Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Yalta)

 Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Yalta)

 

Location: Kirov Street

Tel. +380 654 321 616

 

Description of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky

The Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky was built in honor of the Russian Emperor Alexander II, who died at the hands of the Narodnaya Volya. On March 1, 1891, the tenth anniversary of the death of the emperor, Empress Maria Feodorovna participated in the laying of the first stone. The consecration of the cathedral took place on December 4, 1902 in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II, his family and entourage.

Two-tiered, with open galleries, the Yalta Cathedral is built in the Old Russian style and is decorated with numerous decorative elements: pilasters, palaces, portals, hearts, a hipped porch. The elegant look was given to it by white and pink tones. Next to the cathedral, a three-tiered bell tower was built, 11 bells for which were cast in Moscow. The icons for the cathedral were painted by masters from Mstera in the Vladimir province.

The interior was designed by architect S. P. Kroshechkin, the iconostasis, the dome and the walls were painted by the Kiev artist I. Murashko. The mosaic with the image of the holy Prince on the outside of the church was made by the students of the Venetian A. Salviati. The domes of the temple were covered with gold.

In 1938, the church was closed, the bells were sent for melting. A sports club was set up in the cathedral. In the post-war years, St. Luke (V. F. Voino-Yasenetsky) repeatedly served in the cathedral on major church holidays, and the rector, since the early 50s, was his appointed associate and friend, mitrophoric Archpriest Mikhail Semenyuk. The service, which was resumed during the Great Patriotic War, has not been interrupted since then.

 

History

The construction of the cathedral  of St. Alexander Nevsky was inextricably linked with the Russian imperial house, whose patron was considered to be Saint Alexander Nevsky. The cathedral was built in honor of the Russian Emperor Alexander II, who died at the hands of the People's Will.

The construction committee, established on March 1, 1890, was headed by the famous Yalta engineer and local historian A.L. Berthier-Delagarde. Large sums were donated by the noble townspeople B.V. Khvoschinsky and I.F.Tokmakov, a plot of land was donated by Baron A.L. Wrangel. The architects were N.P. Krasnov and P.K. Terebenev, whose project was personally approved by the Emperor Alexander III.

Empress Maria Feodorovna took part in laying the first stone on March 1, 1891, on the day of the tenth anniversary of the death of the emperor. The consecration of the cathedral took place on December 4, 1902, in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II, his family and retinue.

Two-tiered, with open galleries, the Yalta Cathedral was built in the neo-Russian style and is decorated with numerous decorative elements: pilasters, icon cases, portals, hearts, and a hipped porch. White and pink tones gave it an elegant look. A three-tiered bell tower was built next to the cathedral, 11 bells for which were cast in Moscow. The icons for the cathedral were painted by craftsmen from Mstera in the Vladimir province.

The interior was designed by the architect S.P. Kroshechkin, the iconostasis, dome and walls were painted by the Kiev artist I.Murashko. The mosaic with the image of the holy prince on the outside of the church was made by the disciples of the Venetian A. Salviati. The domes of the temple were covered with gold.

Next to the cathedral in the style of an old Russian tower, a church house was built by the architect M.I.Kotenkov. In 1908, the construction of a three-story building was completed, which housed a parish school in honor of Tsarevich Alexei, a shelter for tuberculosis patients, a meeting room for the Alexander Nevsky brotherhood.

The Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Brotherhood was engaged in charitable activities, the organization of parish schools and missionary activities, and during the First World War also helped the wounded and set up hospitals and sanatoriums.

The first rector of the cathedral, which became the favorite temple of the Yalta people, was A. Ya. Ternovsky, who had previously served at the Yalta church of St. John Chrysostom.

“On August 20, 1923, Archpriest Sergiy Bazhenov and Archbishop Alexander Vvedensky, authorized by the Renovationist Church, arrived in Yalta, accompanied by an agent of the Simferopol department of the GPU. They proposed to transfer to the disposal of the Renovationist Church the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which had been transferred by registration approved by the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the Crimean Republic on July 25, 1923 under No. 5 to the Alexander Nevsky religious community. A subscription was taken from representatives of the community to keep the conversation held secret, but they did not obey this requirement as illegal. Then Bazhenov made a provocative statement that all those who recognize the Patriarch are counterrevolutionaries, from the point of view of state power, the only acceptable church is the Renovationist Church, therefore, all others that do not even commemorate the Patriarch are counterrevolutionary, and threatened with reprisals. Half an hour later, the rector of the Yalta Cathedral (after the refusal to hand it over to A. Vvedensky) was summoned to the Yalta department of the GPU, and 3 days later - all the rest of the Yalta clergy, who were charged with commemorating Tikhon and sending him an address with a greeting about joining the administration of the Church ".

In 1938 the temple was closed, the bells were sent for melting. A sports club was set up in the cathedral, and the Teacher's House in the school building.

Divine services in the cathedral were resumed in 1942, after the establishment of the German administration in Crimea. After the liberation of Crimea, the temple was registered as actually operating.

The premises of the parish school were returned only almost half a century later; since 1995 there has been a general education school and about 100 children study there.

In the 1990s, high-altitude work on the domes of the Temple was carried out by a team of industrial climbers led by the famous Soviet mountaineer and mine rescuer, a resident of Alushta, Elvira Nasonova.