Description of the attraction
The Annunciation Cathedral is one of the oldest and largest churches in the city of Kharkov. The modern building was built at the beginning of the 20th century according to the project of the architect Professor M. Lovtsov. The original architectural solution - the cathedral was built in the ancient Byzantine style - distinguishes it from other places of worship in the city. Here you can venerate the relics of Saints Athanasius and Meletius, Hieromartyr Alexander. The lower church of the cathedral in 2011 became the burial place of the Metropolitan of Kharkov and Bogodukhov Nikodim. In 46 year of the last century, the cathedral acquired the status of a cathedral.
The power of a grandiose architectural ensemble with a seventy-meter bell tower rises above the Lopan River. The construction of the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos began in 1901 on the site of the former Annunciation Church, whose history goes back to the middle of the 17th century. Then on the Kharkov outskirts in the settlement of Zalopan a wooden church was built, later replaced by a stone one. However, soon it became too small for a large number of parishioners. In 88 of the 19th century, at the expense of the local nobility, merchants and ordinary parishioners nearby, the construction of a new cathedral began. This is a five-domed temple, its high bell tower is distinguished by a special "striped" masonry and rich decor.
The iconostasis was made by the Moscow master V. Orlov from white marble. Local artists were entrusted with the execution of the painting. Several of the most revered icons - the Savior, Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Mother of God, the Great Martyr Barbara, John the Warrior - were transferred from the old church to the new one.
It was one of the largest cathedrals of the Russian Empire, it could accommodate about 4 thousand people. In 1930, the Bolsheviks closed the cathedral, but during the Second World War it resumed its activities.
In 2008 the temple became one of the "Seven Wonders of Kharkov".
