Description of the attraction
The Epiphany Cathedral is located in the center of Kazan, on the pedestrian street Bauman.
In 1701-1756, a stone Epiphany Church with a hipped-roof bell tower was built at the expense of merchants Ivan Afanasyevich Mikhlyaev and Sergei Alexandrovich Chernov. In 1741, the church was badly damaged by fire, only the walls survived. The final date of the construction of the church is considered to be 1756. At the same time, a refectory was added to the Epiphany Church, which almost doubled its volume. The church was built in the Russian Baroque style.
In the 18th century, the architectural complex of the Epiphany Church was formed. It includes the buildings of the Epiphany Church itself, a tent-roofed bell tower, a church in the name of St. Andrew the First-Called and the house of the clergyman. Later, in 1893 - 1897, a new 74-meter high bell tower was erected next to the Epiphany Church. The bell tower was built in a pseudo-Russian style. This is the tallest bell tower in Kazan and on the Volga. The bell tower has become an independent architectural monument and has become more famous than the Epiphany Church.
Before the 1917 revolution, the parish of the Epiphany Church was very large for Kazan and consisted of parishioners of various classes. It included not only ordinary residents of the city, but also large industrialists, entrepreneurs and aristocrats.
From 1920 to 1935, the Epiphany Church was the city's cathedral. In 1930, the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called was demolished. A city zoo was located in its place, and a residential building was built in the fifties.
In 1935, the Epiphany Church was closed. The building of the main church was turned into a warehouse, and an optical workshop and trade departments were located in the premises of the bell tower. In the 1950s, the Epiphany Church was given to the Kazan State University to set up a sports hall in it. The building of the church was badly damaged by the renovation: all the details of the decor were plastered, the heads of the church were destroyed.
In 1960, the Epiphany Bell Tower received the status of an architectural monument. In 1973 the bell tower was repaired. In 1995, the Epiphany Cathedral began to be considered an architectural monument, a monument of cultural and historical heritage of all-Russian significance. It is included in the Federal List of Historical Heritage Sites.
In 1996-1997, the Epiphany Cathedral was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Today, services are held daily in the church.
