Description of the attraction
One of the architectural sights of Sukhumi is the Annunciation Cathedral. It is a classic, cruciform in plan structure, crowned with domes, made in the neo-Byzantine architectural style. The temple was built at the expense of the Greek Orthodox community in the period from 1909 to 1915.
Initially, the temple was consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and before the start of the Great Patriotic War it was popularly referred to as the Greek St. Nicholas Church. After the war, the temple received a new, higher status - cathedral, and consecrated in honor of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, hence its abbreviated popular name - Annunciation. But St. Nicholas was not forgotten in this church and his name is revered in the newly built (in 1980) aisle.
In connection with the expansion of the parish in the 80s of the last century, under the leadership of Metropolitan David, the church building was reconstructed and overhauled. Several side outbuildings have been completed, the adjacent territory has been landscaped, a side-altar in honor of Nicholas the Wonderworker has been erected and consecrated. With the beginning of the new century, to the centenary of the temple, in 2010, significant repair and restoration work was carried out. One of the main gifts for the faithful for the anniversary was the gilded central dome of the cathedral, made by Chelyabinsk craftsmen. Its bright reflections can be enjoyed not only by parishioners, but also by sailors in the roadstead of the Sukhumi bay.
Today the Annunciation Cathedral is the main cathedral of the Pitsunda and Sukhum-Abkhazian Diocese of the Georgian Orthodox Church. The service in the cathedral is conducted in four languages: Old Church Slavonic, Abkhazian, Greek and Georgian.
