,788.9 thousand square meters. kilometers (almost 11% of the area of the Russian Federation).There are many temples, monasteries, churches and chapels in the cities of the Ural Federal District. For example, there are many churches in Yekaterinburg. Due to the multinational population, there are many representatives of different faiths here.
During the industrial development of the region, the development of capitalism and active colonization, quite a few different temples were built in the Urals. Of course, in the first place were the Orthodox churches of the Urals, which were built in mining settlements, Cossack villages of the Trans-Urals and Orenburg region, villages and hamlets scattered across the vast territory of the Ural Federal District. There were quite a few mosques in the Urals. Of course, capital stone structures were built in cities and large villages. During the years of Soviet power, most of the religious buildings in the Urals were looted and converted into other premises. Today, there are very few old churches left in the Urals, but those that remain are each of value, both historical and, in many ways, architectural. Many churches and temples in the Urals are being restored or rebuilt. In Yekaterinburg, there are 232 churches in which services are held, as well as 230 houses of prayer and house churches in Yekaterinburg, and another 59 communities that do not yet have their own premises, 29 chapels. The Ekaterinburg diocese has 6 male and 10 female monasteries. All churches in Yekaterinburg and the Urals as a whole have their own unique history and grandeur, which fascinates visitors and regular parishioners.
One of the oldest religious attractions of the Urals is the Novo-Tikhvin Convent, which is located in the city of Yekaterinburg on Green Grove Street, building 1. The Church of Yekaterinburg - “on the Blood in the name of All Saints”, in Russian land is one of the largest Orthodox churches in Russia. The temple building in Yekaterinburg was built on the site of the execution of the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II and his family in 2003. The church is a place of pilgrimage for believers from all over the world. Ganina Yama is an abandoned mine located a few kilometers from Yekaterinburg. The bodies of the king and his family were dumped into this mine. On this site in 1991, it was decided to build a monastery and seven churches, according to the number of those killed. In 2003, the last monastery church, the seventh in Yekaterinburg, was consecrated. The monks make a religious procession around the pit every evening.
Each temple in the Urals helps people to be closer to each other, to be able to sympathize and do good.
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