Description of the attraction
The Cathedral of the Icon of the Mother of God of the Sign in the city of Kemerovo is an architectural monument, a functioning Orthodox church, the history of which began in 1947. It was in that year that the first Znamenskaya Church in Kemerovo was registered, assigned to the ROC community. A small-sized wooden church building was located in the central part of the city, where the central square is now located at the administration of the Central District.
Twelve years later, namely in December 1960, the church suffered the sad fate of most of the religious buildings on the territory of the Soviet Union. During the next stage of the struggle against religion, the ROC community was deregistered, and the building of the Church of the Sign was demolished for the subsequent development of the city center. Since then, parishioners have had the opportunity to visit only one surviving church on the right bank of the Tom River - the Nikolsky Church.
Historical events of the 1980s allowed believers to start talking again about the opening of the temple. At the same time, letters were sent from the parishioners to the authorities, the blessing of the ruling Metropolitan Gideon was requested. In March 1989, a meeting of the City Council of People's Deputies was held, during which it was decided to allocate a 1.5 hectare site on the empty territory of the former clothing market for the construction of a church.
The first liturgy took place in the same year, in a building adjacent to the construction site. In the winter of 1989, during the patronal feast in honor of the Novgorod Icon of the Mother of God "The Sign", the first stone was consecrated and laid. The authors of the project were architects M. Sokolov and G. Nekrashevich. The interior painting of the church was carried out by a group of talented artists headed by a graduate of the Stroganov Art School - A. S. Rabotnov.
In 1992, bells were installed on the belfry, made to order at the Ural plant. A Sunday school began to function at the church, and custody of a nursing home in Yuzhny was taken over. Starting from the first days of the Znamensky parish functioning, a charitable refectory was organized at the church, which today serves about a hundred people every day - children from large and disadvantaged families, the elderly, disabled and needy. At the moment, there is close cooperation with the Center for Helping Families and Children.
