Description of the attraction
The Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Kazanskaya" in the Crafts Sloboda is a functioning Orthodox church located in the Rabochy Suburb. The initiator of the founding of the temple in Crafts Sloboda was the honorary citizen of Irkutsk, gold miner and explorer of the North and Siberia, philanthropist A. M. Sibiryakov. For the construction of the church, a special Construction Committee was created, which was personally led by A. M. Sibiryakov.
In the summer of 1885, Archbishop Benjamin consecrated the foundation stone of the church under construction. Initially, it was planned to build a temple like Nikolsky, but it was consecrated like Kazan. The church in Crafts Sloboda is made in the Russian-Byzantine eclectic architectural style. Nine of its bells were cast in Yaroslavl. The Royal Doors and iconostases were decorated with exquisite gilded carvings. The main iconostasis had a carved silvered image of St. Luke. By 1892, the decoration and decoration of the church was completely finished.
In April 1892, His Grace Bishop Macarius consecrated the church. The right side-altar was consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
After the revolution, the church remained active for another 18 years. However, in 1936 the church suffered the same fate as all Russian churches - it was closed. Since 1936, the church was used as a warehouse, a bookseller base and a Siberian Souvenir factory. Capital partitions, interfloor ceilings and many bulkheads appeared in the temple building.
And only in October 1988, by the decision of local authorities, work began to restore the church. This project was developed by the leading architect of the Irkutsk restoration workshops L. Gurova. In October 1990, the restoration was continued by the small enterprise Vozrozhdenie. The restoration of the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was carried out with voluntary donations from local residents and organizations.
Today the Virgin of Kazan Church is an architectural monument, which is one of the cult sights of the city of Irkutsk.
