Description of the attraction
The Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Starorusskaya" is located in the town of Staraya Russa, part of the Transfiguration Monastery. In the middle of 1888, the miraculous icon of the Holy Old Russian Mother of God was returned to the city from Tikhvin. For the location of the icon, a temple was built, located on Aleksandrovskaya Street, which is now called Volodarsky Street. The new temple has become one of the most beautiful and richest in the entire city, judged by the presence of icons and interior decoration. The construction of the temple was carried out with funds that were collected from the townspeople in order to transfer the famous icon to Staraya Russa.
In the summer of 1898, the foundation of the temple took place, and by the end of the year all the stone work was completed. In the summer of the following year, the temple was fully painted and equipped, which happened thanks to the abbot of the monastery, Mardarius. On August 31, 1892, the church of the icon of the Old Russian Mother of God was consecrated, and a few days later the altar in the name of Vladimir the Baptist was also consecrated; St. Father John of Kronstadt took part in the consecration process. It was from the moment this cathedral was built that the ensemble of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery was finally completed.
The building of the temple was erected not far from the monastery buildings, along the perimeter of the wall and the monastery fence. It was made in the style of a fairly late eclecticism. From the outside, the cathedral was made in the form of an oblong quadrangle, equipped with an eastern altar semicircle. In the central part there was a large octagonal drum, as well as a dome, which was beautifully crowned with a cupola and a cross. Above the main altar and the porch there were small chapters equipped with crosses and apples. The roof was covered with copper-colored sheet metal. Church crosses through, made of iron and gilded with gold. The cathedral dome was located on four pillars, which were connected to the walls by small arches, dividing the available area into nine quadrangular sections, of which three middle and three western ones became places for worshipers; the three eastern sections were occupied by the salt or sublime part. In the southern section there was the Vladimirsky side-chapel, fenced off by a wall.
The church of the Old Russian Icon of the Mother of God had four entrances, the main of which was located at Aleksandrovskaya Street. The outer walls of the church were decorated with pilasters, pediments made in the form of kokoshnik-like semicircles, small belts with cornices. The cathedral had 43 window openings with semicircular ends, located in one or more tiers. Paired with the altar and the porch, it stretched 26 meters wide and 39 meters long, while its height was 24 meters.
If we take into account the interior decoration, it is worth noting that the altar part of the Solea consisted of three sections: in the north there was an altar, in the large and middle part - the main altar, and in the south there was a side altar, consecrated in the name of the Holy Prince Vladimir. At the entrance to the temple there is a carved wooden iconostasis located at the main altar in the name of the icon of the Old Russian Mother of God with some icons of a newer writing. In the middle of the main altar, on slabs made of stone, there is a large altar, which is elegantly decorated with massive silver-gilded robes with neat enamel adornments at the corners; it contained about 47 kg of silver. In front of the altar on the main altar there was an icon of the Old Russian Mother of God, made according to an ancient letter, the dimensions of which were as follows: width - 121 cm, height - 150 cm. The framing of the icon was made in a frame equipped with a golden dumbbell. A prominent place in the church iconostasis was occupied by the holy icon of the Old Russian Mother of God with the Eternal Child in her arms, the crown and robe of which were made of gilded silver.
Today the temple has been significantly renovated and operates for parishioners.
