St. Sophia's Cathedral in Pushkin: the schedule of services, the route of travel

The present city of Pushkin was once called Tsarskoye Selo. It was an imperial residence, around which a settlement had grown up. In January 1780, to regulate the outgrowing settlement, a royal decree was issued, which established a new city, called Sophia. He became the center of the homonymous district. Here there was an administration led by the governor, a magistrate, a town hall.

Since in Tsarskoe Selo it was forbidden to build houses, merchants, bureaucrats and clergy were resettled in Sofia. Empress Catherine ordered to hold a water pipe there. The city was divided into regular squares with a large square in the center. Near the first built a wooden church, named after the saints Helen and Constantine, and as early as 1788 a stone church was erected, which today is proud of the city of Pushkin.

Sophia Cathedral

How to reach it to tourists, will show any townspeople. I must say that a lot of people come here every day to admire this architectural monument, which is considered one of the most important objects of the cultural heritage of our country. Initially, the St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkino was conceived as a center, which was to become the architectural dominant of the town. Later the settlement, in the middle of which it rises, was annexed to Tsarskoe Selo. Under the arches of this beautiful church, Pushkin and Lermontov prayed at one time, here Suvorov and Kutuzov, many outstanding artists, scientists and composers, bowed their knees. Almost all famous foreigners who came to the city of Pushkin have visited here. St. Sophia Cathedral, the second name of which is Voznesensky, literally at all made an indelible impression.

History of creation

In 1780, when the city of Sofia was founded, for a short time became a district in the St. Petersburg province, there was no temple in it. Therefore, a temporary wooden church was built. But in the summer of 1782, in the presence of Empress Catherine, a solemn laying of the stone cathedral was made. The architect of the project was the architect C. Cameron. Soon another well-known architect - Starov joined him.

St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkino was built for six years. In 1788, his consecration took place. Archpriest Samborsky became the rector. The temple main chapel was consecrated in honor of Sofia, and the other two - respectively, the saints Constantine and Helen and Alexander Nevsky. Until 1845, the cathedral was considered a surrender church of the Order of St. Vladimir.

Chronicle

In 1817, the current St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkin, by a royal decree, was transferred to the hussar regiment stationed nearby. A field church was established in its central side-chapel. Officers of the regiment in 1836 presented the cathedral framed in a silver gilded salary icon of its patron Saint Paul the Confessor. She was installed in a kiot at the left choir in the central side-chapel.

In 1833, in honor of the reorganization of the regiment, the temple image of Saint Julian of Tarsus was painted on a cypress board with a silver-tinted salary. It was kept in the cathedral for over sixty years.

It is known that in 1849-1850 in the church there were exhibited new iconostases, the project of which was made by Cernik. At the same time, there is no information about the very first in the annals. One of the new ones was a tall multi-tiered iconostasis - a sample of art, which, according to its artistic components, was among the best in the capital and its suburbs. It was painted white and trimmed with gilding. In today's cathedral there are only copies of the iconostasis located here.

Catherine II gave the church a silver panic. It weighed more than eighty-five kilograms. On the day of the consecration of the cathedral the empress brought the cross and church utensils. However, in 1812, the Gospels with candlesticks, vessels, a water-bowl and wedding crowns at Napoleon's attack on St. Petersburg were transferred to the Resurrection Church at the Catherine Palace. In 1903, Nicholas II granted the Cathedral with exact replicas of those liturgical objects, which St. Sophia Cathedral received as a gift. In Pushkin, baptism, marriage and other rites are held today with them.

Architectural solutions

St. Sophia's Cathedral in Pushkin is a successful combination of forms and proportions of classicism and traditions of Russian canons. In terms of it it is a square. Outside, this monument is crowned with five domes, mounted on cylindrical low drums.

The Cathedral of St. Sophia in Pushkino on the facades is decorated with porticos of the Doric order. These monumental four-columned architectural elements are covered with pediments, which give the church a very solemn appearance. Its central and largest dome is very unusual. Inside it is built a second, smaller in size.

However, it is famous for such a beautiful temple and, accordingly, the dome is not only the city of Pushkin. Sophia Cathedral of Constantinople also has a similar architectural solution. However, in it this dome is not supported by the second drum.

Interior

The architects divided the inner space of the cathedral with four pylons and eight columns made of polished granite and decorated with ionic gilded capitals. Several of them have been damaged in the fire. The capitals with pillar bases are completely covered with gilding.

Initially, the temple was only one throne - the Ascension of the Lord. But several decades later, the left, the north, and the soon and the right - in the honor of St. Alexander Nevsky was consecrated.

Simplicity - this is the decoration of the Sophia Cathedral in Pushkino. How to get there, you can find out from the tourist guidebook, or you can just ask the local residents who will show you where this architectural monument is. The walls of the temple were originally painted inside in light colors, and the window frames were once framed by gilded ornamental rods. At the moment, the interior is made in white, and the ornament is completely absent.

Until 1849, inside the cathedral, above the branch of the Tahitian water conduit, there was a well covered with iron bars, but after major repairs, he, like the second, arranged in the courtyard, was destroyed.

Comparative comparison

The similarity that the St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkin has with its Constantinopolitan counterpart is also in the interior. This is expressed in the central dome, made by the type of "freely soaring," and in the unusual black and red color of all eight columns of granite, and so on.

Explicit features of his famous prototype - Constantinople - the cathedral has in its external appearance. The first thing that immediately catches everyone's eye is its central dome with numerous large windows. It can not be said that there is an unambiguous copying. According to some historians of architecture, Sofia Constantinople looks like a heap of stone with a brick, as it was erected, following the principle of conscious abandonment of the external image. Whereas the Tsarskoe Selo temple is built in the strict style of Russian mature classicism - with four-columned porticos and topped with five domes. It is in simplicity and in harmony of the forms and proportions that beauty, which excites the St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkin.

Service Schedule

As the temple is functioning, worship services are held daily. On weekdays, at eight thirty, confession begins, and at nine in the morning - a liturgy. Evening services begin at five in the evening. On holidays, weekends and Sundays, the liturgy can be visited at ten in the morning, and confession at nine thirty.

Sunday School

St. Sophia's Cathedral (Pushkin) is an active temple with its traditions that have developed over the centuries. The church operates a Sunday school, which is enjoyed not only by children, but also by their parents. For small parishioners, various circles work here - music, drawing, English, etc. For adults, Catechism classes are taught-teaching the basics of faith, and beginners attend Bible study lessons.

Since the cathedral was once a regimental, it still cooperates with the military educational institutions located in Pushkin. It is in its walls that cadets take the oath, prayers are arranged here.

At Christmas, a real field kitchen is being set up near the walls of the cathedral , which feeds all comers.

How to get there?

Arriving in the former Tsarskoe Selo, many tourists must express a desire to see the St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkin. How to get to it, everyone knows. It occupies almost the entire, with a few exceptions, the same area of the city.

From Vitebsk railway station it is possible to reach the station "Pushkinskaya" by metro. There you can also take a train and drive to the city of Pushkino. Then on
At the station square, take buses 188, 378 or 381 to the bus stop "ul. The Hussar. " From there you can walk to the Sophia Cathedral.