Description of the attraction
The Alexander Church is a temple built in 1881-1884 for Lutheran workers working at the Krenholm manufactory. The initiator of the construction of the new church was the pastor of the parish. St. Johannes Ferdinand Gottlieb Tannenberg, who conducted services for Estonians in the Swedish-Finnish Church of St. Michael.
The church was built according to the project of Otto Pius von Gippius, funds for the construction were donated by Baron Ludwig von Knop, owner of the Krengholm manufactory. The walls were laid by a master from Kronstadt, Luka Tuzov, and the interior was done by Emelyan Volkov. Initially, the construction of the church was supervised by the architect of the project himself, later the architect of Krengolm Paul Alisch was involved in this. After the change of the architect, minor changes were made to the project: for example, heating and ventilation pipes were added.
Alexander II died on March 1, 1881 as a result of a terrorist bomb explosion. By a joint decision taken by the city of Narva and the church administration in October 1883, the cathedral and the parish were named after Alexander II. A year later, in May 1884, the cathedral was consecrated.
In those years, the manufactory employed about 5,000 people adhering to Lutheranism. The Alexander Church was designed for this number of workers. There were 2,500 seats and the same number of people could take part in the service while standing. The central part of the church is made in the form of an octahedron. The main building is joined by a longitudinal building, as well as an octahedral tower, 61 meters high. The first pastor of the Alexander parish was Richard Julius von Pauker. He held this position until his death - until March 29, 1910.
The Alexander Church suffered greatly both in the First World War and in the Second. During the Soviet era, only the parish of the Alexander Cathedral (the only one of all the parishes of the Lutheran churches) continued its work. In 1959, the 75th anniversary of the church was celebrated in the newly restored cathedral. And three years later, in September 1962, the parish was forced to leave the church, and the building of the cathedral was given over as a warehouse, while the entire interior was destroyed. The parish managed to hide the church bell and took only a few chandeliers with them.
And only in 1990 the Lutheran Cathedral was returned to the parish. The first divine service after such a long break took place in 1994. And since that time, in the summer, services are regularly held in the cathedral, and during the rest of the time, services are performed in a small church. The historic bell, which was hidden, was taken out on the 120th anniversary of the cathedral. In 2004, the stained glass windows made by Dolores Hoffmann were consecrated. In 2007, the spire of the cathedral's bell tower was installed, the height of which, together with a 4-meter cross, reaches 60.7 meters. The height of the inner octagonal main hall is 25.5 m, and the diameter of the vault is 20.3 m. The museum of the Narva Alexander Cathedral is located in the cathedral tower, which you can visit on your own or order an excursion.
