Krestovozdvizhensky Cossack Cathedral on Ligovsky prospect .: history and description

The Holy Cross Cossack Cathedral in Ligovsky Ave began its history together with St. Petersburg and is one of the oldest temples of the city.

Rovesnik of Petersburg

At the dawn of the construction of St. Petersburg, the current Ligovsky Prospect was called the Novgorod tract. It was a busy road connecting the new city with all of Russia, there were no other ways. By order of Peter the Great, coachmen were sent from Moscow to Petersburg for further work. Like any working people, they settled in one place, forming Yamskaya Sloboda on the bank of the Black River (Ligovoi), near the Novgorod road. Soon, next to the village, one of the first cemeteries of St. Petersburg was formed.

The estate did not have its own church and therefore it was decided to build a small chapel in the cemetery. The names of some builders of the wooden church - Vasily Fedotov, Pyotr Kusov and their comrades - have survived. The temple was built in the spirit of Peter's architecture in 1718, and consecrated in honor of the birth of John the Baptist in 1719. The belfry to the church was built in 1723, it was equipped with four bells taken from the cannon yard, where they were previously sent for melting to weapons by the decree of the tsar.

The wooden church did not last long, in 1730 it completely burned out. A year later the chapel was built in the same place. She was bought at the Okhta plant and assembled in a new place, in the same year it was consecrated, giving the status of a church. By 1734 the Nikolsky chapel was built, which since 1743 was used by the Life Guards Kirassir Regiment.

Stone temple

The Holy Cross Cossack Cathedral (on Ligovsky Ave) has several previous temples. When in 1740 it became clear that the church needs repair and renovation, parishioners and the church's clergy appealed to the church administration to build a stone church.

A new one-story church was consecrated in the summer of 1748 in honor of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord. The northern side-chapel is dedicated to Saint Nicholas, and the western chapel is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Above the western porch of the church towered the bell tower. There was no heating in the church, which made services difficult in the cold season. This served as the occasion for a new appeal to the Holy Synod, the clergy asked on the site of a dilapidated wooden church to build a warm winter temple, and his petition was granted.

Tikhvin Church

Krestovozdvizhensky Cathedral (St. Petersburg) at the end of the 18th century has just begun to get its shape. The construction of a warm temple, for the most part, was financed by merchant I. Ilyin. The laying of the Tikhvin temple was done behind the altarpiece of the Kreshestvizhenskaya church in 1764. Both churches in their architecture were, in fact, identical.

Tikhvin Church was consecrated in December 1768. In 1800, the chapel in the name of John Chrysostom was consecrated, the patron of which was the merchant I. Menshoy. Another chapel was added in 1861, it was consecrated in honor of Prince Alexander Nevsky.

Belltower and rebuilding of temples

The Holy Cross Cossack Cathedral (on Ligovsky Ave.) received a bell tower in 1812. Two chapels enter the bell tower complex, sculptures of the Apostles Peter and Paul are located in the niches. Its height reaches almost 60 meters. In the upper part there are plaster images of eight Apostles, in the lower part of the image are the images of the four Apostles. The third tier of the bell tower served as the location of twelve bells.

In 1872, under the arches of the bell tower, by the efforts of the merchant Shigalev in memory of his deceased wife, a temple was built in honor of Saints Cyril and Methodius. It was consecrated in 1878. Almost a century after the construction of the Krestvizvizhenskaya church and the Tikhvin temple, they demanded repair. According to the project of the architect V. Morgan, the restructuring was to connect both buildings and become an analogue of St. Isaac's Cathedral, the capacity of the new church was supposed to be 2,500 people.

The project was not implemented for one reason - the area where the church stood for a long time had ceased to be a suburb, there were many parishioners living there, and it was impossible to leave them without a temple. At the first stage, the Tikhvin Church underwent an expansion, as a result of works it became wider by almost nine meters, the length increased due to the porch, arches appeared in the walls. Also, there were added utility rooms - a lodge, a sacristy. After the reconstruction of the Tikhvin temple, there was no money left to finance the next stage of construction work, so they preferred to get permission to erect a new cathedral.

The new Holy Cross Cossack Cathedral (on Ligovsky Ave.) was begun to build in the spring of 1848, the interior decoration works were completed in the winter of 1851, consecrated in honor of the Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord in early December 1851. The chapel of the Nativity of St. John the Forerunner was consecrated in June 1852, the second chapel, dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, was consecrated on June 8.

After the revolution

The Cossack Holy Cross Cathedral got its full name thanks to the Life Guards and Ataman Regiments as far back as the 19th century. церковь. Most of the military of these regiments were from Cossack families and all temples of St. Petersburg preferred the temple of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God or the Restoration of the Church.

After the events of 1917, both churches operated for some time in the traditional framework. The Tikhvin church was closed in 1932, and the building was placed under the school building, and in the forties under the arches of the former church there were workshops of the radio technical school. The Cyril and Methodius church ceased its work in 1938. During this period, the threat of destruction over the Tikhvin Church, according to the deputy decision of the Lensovet. The situation saved the appeal of the Leningrad branch of "Soyuzprokata" about the transfer of the temple for use as a film storage facility, the request was granted.

During the war, the temple was partially destroyed by an artillery shell. In the siege of winter the dead were taken to the church by the Leningraders, their bodies were buried in the Volkov cemetery in the spring .

Revival

The Cossack Cross Exaltation Cathedral was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1991. The first cross was mounted on the ancient bell tower three weeks after the transfer of the church to the parishioners, and a general prayer was held in the church of Cyril and Methodius on May 24, 1991. By the time of the transfer of the premises, the churches were in a deplorable state: the dome was dismantled, the inner room was divided into two floors, where heavy industrial machines were standing, the outer walls had long required new plaster.

Cleaning and the first stage of the restoration were completed by the Trinity holiday in 1993, and the first temple worship was performed at the same time. Patron of all works was Yu.L. Petrov, thanks to his participation, the Cross Exaltation Cossack Cathedral on Ligovsky Prospect was reopened. The history of the temple is almost three hundred years old and many shocks, but today it is a consolation to many people and also has its purpose.

Reviews

Restoration work, begun in 2008, continues to this day. During this time, the historical appearance of the bell tower was restored, gilding of the dome was obtained, work on the roof was started. Today every believer or connoisseur of St. Petersburg architecture can come to the cathedral. On the territory of the church in 2002 a monument to Nicholas II was erected and Petrogradians cherished the memory of the last tsar of Russia. In 2001, the southern aisle of the church was consecrated in honor of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers.

One of the dominants of Ligovsky Prospekt is the Holy Cross Cathedral (St. Petersburg). Visitors' reviews tell about the unusual beauty of the temple, the unusual architecture, where the belltower is united by a gallery with two chapels, and the inner courtyard is filled with peace and quiet, shines with the ancient St. Petersburg architecture, respect for history and attention to modern life.

The regrets in the reviews only concern the slow progress of restoration work. Many people say that the location of the temple away from hiking trails makes it interesting for fans of non-trivial walks in St. Petersburg.