Description of the attraction
The Epiphany Cathedral with a bell tower is located on the pedestrian street Bauman, in the center of Kazan. Previously, the street was called Bolshaya Prolomnaya. A wooden church dedicated to the Epiphany was built on this place in the 17th century.
In 1731 - 1756 a new Epiphany church with a hipped bell tower was built from stone. Funds for the construction were donated by merchants Chernov and Mikhlyaev. In 1741, after the fire, only the walls remained from the church. In 1756, the construction of the church was completed. A refectory was added to the church, which increased the volume of the temple.
In the 18th century, an architectural complex was formed: the Epiphany Church, the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called (a winter, heated church located on the north side of the temple). A low hipped bell tower, a clergy house (built at the end of the 18th century) and another house that belonged to a church with a facade facing Bolshaya Prolomnaya Street (now a monument to F. I. Shalyapin is erected on this site).
Before the revolution, the parish of the Epiphany Church was made up of various strata of society: aristocrats, entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens. In 1892, a merchant of the first guild, an honorary citizen of Kazan, deputy director of the Kazan city public bank I. S. Krivonosov. He bequeathed 35 thousand rubles to the Epiphany Church, 25 thousand of which should go to the construction of a new bell tower.
In 1893, a competition was announced for the best architectural design of the Epiphany Bell Tower. Until now, the authorship of the project is a controversial issue. The drawing of the bell tower with the author's signature has not survived. The authorship is attributed to both Heinrich Rusch and Mikhail Mikhailov. Construction began in 1893. According to historical records, it took about two million bricks to build. The new bell tower has become an independent architectural monument.
In the Bell Tower of the Epiphany Church, on the ground floor, there was a small room for interviews with Old Believers and a trade shop. On the second floor there was a temple in honor of the Finding of the Honorable Head of John the Baptist.
The style of the decor is based on a combination of modernized Russian motifs with geometric shapes of the 19th and 20th centuries. Decor details are skillfully made of red curved bricks. In the architecture of the bell tower, arched openings with sandriks, kokoshniks in the upper tiers, half-columns with overlapping octal edges are used. The bell tower surpassed the Epiphany Cathedral in sophistication and richness of brick decor. Its height is 74 meters. The magnificent composition and skillfully laid out decor made the Bell Tower of the Epiphany Church one of the symbols of Kazan. In 1997, the bell tower was restored.
The bell tower is the highest of all the ancient structures of Kazan and plays a big role in the panorama of the city. In Kazan and on the Volga, no more bell towers of this height have been built.
