Dagestan Khasavyurt, along with many Russian cities, also boasts its magnificent Orthodox churches. One of the largest and most beautiful Orthodox churches in the North Caucasus, which is an architectural monument of the beginning of the 20th century of regional significance, is considered the Cathedral in the name of the Icon of the Sign of the Blessed Virgin, located on 121 Toturbieva Street. It was created in the Neo-Byzantine style, which gained popularity at the end of the 19th century. The rector of the church today is Priest Valery Galkin. He said that this temple became a prototype of the Istanbul Hagia Sophia, but only in a reduced form.
Holy Sign Cathedral (Khasavyurt)
This parish belongs to the deanery of the Makhachkala diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. The temple reaches a height of 45 meters and is named after the Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary “Sign”. It has an artistic symmetrical architecture, which is a huge and majestic cross-domed structure with nine domes towering in honor of the angelic ranks.
The Khasavyurt Znamensky Cathedral was built on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the reign of the Romanov kings. The anniversary celebration was subsequently celebrated by the royal family in 1913. This grandiose construction was entrusted to the engineer of the construction department of Dagestan A. Kovalev. The project with drawings was prepared by I. Ryabikin, deputy chief of the construction department. Despite the subtlety and complexity of the external architecture, the masonry work was carried out sequentially, quickly and on schedule.
Construction of the Znamensky Cathedral (Khasavyurt, Dagestan)
The cathedral was built by the Cossacks of the Tersky army from 1903 to 1904 with charity funds raised by the residents of the settlement and the Khasavyurt district. All necessary building material (stone, brick and ceramics) was procured on site.
The Znamensky Cathedral was built very quickly. Khasavyurt was preparing in all its glory to appear for the anniversary of the royal family. In the first years of construction, the temple sparkled with its splendor, as it had rich decoration, stucco molding and painting. But, like many temples of the country, he suffered a tragic fate. In 1939, in difficult times, the temple lost all its magnificent decoration, it was closed, and then given to warehouses of fuels and lubricants.
Times of destruction
But the most terrible blow for the Znamensky Cathedral was a fire due to the careless storage of fuel and lubricants in 1943. As a result of this tragic event, the entire interior was burned out, all wall paintings were destroyed.
In 1945, he was returned to believers who were able, in a short time, with their own forces to at least slightly tidy the temple and resume worship. During the Soviet period, the architecture of the ensemble of the cathedral was very badly damaged and the entire territory of the temple was built up. In the 90s, due to the outflow from Dagestan cities and regions of the Russian-speaking population, the number of parishioners in the church was significantly reduced.
Restoration
In 2015, work was completed on the study of cultural and historical information at the state level, which was necessary for the Khasavyurt Cathedral of 1903 to be registered as a cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation of regional significance. And at the same time, the process of transferring the church to federal ownership was completed. Then it was planned to create design estimates for the restoration work of the Znamensky Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Conclusion
And finally, in October 2016, the Dagestan authorities announced the beginning of the restoration of the cathedral. On the official website of the Committee on Freedom of Conscience and Interactions with Religious Organizations, it was reported that all the necessary preparatory work had already been completed. During it, agreed design documentation, a registration card was developed and received, photo-fixing of the monument was made.