Description of the attraction
Ascension Church in Yekaterinburg is the oldest surviving Orthodox church in the city. The church is located in one of the most beautiful places in the city - on a high hill, on the Ascension Square, from where an amazing view of the Church on the Blood and the embankment of the Iset River opens.
Ascension Church is the only building in the city, erected in the Baroque style, thanks to which the temple became widely known. The construction of the church began in May 1770. Initially, it was located almost on the site of the wing of the famous Ipatiev house, and was a small wooden temple.
In 1789, local residents wanted to build a new stone two-story church. The building was laid down in May 1792, 300 m east of the former church, on the site of the estate that had previously belonged to the founder of the city of Yekaterinburg - V. Tatishchev. The consecration of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, arranged in the lower floor, took place in September 1801. The Upper Ascension Church was consecrated in July 1818. After a while, it was decided to attach two side-altars to the Ascension Church on the north side, two side-altars on the south and a new porch.
In memory of the first Church of the Ascension, a stone chapel was built on this site - a monument about two meters high. This chapel can be seen in old photographs of the Ipatiev house.
By the beginning of the XX century. the temple had six side-altars: Voznesensky, Annunciation, the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, in honor of St. Mitrofan, in honor of Elijah the Prophet, in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. The lower floor housed a male one-class parochial school.
In 1926, the temple was closed and soon converted into a school. During the war years, the collection of the Hermitage was kept within its walls, and after that - the expositions and funds of the regional museum of local lore. In February 1991, after many years of desolation, the first Divine Liturgy was served in the church.
The modern building of the Ascension Church consists of two parts: the temple itself and the bell tower with a refectory. Outside, the temple is decorated with large-scale keeled kokoshniks, relief elements, stucco molding and a multi-stage main staircase.
