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CHURCHES IN CHEBOKSARY, THE PRESENTATION CATHEDRAL

Cheboksary is famous for its numerous marvelous churches. There used to be 25 churches and 4 monasteries, all of them represented examples of ancient Slavonic architecture.

Nowadays we admire the wonderful Holy Trinity Monastery and the Saviour Transfiguration Convent. The Holy Trinity Monastery was founded by the order of Ivan the Terrible in 1565-66. The monastery originally had both religious and protecting meaning. Nowadays it occupies rather a big territory on the bank of the Volga River. It is one of the oldest constructions in the city. The Saviour Transfiguration Convent was founded in 1716. From 1991 The Saviour Transfiguration Convent is situated on Vladimirskaya Hill. Two churches are located on its territory: the Saviour Transfiguration Church and the Church of Ioann Kronshtadtsky. The latter one was based at the beginning of the 20^th century. It was the tomb of the merchant Yefremov. In 1926 the church was closed and opened only in 1991.

Not far from the Holy Trinity Monastery you will see the Dormition Church. It is a unique two-storied temple, founded in 1763. It was one of the richest churches in Cheboksary. In 1920s it was closed for praying. In 1930s its belfry served as a fire tower and for nearly 60 years the church was housing the Museum of Regional Studies. In 1977, while preparing the zone of the present bay for flooding, the ground floor was covered up with earth. In 1993 the church opened for a divine service. Basically, the building attracts attention by the variety of architectural details. The main relic of the temple is the icon made by U. A. Bubnov which is called An inexhaustible Cup.

The Michael-Archangel Church is one of the oldest buildings in the city. It was erected in 1702 in Sobornaya Street (now K. Ivanov Street) and was one of the best churches in those days. Its belfry had 9 bells. The largest one weighted 120 poods. In 1927-1929 the church belfry and fence were demolished. In 1996 it opened again and now it is a temple of the Spiritual school. The Church has 5 domes. Its peculiarity is that it has only 2 pillars inside (instead of 4 as a rule).

The Resurrection Church was built in 1758. It is simply composed. It has one big dome and two small ones. It has a belfry. The Church did not function from 1941 to 1990.

One of the youngest churches is the Church of Nativity. It was built in 1999 on the initiative of the president of the Chuvash Republic N. Fyodorov to commemorate the 2000th anniversary of Christianity. The project was presented by Moscow mayor Luzhkov. The money for the construction was donated by Chuvash and Moscow entrepreneurs.

The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin – Saint Tatiana the Martyr’s Temple is the youngest in Cheboksary. It was built and consecrated in 2006 by the Metropolitan of Cheboksary and Chuvashia Varnava with the participation of the President of Chuvashia N. Fyodorov. If you want to put out a candle for studying, you can go to Saint Tatiana the Martyr’s Temple. Besides, children are christened in that temple.

Nowadays on the territory of a former fortress you will find a number of historical buildings of the 17-18^th centuries. Among them there is the first stone building in Cheboksary - the Presentation Cathedral. It is the most typical example of Russian church architecture. Built in the 17^th century it looks fine and sparkles with its gold dome and snow-white walls.

We can not tell much about the former interior of the Cathedral today. The holy of holies was the Icon of the Virgin of Vladimir. The iconostasis with its small icons was not large. There were some valuable icons there. Among the things there were a lot of wooden crowns, a silver carved statue of an angel holding a coffer containing the saints' relics. But none of the things were preserved. Everything was taken by the great fire of 1649 that ruined almost the whole of the town.

A new wooden cathedral was to be built instead of the burnt one. But the Metropolitan of Kazan Simon (Serbsky, 1646-1649) suggested that there should be a stone cathedral - for the first time in the history of the town. Brick, earth and stone were used as the building material. The Temple was built by the brigades of local stonemasons under the Nizhniy Novgorod specialists. The Cheboksary Cathedral is a temple with a separate belfry. The cathedral is domed by five silver cupolas on large drums.

Many visitors come to Cheboksary with a special purpose to see our beautiful churches and cathedrals. They are really worth seeing.