Description of the attraction
The majestic Cathedral of St. Theodora of Sikhla, located in the central part of the city of Chisinau, is a cathedral belonging to the Bessarabian Metropolitanate of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The building of a modern cathedral in a pseudo-Byzantine architectural style was erected back in 1895 as a chapel at the first female zemstvo gymnasium. The author of this work was the outstanding architect Alexander Bernardazzi. Two entrances near the main facade are decorated with two clearly visible ceremonial terraces with a limestone-shell colonnade.
The building is single-nave with three-part division. The dominant position was taken by an octagonal nave protruding beyond the wall, which is crowned with a high hipped roof and a dome. The first floor of the temple looks like an Old Russian porch, as for the second floor, it was made in the form of a chamber.
The temple is notable for its rich decoration. Its walls are built of two-tone limestone blocks. Particular attention is drawn to beautiful arched openings, powerful columns, cast-iron gratings and cornice. Onion-shaped domes along the drum perimeter, turrets crowning the facades, as well as the onion-shaped ceiling of the central dome - all this emphasizes the monumental significance of the building.
The temple, for the construction of which Princess Vyazemskaya donated money, until 1944 was subordinate to the Romanian Patriarchate and bore the name of Saint Theodore. During the period of militant atheism, the church was used as a gym, and then a museum of atheism was opened here. In 1974, during the restoration of the temple, the frescoes were destroyed and the church altar was laid with concrete.
The solemn consecration of the cathedral took place only in 1992. The revival of the church took place in 1993. In 1995, shortly before the 100th anniversary of the founding of the temple, it was re-painted by the specialist in fresco painting Georgy Yenakiev. The carved iconostasis for the cathedral was made by the famous master Vasily from Humulesti, and the local icon painter Yuri Lungu presented the church with icons for the iconostasis made in the same style.
