Description of the attraction
The Cathedral of St. Andrew the First-Called in Stavropol is the cathedral of the Vladikavkaz and Stavropol dioceses. The temple was erected in 1897. The author of this project was the local architect G. P. Pieces. The consecration of a large one-domed four-pillar cathedral, made in a pseudo-Russian style with luxurious decorative finishes, took place in 1897.
The facade of the building, divided by cornices into three tiers, is decorated with semicircular windows with arched platbands, wrought iron and decorative lattices. The octagonal drum of the cathedral with huge windows is crowned with a dome of stamped iron plates topped with a gilded cross, which seems to float in the blue of the sky.
Until the revolutionary times, the main decoration of the temple was a cypress, completely gilded iconostasis. The Ossetian icon painter and poet K. Khetagurov took part in the painting of the cathedral. But in the 30s. the temple was destroyed, a book depository and an archive were placed here.
In August 1942, German troops captured the city. The troops included a compound of the Third Romanian Army. The Romanians decided to resume services in the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called. They brought sacred service items, banners and vestments of priests from the department of atheism at the Stavropol Regional Museum to the church, cleared of papers. After the temple was returned to the believers, it was no longer closed. After a while, the bell tower was restored in the cathedral.
In August 1994, the relics of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bishop of the Caucasus and the Black Sea in 1857-1861) were delivered to the church.
The temple complex of the cathedral includes a bell tower (1882) and a baptismal church. Also, on the territory of St. Andrew's Cathedral there is the Stavropol Theological Seminary, revived in 1989.
