Description of the attraction
The Church of John the Baptist in the port and resort town of Feodosia is one of the oldest churches that have survived on the territory of the Crimean peninsula. The year of the beginning of the construction of the temple is considered to be 1348, since it was this date that was found on the stone during the restoration work. Although some scholars claim that the temple was built even earlier.
The Church of St. John the Baptist is a square structure crowned with a dome and an octagonal drum with loopholed windows. The main hall was previously decorated with stone statues of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and John the Baptist and was painted with original frescoes. Only fragments of frescoes have survived to this day, and the statues of saints have disappeared.
With the arrival of the Turks in Kafa (now Feodosia) in 1475, the Church of John the Baptist was renamed into the Quarantine Church, after which the temple fell into desolation. Only in 1875 the shrine was re-consecrated and received a name in memory of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God.
It is known that in 1906 the wedding ceremony of K. F. Bogaevsky and J. Durante took place in this church. K. Bogaevsky was a famous Russian "Cimmerian" artist, a native of Feodosia, who lived in Quarantine. The Church of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God was his favorite church.
In the difficult revolutionary years, about 7 thousand white officers and soldiers were shot near the monastery. In May 2005, a memorial cross was erected here to the Victims of the Bolshevik Terror of 1918-1920.
In Soviet times, the temple was closed, frescoes and sculptures were mutilated. The church has stood in disrepair for more than 7 years. A full-fledged restoration of the Church of St. John the Baptist was completed only by 1996 and was supervised by the sculptor and architect V. Zamekhovsky. The dome with the cross was also restored. The church was consecrated for the second time in memory of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God and returned to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The cathedral service was conducted by Bishop Lazar, Bishop of the Simferopol and Crimean Diocese.
