Yekaterinburg is a city with a rich history. Sometimes its pages were stained with blood. In the village there are many temples, cathedrals. In some areas of the city, golden crosses and church tops are visible from everywhere. In the Ural capital, you can count more than one hundred buildings belonging to the Orthodox diocese, there are also Catholic cathedrals and mosques.
Most famous temple
Everyone knows the fact that it was in the Ural capital that the imperial family was deported after arrest. And here, in the basement of the engineer Ipatiev’s house, Nikolay II, his wife and children were shot. For many years, an investigation has been conducted into all the circumstances of their death and the search for a burial place.
When listing the temples of Yekaterinburg, it’s worth starting with one of the most famous ones - the Temple on Blood, located on Tolmachev Street, 34. It was erected on the site of the notorious Ipatiev House, in which the royal family was executed in 1918. For a long time there was a wasteland on which construction was not carried out. Even in the Soviet period, no one dared to build a sinister site.
The public has repeatedly appealed to the city authorities with a request to build a temple on this site as a sign of repentance and a reminder of the terrible events when seven members of the royal family were shot, including the young heirs to the throne.
The temple itself was erected on a hillock, which makes it seem like a staircase leads to heaven. The height of the building is 60 meters, and the total area is 3 thousand square meters. m. Swirls of people come here daily to touch history and pray. There is a museum at the temple that tells about the last days of the Romanov family. In the courtyard there is a monument depicting a family descending into the basement to the place of execution.
The place of finding the remains
In the village of Shuvakish to the Ganina pit , the bodies of members of the royal family were taken and dumped into the mine. It was here that, after many years, the remains were found and exhumed. For a long time, people were afraid to approach this place, but in 1991 a cross was erected. Later, a temple and a monastery were built. Now seven churches are erected on the territory of the complex - according to the number of killed members of the royal family.
Not only Orthodox pilgrims flock to these temples of Yekaterinburg, but also everyone who wants to see the last refuge of the royal family.
Patriarchal Compound
In the immediate vicinity of the Temple on Blood, the Patriarchal Compound is located. On its territory there is a small but very cozy temple of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (Yekaterinburg). Outside, the church is built of stone, and inside it is decorated with wood, which creates an atmosphere of warmth and comfort. It is located at the following address: 3/1 Yasnaya Street.
In Yekaterinburg, there is another church bearing the name of St. Nicholas, located on Kuibyshev Street, 39. Its history began with an orphanage, opened in 1857. A decade later, a large two-story building for orphans was built. On the second floor, it was originally planned to equip a home church.
But after the revolution, the building changed its owners and activity. Only in 2003, the team of the USMU, which at that time owned the building, began rebuilding the church at the expense of teachers and trustees. On November 23, 2006, domes were consecrated and installed. Since then, it is considered the Temple of Miners of Russia. The building is not much different in appearance from the surrounding buildings, built in a single architectural style. Only domes and crosses remind of participation in Orthodoxy.
Oldest church
One of the oldest is the Ascension Church. Yekaterinburg is its location. The shrine was laid in the spring of 1770, and already in September it was consecrated. It was a small wooden church, which after three decades fell into disrepair. Parishioners asked to build a stone church in a sanctified place, which was done in 1789.
The building was repeatedly rebuilt and expanded. Before the revolution, there were 6 chapels in the temple. In 1926 the church was closed. Until 1991, the museum worked there. But at the end of the twentieth century, he was returned to the church, and now there are services. Address: Klara Zetkin street, 11.
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
The Temple of Alexander Nevsky (Yekaterinburg) can be found at: Green Grove, 1. It belongs to the Novo-Tikhvin Nunnery. Initially, he was assigned cathedral status. It was laid in 1838. According to the architectural style refers to classicism. The construction took ten years.
There are three chapels in the temple, one of which contained cancer with the relics of 19 saints. After the revolution, the monastery was liquidated, and the shrine was closed and converted into a warehouse. The old cemetery around the church was demolished. In the early 90's, the first floor was returned to the parishioners, and in 1994 a monastery began to operate.
The first post-revolutionary temple
In 1996, on September 30, a significant event took place in the life of Orthodox believers in the Ural capital. On Mashinostroiteley Street, 4a, the first church was laid since the revolution. It was the Temple of the Nativity, which Ekaterinburg can be proud of. In January 1999, a grand opening and the first service were made.
In the main aisle, every believer can attach themselves to the cancer with fragments of the relics of forty saints, including the Apostles Paul and Matthew, Tikhon Zadonsky, Optina Elders. Here you can also pray with ancient icons or ask for intercession from the Matrona of Moscow.
Now the parish of this temple is the largest in the city. The church has a society of nurses who help hospitals, nursing homes, and children's homes. Active work is also being carried out within the walls of the church: there is a Sunday school for children and a youth club for teenagers. Everyone can try to learn church singing in specially organized courses.
Temple of the Seven Keys
The need to build a temple in the Sortirovochny microdistrict matured when the population grew to 50 thousand. Two house churches could not cope with the increased number of parishioners. The parish at the church of the Vladimir Icon has existed for more than 14 years. Initially, it was founded in a nursing home with the assistance of the director of this institution and with the blessing of the patriarch. Now the services are held in the new church at the address: 3 Shuvakishskaya street.
The temple of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God (Yekaterinburg) was built from a cylindrical beam. Five golden domes crown it, the main of which ascended to a height of 16 meters.
The new temple is located in the village of Seven Keys, in the north-west of Yekaterinburg. To date, a whole complex of wooden structures has been erected: a church, a belfry and a chapel. A well has been drilled, from which a key with clear water beats from a depth of 50 meters. The spring was consecrated, and people from all over the city come for healing water.
The parishioners and the abbot are actively working, Sunday and Sunday schools for children and adults, a Relief Society and a library are operating, spiritual newspapers for children and adults are published. Ministers travel to the hospitals, boarding schools and dispensary for tuberculosis patients.
New temple
On Chkalov street, 244, already in the XXI century, the temple of Vladimir was built. Yekaterinburg is growing every year. As soon as the first high-rise buildings appeared in the vicinity, the question of building a church was raised. In July 2011, the consecration of the new house of God was held. The history of this temple has just begun. In the best traditions of Yekaterinburg Orthodoxy, the “Mercy Service” and Sunday school operate under him, where the children learn the basics of Christianity.
There are many active Orthodox churches in the Ural capital, but here they respect the representatives of other concessions. The temples of Yekaterinburg are diverse in architectural design, they have a different history. But each of them is a place where they come to pray, to venerate the shrines, to receive answers to questions.
Most congregations do charity work in the care of hospitals, boarding schools, and nursing homes. Temples of Yekaterinburg carry out educational work both with the younger generation and with adults.