Description of the attraction
The Church of Gregory Neokesariyskiy in the city of Irkutsk is an Orthodox church located in Krasnoflotskiy lane, which is in the historical center of the city, in the courtyard of the Trinity Church. This is the first Irkutsk temple with a rotunda-like base.
The church was founded in 1802. The author of this architectural monument was the famous architect - Anton Losev. Despite the fact that over the entire period of its existence, the building of the church was rebuilt several times, the original project has been preserved in the archives. Therefore, today there is a real opportunity to restore the temple in its original appearance.
Throughout the XIX century. the church of St. Gregory of Neocaesarea underwent significant and significant changes. In 1829 and 1830 it was damaged by severe floods that hit Irkutsk. In connection with the dilapidated state of the temple in 1836, all the utensils were taken out of it, and sealed until 1845. In 1879, the shrine fell into the zone of the terrible Irkutsk fire, which destroyed the entire central part of the city. To this day, an undated drawing of the temple has survived, already significantly rebuilt and having lost the clear composition characteristic of the project of the architect Anton Losev.
At present, the Church of Gregory of Neocaesarea is a one-story stone church with a rotunda, as well as four adjacent volumes. In the architectural appearance of the church, the transition from the Baroque to Classicism period is very clearly visible, since there are elements of both architectural styles. In addition, in some parts of the church, you can see some elements of the traditional cult architecture of Irkutsk.
Initially, the church ended with a hemispherical dome with a dome. During the alterations, the core was crowned with an eight-slot dome with a small figure-eight. The planning structure of the architectural monument has also changed dramatically. The temple of Gregory of Neokesariyskiy has a rather modest decoration.
