Description of the attraction
Nikolsky Cathedral is the oldest architectural monument in the city of Myshkin. The Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is older than the city - it was built in 1766, and the city received its status in 1777. From that time on, St. Nicholas Cathedral became a city cathedral.
The history of the construction of this cathedral is quite interesting. Petersburg merchant, mayor, Alexander Petrovich Berezin, who financed the construction of the cathedral, was born into a peasant family in the village of Eremeytsevo, not far from Myshkin. His father was a very poor man and was forced to lay an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the tavern. More than 25 years later, his rich son Alexander redeemed the pledged image and considered it a miracle, the ancestral icon did not disappear during this time. As a sign of this, Berezin built a temple in Myshkin at his own expense. All his life he led an active charitable work and built three churches: in addition to the Myshkin temple, the Ascension Church was also erected in Kruglitsy (now Okhotino) not far from Myshkin and in St. Petersburg.
Nikolsky Cathedral was erected in 1766-1769 (according to other sources in 1764) as a parish church with thrones in honor of princes Boris and Gleb and Alexander Nevsky. In 1777, courtyards of the landowners Kozhins from the village of Krivets, carvers Korolev and painter Trofim Kashintsev, the cathedral was decorated with icons and a rich iconostasis in the Baroque style.
In the 1830s, after the appearance of the new Assumption Cathedral, the Cathedral of Nicholas the Wonderworker was greatly rebuilt - porticos with columns appeared on the southern and northern walls, the dome was changed. In the 1860s, the bell tower was completely rebuilt, which was later destroyed.
The fate of St. Nicholas Cathedral, like many other churches, was tragic in Soviet times. In the 1930s, the church building was handed over to local cultural authorities, the bell tower was dismantled. In 1934, St. Nicholas Cathedral was converted into a cultural institution. On November 6, 1934, another anniversary of the October Revolution was celebrated here. Due to the haste over the stage, two fragments of the carving of the wooden iconostasis were not removed. The last disco in this building took place on April 18, 2003. On May 2, 2003, the cathedral was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.
In the summer of 2003, it was discovered that the protruding front part of the stage was made of icons of the iconostasis. Also, two side panels have survived, in one of them for 96 years there was an icon of the Savior "in a crown of thorns …". On March 27, 2004, a foundation plate was found in the cathedral, which was installed on September 1, 1835. Services have been held in St. Nicholas Cathedral since 2004.
The cathedral has undergone major restoration and repair work. In 2010, as part of a trip to the Yaroslavl diocese in honor of the 1000th anniversary of Yaroslavl, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow visited him, who wished God's help to everyone involved in the restoration of the cathedral and donated an icon of the holy preacher Jonah of Kiev to the temple.
In the basement of St. Nicholas Cathedral there is an exposition entitled "Secrets of the 18th century". Opposite the cathedral, in the building of the parish clergy, a museum is open, where you can learn the history of the temple.
