Towering in the old part of Krasnoyarsk, not far from the banks of the greatest Siberian river Yenisei, the church, built and consecrated in honor of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the oldest and most famous building in the city. Returned after many decades of desecration to the Orthodox community, today it has taken its rightful place among the leading spiritual centers of Siberia.
The disaster that befell the city
Located in Central Siberia, Krasnoyarsk from time immemorial was built almost exclusively from wood - the benefit of this material was supplied by the taiga surrounding it in abundance. But the cheap and easy-to-process material had a significant drawback - it caught fire at the first negligence with fire. For centuries, this natural property of his has become the cause of fires that destroyed entire cities in Russia.
Krasnoyarsk was no exception. The terrible fire that happened in it at the end of May 1773 destroyed most of the city buildings, including a number of administrative buildings (also wooden), churches and dwellings of citizens. The governor’s house, wine and powder cellars were turned into a pile of ash. Killed in the fire and built here in the middle of the XVII century, the small Church of the Intercession.
Krasnoyarsk, barely recovering from the misfortune that befell him, began to rebuild, and, in order to avoid a repetition of what had happened, the strictest instruction was received from the capital: henceforth, erect administrative buildings exclusively from stone. As for the churches of God, it was forbidden to build them out of wood - the Holy Synod notified Krasnoyarsk about this with a special circular .
City Governor Report
It is well known that it is easy to indicate and prohibit, but what to do if there is not a single bricklayer throughout the city, and bricks have not been made here for centuries? Only the city governor Semyon Polymsky reacted to the metropolitan directive promptly, but very peculiarly. At public expense, he hired craftsmen in Yeniseisk, from there he wrote out all the necessary material and built himself a stone mansion, albeit one-story, but spacious and spacious. Having finished the matter, the voivode reported to the capital that he had fulfilled all the requirements, which inexpressibly pleased Petersburg officials.
Unfortunate undertaking
However, his initiative was not picked up by fellow countrymen. Imported brick was expensive, and the new bricklayers broke prices at exorbitant prices. So the city was rebuilt in the old fashioned way - axes were knocking everywhere, and the smell of fresh pine tar was replacing the cinder of the recent conflagration. The Church of the Intercession was restored.
Krasnoyarsk, as you know, is thousands of miles away from the capital, which is why the parishioners dared to turn to the Tobolsk archbishop Varlaam with a request to condescend to their wretchedness and to allow again to cut down the wooden church. They promised to build in such a way that later, if God's will (and money) would be there, they would lay a stone temple next to it.
Vladyka of Tobolsk entered their position and in September 1774 gave his permission. The new wooden church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary was laid in the same year, but her fate was sad. Upon completion of construction, it was renamed twice, three times transferred from place to place, until, finally, in 1792 it burned down, sharing the fate of its predecessor.
Stone Temple - the whole world
But even before this unfortunate event happened, the pious Krasnoyarsk people preoccupied themselves with the erection of the very stone building that Archbishop Varlaam had written about at the time. A new, this time stone Pokrovskaya church (Krasnoyarsk) was built the way it was established from ancient times - by the whole world.
From the archival materials that have reached us, it is clear that the residents of three hundred twenty-two courtyards located both in the city itself and in its environs became voluntary donors. The position of the “church builder,” that is, the head of all the work, was entrusted to a retired official, nobleman Mikhail Stepanovich Yushkov, who came from an ancient Cossack family.
And again the Yenisei masters
Having taken up his duties, Mikhail Stepanovich faced with problems traditional for Krasnoyarsk - the lack of masons and the material necessary for their work in the city. Again, as in the recent past, the Yenisei craftsmen were invited, and again the carts with bricks reached Krasnoyarsk. Arriving at the place, the craftsmen brought with them a ready-made construction plan, the model of which was the Trinity Church erected in Yeniseisk in 1726.
The construction of the stone church began with the fact that in February 1785 the necessary territory was cleared by the military team in the place where the voivode’s office was located (today, the corner of Prospect Mira and Surikova Street), on which they started digging a foundation pit.
