Description of the attraction
The Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior is one of the attractions of the peninsula, located 6 km from the city near the urban-type settlement Nikita, on the territory of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden.
The project of the church, which was supposed to accommodate up to 200 people, was ready on February 18, 1883. The ceremonial laying of the church took place in March 1884 on the feast of the Annunciation. The construction of the building of the temple began at a fairly rapid pace, in 1884 the bulk of the work was completed. However, due to a lack of financial resources, construction work continued until mid-1886. In September 1885, a cross was erected, and by the end of the year, the murals on the facade of the building and in the altar were completed. The temple in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord was consecrated on February 5, 1887 by Archimandrite Epiphanius, the rector of the Livadian churches.
The constructed building in the plan resembled an elongated four-pointed cross. A hospital was set up on its first floor. The front porch leading to the lobby was decorated with a small belfry with a cross and a gable roof. Above the vestibule decorated with kokoshniks, a dome with an eight-pointed cross towered on a drum.
In 1887, two bells were raised to the bell tower, specially made at the Moscow foundry of N. Finlyandsky.
The church operated until 1920. Then the parishioners created an Orthodox religious society, after which they asked to transfer the church to them for free use. At the end of the 20s. persecution of believers intensified and in September 1927 the church was closed. They tried to remake the building: they destroyed the belfry and the dome, dropped the bells and crosses. For a long time, the building was used as a warehouse, shop, scientific laboratory, and a house of culture. Neither icons, nor iconostasis, nor interior paintings have survived in the church.
In 1991, the inhabitants of the village of Nikita organized the Holy Transfiguration Community of the UOC-MP and concluded an agreement with the Nikita Botanical Garden on the lease of the building of the former church. In April 1993, a throne in the altar was consecrated and the first Divine Liturgy was served. A cross was installed on the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior, a belfry was re-erected, on which a bell was installed.
