Description of the attraction
The first Church of the Intercession on this site was built of wood in 87 in the 18th century by the parishioners of the Elisavetgrad Church. In 1790, on October 19, priest of the Assumption Cathedral Dmitry Smolodovich, the only altar of the new church was consecrated in honor of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos. This temple was not very large, and after 34 years the merchant Peter Shchedrin allocated money for the construction of a new stone church, in which it was planned to add two more thrones to the existing one. Construction was carried out for fifteen years and was completed after the death of Shchedrin at the expense of the city treasury. The project of the temple was entrusted to the famous architect K. Ton. The construction was carried out by the local architect Andreev, who, probably, also designed the interior design of the temple. The wooden church, on the initiative of the tradesman P. Pogorelov, was moved to the cemetery, located behind the railway track, and dedicated to the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow".
At the beginning of the 20th century, a two-storey building in the style of classicism was added to the architectural complex of the Holy Intercession Church, in which a one-class church school was opened through the efforts of the rector Sorokin. The building has survived to this day.
In 1932 the Intercession Church was closed. Services in it were resumed only in 1942, but very soon the temple was closed again. As soon as the building of the church was not used in those periods. Salt, glass containers were stored here, equipment was repaired. In 1988, in a very poor condition, the temple was returned to Orthodox parishioners. The historical territory adjacent to the temple has not survived at all; it was built up with five-story residential buildings. The outbuildings were also destroyed. Thus, the territory of the church was reduced by almost 25 times.
