Description of the attraction
Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Catholic church in St. Petersburg. It is located on 1st Krasnoarmeyskaya street (former 1st Company) in house number 11. From the street, the cathedral obstructs the building that houses the only higher Catholic seminary in our country "Mary - Queen of the Apostles". Administratively it belongs to the North-West region of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese - the Archdiocese of the Mother of God with the center in Moscow, led by Archbishop-Metropolitan Paolo Pezzi.
The building of the church in the plan has the shape of a Latin cross; it is united with the seminary by a single entrance.
In 1849, the residence of the head of the Catholic Church in the Russian Empire was moved from Mogilev to St. Petersburg, despite the fact that the archdiocese was still called "Mogilev". The construction of the cathedral on the land adjacent to the archbishop's residence took place from 1870 to 1873. The initial project of the cathedral was developed by the architect Vasily Ivanovich Sobolshchikov, after his death the construction work was completed under the direction of the architect Evgraf Sergeevich Vorotylov. In mid-April 1873, the cathedral was consecrated. It was conducted by Archbishop Anthony Fialkovsky. Some church utensils of the new church were delivered from Mogilev. In 1873-1926, the cathedral had the status of a pro-cathedral and was the residence of the Metropolitan of Mogilev, the head of the Catholic Church on the territory of our state.
By the 1890s, the parish of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary had increased so much that it was decided to begin work on its expansion. This activity took place in the years 1896-1897. The cathedral's capacity was doubled: from 750 to 1500 people. The interior decoration was changed, the painting was updated, side chapels were added, side altars were replaced, and they were also decorated with bronze statues. In December 1897, the reconstructed Assumption Cathedral was consecrated again.
In 1900, a Catholic seminary moved to the archdiocesan house located next to the cathedral, and the archbishop's residence was transferred to the nearby building number 118 on the Fontanka embankment. The Dormition parish grew steadily and before the revolutionary events of 1917 had about 15,000-20,000 parishioners.
After the October Revolution, the Assumption Church, like the entire Catholic Church in Russia, was going through hard times. In 1918, the seminary was closed, and in the 1920s, the authorities made attempts to close the cathedral, but the parish managed to hold out until 1930, when the church was finally closed. During the Great Patriotic War, the building of the cathedral was badly damaged by bombing. In the post-war period, the temple was redesigned for the needs of a design company.
Only in the early 1990s was the activity of the Catholic Church in Russia restored. In 1994, the parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was re-registered. In early autumn 1995, the building of the cathedral was returned to the Church. In the same year, the building of the seminary was returned, to which the Higher Catholic Seminary called "Mary - Queen of the Apostles" moved from Moscow.
Large-scale restoration work in the cathedral took more than two years. In mid-February 1997, services were resumed in the not yet fully restored church building. In May 1998, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz held a solemn ceremony of consecration of the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At present, concerts of sacred music are regularly held in the cathedral, and a parish newspaper is being published. The rector of the church is Father Stefan Katinel.
Description added:
Parish administrator 2016-03-03
parish website uspenie.spb.ru
