Description of the attraction
Catherine's Cathedral, or the Cathedral of St. Catherine the Great Martyr, is an Orthodox church located on Cathedral Square in Pushkin, recreated in 2006-2010 after destruction. The exterior of the cathedral is distinguished by its grace and grandeur. The white walls are crowned with 5 dark domes with gilded crosses. At the top there are arches with images of angels, and on the eastern side of the building there is an image of St. Catherine. The height of the temple is 50 meters. Accommodates about 2000 people.
The Tsarskoye Selo city church in honor of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine was founded in 1835 by the order of Emperor Nicholas I. Architect - Konstantin Andreyevich Ton. The cathedral was erected in the style of Suzdal temples (pseudo-Byzantine) and was the architectural dominant of the sovereign's residence. In 1840, the church consecration ceremony took place.
In 1842, under the leadership of the garden master Fyodor Lyamin, the territory near the cathedral was improved. Here 12 paths were arranged, converging to the cathedral, 200 poplars were planted, which were brought from Holland in advance.
In 1862, a fire broke out in Pushkin's Gostiny Dvor, which also affected the nearby cathedral. The gilding of the cathedral chapters has suffered to a greater extent. In 1875, the cracked cathedral bell was re-cast. A separate wooden bell tower was temporarily built for it. In 1889 the bell was returned to its original place. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the cathedral was renovated in 1890.
In 1917, the number of parishioners in the temple fell sharply. At the end of October 1917, the Red Guards killed the archpriest of the Catherine Cathedral, Ioann Kochurov, who supported the legitimate power. In 1938, the question arose about the closure of the cathedral and its demolition. The following year, the roof was removed, the icons were destroyed, and the church utensils were taken out. In the memoirs of the art critic Anatoly Mikhailovich Kuchumov, who was a member of the commission for the liquidation of the temple, it is said that icons were stabbed with axes and thrown into a heap, the old people cried and asked to give them to themselves. So 2 icons were saved: the icon of Our Lady of Kazan and the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon (now kept in the Gatchina Palace). In 1939, the Catherine Cathedral was blown up. Gradually, the mountain of the remains of the temple settled and turned into an ordinary city square. In 1960, a monument to Lenin appeared here.
In connection with the canonization of Archpriest John Kochurov in 1995, a seven-meter eight-pointed wooden cross was erected on the site of the destroyed Catherine Cathedral. For the erection of the cross, Archpriest Gennady Zverev was fined, and he was ordered to remove the cross. In 2003, a new wooden cross was built and consecrated here, made on the Solovetsky Islands by the monk George.
In 2006, work was organized on the archaeological excavation of the foundation of the cathedral. It was from this moment that the painstaking work on the restoration of the Catherine Church began, which ended in 2010. In early December 2009, the first liturgy was served here.
The reconstructed cathedral is an exact copy of the one that stood here 100 years ago. The interior is undergoing renovation. The walls are whitewashed, there is no ornament. The iconostasis was recreated according to the pre-revolutionary model. The difference is in icon painting: the images are written in the Old Russian style. Seven new bells (a copy of the destroyed ones) were raised on the belfry in February 2011.
