Description of the attraction
The Church of the Life-Giving Trinity was erected in the city of Ostrov, on the right bank of the Velikaya River, not far from the main central square of the city. The construction of the cathedral church was directly related to the construction of the city itself in 1778. At that time, Empress Catherine II traveled across Russia, visiting the newly established provinces. Having visited the city of Ostrov, the empress granted six thousand rubles for the construction of a new church, but this money was not enough, and another 600 rubles were added from the county treasury. In the spring of 1784, announcements were published in nearby cities calling everyone to take part in the construction of a church in the Island. But no one came to the auction in April 1784, which is why they started again. At the same time, a place was being prepared for the construction of the cathedral, while old factories and private houses were demolished. In 1786, the Trinity Church was nevertheless founded, and in 1790 its construction was already completed.
The church is located on a vast territory right in the center of the city, not far from the main streets. Initially, the church had two thrones, the main of which was the cold or Trinity throne, and the temple of the Exaltation became the side throne. The cathedral was an elongated rectangle along the axis from west to east. It consists of the main one-apse volume of the one-domed type "octagon on a quadruple", to the western part of which the vestibule and the refectory adjoin, and a four-tier bell tower is built into the central part. On the north, south and west facades there are doorways, which are decorated with porticos with staircases. The walls of the octagon rest on two pylons, the eastern wall of the quadrangle itself and supporting arches. The smooth transition from four to eight is made with the help of a trumpet. The overlapping octagon is made in the form of a closed octahedral vault, on which a light drum with four windows is located. The church drum ends with a small onion-shaped head and an apple with a cross. The overlap of the apse was made with a spherical vault with several stripping over all three window openings. The north and south aisles of the main part of the temple are covered with closed vaults equipped with stripping. The main volume of the temple is adjoined by the refectory room, which is covered in the same way as the north and south naves. The refectory vaults bear supporting arches, which rest on walls and two pylons, which are slightly displaced to the east. The church vestibule consists of several side rooms equipped with flat ceilings.
In the main part of the vestibule there is a four-tiered bell tower, which has a rectangular plan view. The lower tier of the bell tower is covered with a corrugated vault with formwork over the doorways. All other tiers are covered with flat ceilings. The second tier has window openings and one door that leads to the attic located directly above the refectory. The third and fourth tiers have arched openings for bells. The end of the bell tower is made in the form of a wooden spherical dome, on which there is an octahedral small spire drum.
In 1802, on the left side of the Vozdvizhensky side-altar, the Ilyinsky side-altar was built, adjacent to the main wall, which separates the main part of the church. Throughout 1847, side-altars were arranged on the left and right sides of the main throne. In 1854, work was carried out on the extension of the porch, equipped with columns, and two-story extensions were made on both sides of the bell tower. In 1833, the church bell tower was equipped with a chiming tower clock.
In 1890, exactly to the centenary of the church, repair work was carried out, during which, instead of a wooden one, a cast-iron staircase leading to the choir was built, and the side-chapels of Elijah and the Exaltation were abolished, which is why window openings were cut through the load-bearing wall.
At one time, the cemetery church of the Wives of the Myrrhbearers and the Epiphany house church were assigned to the church.