True People's Democracy
Further, a rather interesting picture of the powers that the parish world had at that time, that is, ordinary people, at whose expense the church was built, emerges from the same archival sources. It turns out that it was they who, by a majority vote, approved the project for the future construction, all the manufacturers had to report to them for every penny spent and provide them with a cost estimate. Through their trusted parishioners, they had the opportunity to monitor the overall progress of work and make changes to it. That is, everything was extremely transparent.
It is curious that even at the beginning of construction, the diocesan authorities wished that the Church of the Intercession (Krasnoyarsk), contrary to the original plan, be renamed Epiphany. This issue was put to a universal vote (referendum), and after the parish world insisted on the former name by a majority of votes, the Tobolsk bishops could not do anything. The explanation is simple - the construction goes on public money, and only the people have the right to decide how and what they will be spent on.
National construction
But the role of citizens was not limited to donations and participation in parish meetings. Everyone helped as he could. Those who had their own horse-drawn vehicles delivered brick and sand, brought barrels of water. Those who did not have horses carried out feasible auxiliary work or guarded building materials. In those years there was no expression “nationwide construction”, but the whole people built the Pokrovskaya church.
The construction was completed in 1795, at the same time the solemn consecration of the church took place. She stood for half a century before additional work was carried out, as a result of which the Intercession Church in Krasnoyarsk (the description of the building of those years was preserved in the archive) took its present form.
The result of common work
Today, as in those years, the church’s composition is based on the longitudinal east – west axis, at the beginning of which there is a semicircular altar, and then the building’s four squares, refectory and bell tower. Such a layout is traditional for the temple buildings of Central Russia and the Urals, erected in the XVII-XVIII centuries, and is called "boat". The original design of the Intercession Church are only warm, heated side aisles.
The three-windowed, or, as it is customary to say, “three-light” temple building is crowned with an octagonal multi-tiered tower, which carries an additional drum, completed with an onion tetrahedral cupola. At the corners of the temple are the same, but slightly reduced drums, which is typical for the Moscow style of the five domes. On the west side is an octagonal two-tier bell tower, ending with a small glaucus. The undoubted decoration of the temple is the decorative design of the facades, always solid and unusually saturated.
Ordeals of the Soviet era
Today, the Intercession Church in Krasnoyarsk, whose history has more than two centuries, is reopened after a long break. In the twenties, despite the complexity of the situation in the country, the church remained operational until the beginning of the thirties, when it was finally closed and handed over to one of the military units. But in October 1945, services in it resumed and continued until the Khrushchev anti-religious campaign of the early sixties.
On the wave of perestroika
As you know, in the nineties, as a result of perestroika in the country, the active process of returning temple buildings to their former parish communities began. Among others was the Intercession Church. The temples of Krasnoyarsk needed urgent repair and restoration. As in previous years, funds for the implementation of these works were collected by the whole world. After their completion and solemn consecration, the church received the status of a city cathedral.
Pokrovskaya church in Krasnoyarsk: address and telephone
Gradually forcibly interrupted religious life in it has returned to its previous course. Today the Intercession Church (Krasnoyarsk), whose address is: st. Surikova, 26, united around itself the largest number of parishioners in the diocese. It often hosts bishop services, to which residents of not only other districts, but also numerous suburban villages gather. You can learn about them in advance by calling: +7 (391) 212 33 95. For those wishing to use the services of the postal service, we also indicate the postal code: 660049.
The ancient fresco, accidentally discovered in 2008 during the restoration of the arched vault, enjoys universal respect, dating, according to experts, to the end of the 18th century and containing an image of one of the patronal festivals. It has been restored and has now become one of the other attractions that the Pokrovskaya Church (Krasnoyarsk) is famous for.
Reviews of numerous tourists who visited it, very eloquently testify to the fact that this temple, which has risen from oblivion, did not leave anyone indifferent. Many note that it was under his arches that they came to feel a connection with God, which is the main goal of religion. It is only important to direct your thoughts in the right direction. This will help everyone who came to Krasnoyarsk Pokrovskaya Church. Address, telephone and zip code are indicated in the article.