Description of the attraction
The Peter and Paul Church is located in the village of Somino, Boksitogorsky District. The church is also called Jerosominskaya, since it is located 3 thousand kilometers from the Jerusalem shrine and is located with it on the same meridian. The church is spiritually related to St. Petersburg, as it is a miniature copy of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
The history of this village is closely connected with the development of the Tikhvin water system. The village flourished in the middle of the 19th century. Then the village was called the pier of Somin. From here, merchants traded with the Volga towns. The population of Somino was engaged in transportation and trade.
The pier of the village during the period of active development of the Tikhvin water system became one of the most important points. In this place they built river boats-catfish and tikhvinki, unloaded and loaded arriving barges. During navigation, loaders, boatmen, barge haulers rushed to this pier. There were few permanent residents here, but in the summer, thousands of people gathered from the surroundings.
Somino grew rapidly. In the late 19th - early 20th centuries, there were four schools in the village: a female parish, a zemstvo, a second-class parish with an exemplary school attached to it. The village was the center of the volost, so there was a volost government, a zemstvo station, a credit partnership, a zemstvo hospital, a post office, and a consumer society. Fairs were organized in Somino: in honor of the holy martyr Blasius, Bishop of Sevaistia (in his honor there was an old chapel in the village) - in February; in honor of Peter and Paul - in June, at the Exaltation.
In 1820, local residents petitioned Emperor Alexander I for the construction of a church in the village in honor of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. It is no coincidence that these apostles were chosen as patrons. The well-being of the village was closely associated with the construction and development of the Tikhvin water system. It was created on the initiative of Peter I, and the project began during the reign of Paul I. In memory of the labors of these two emperors, the temple was dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul.
In 1823, Alexander I visited the Novgorod province. They also passed through Somino. Local residents did not fail to remind about their request. And there was permission to build a church. The construction of the temple was entrusted to A. A. Arakcheev. The temple was erected with public money, taxes from ships that passed through the water system, donations from merchants. The temple was built in the period from 1839 to 1844. The cathedral was consecrated in 1841. Among the local churches, the Peter and Paul Cathedral was distinguished by its rich decoration and special grandeur.
In 1930, the temple was closed. In 1937, a cross, a spire with an angel and a bell were thrown from the bell tower. Since 1948, the temple became operational again.
On June 7, 2007, an angel was again installed on the spire of one of the domes (a smaller copy from the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg). The church has chapels in honor of the Exaltation and in the name of the holy martyr Blasius of Sevastia.
