Description of the attraction
The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary bears its name for a reason. On September 8, 1710, the Swedish fortress of Kexholm (today Priozersk) surrendered to the Russian troops commanded by Major General Robert (Roman Vilimovich) Bruce. During the hundred years during which the city was part of Sweden, not a single Orthodox church remained in it. Therefore, the Lutheran church, built in 1692 on Spassky Island, was converted into an Orthodox church. It was consecrated in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin, this holiday was just celebrated on September 8.
Divine services were held here until 1836. Due to the weak foundation, by this time cracks appeared in the northern part, the bell tower "recoiled" from the temple, although it was one with it. There is a need to build a new church. The place for the church was found quickly - on a hill, next to the trading square. By May 1838, plans for the facades and estimates had been developed. The money for the construction of the church, as a general rule, had to be found by the parishioners, in this case the Holy Synod decided to make an exception and allocated the required amount from its budget.
The construction was carried out by a local merchant Andrey Vasilyevich Lisitsyn. The construction was supervised by the architect who was the author of the project, Louis Tullius Joachim Visconti. The fountains "Galion", "Luve", "Molière", "Four Bishops" created according to his sketches still adorn the streets and squares of Paris. His most famous creation is the tomb of Napoleon in the Church of the Invalides.
Louis Visconti knew well the Empire style - the official style of architecture of the First Empire, which came to Russia from France. In his architectural work, Visconti took into account the style and form of typical projects of churches in Russia, developed by Ton.
The dome of the Nativity Church is made slightly pointed upwards, like the helmet of an ancient Russian knight. Duplicating the shape of the dome, the window openings on the bell tower ringing site and the recesses of the arches above the entrances to the church are sharpened and extended upwards.
Perhaps the Nativity Church in Priozersk turned out to be so original, since it organically merged and, without contradicting each other, elements of the Empire style and the Russian-Byzantine style, and the Veppian and Italian notes of its stone symphony were supplemented by those of Moscow and Yelets.
The one-altar cathedral in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos was consecrated on December 11, 1847. The length of the temple together with the bell tower was 24, 14 m, the width -10, 65, the height of the temple with the dome -19, 17 m. The church had three entrances: from the south, north and west. There were 8 windows in the dome, 8 at the bottom and 8 between the arches. There were three furnaces: two at the western entrance, one at the altar. The inside of the temple was plastered and painted yellow. In the dome - on the east side - the face of the Lord Almighty, on the west - the image of the Mother of God; on the sails - the Evangelists. The porch of the temple was made of hewn slabs.
The attraction of the temple is one of its bells, which was cast in Stockholm in 1649. It went to the troops who took Kexholm as a trophy of war. It weighed 992 kg, and several inscriptions in Latin were carved on its surface.
The church has been rebuilt twice in its history: once in 1898, the second time in 1933-36.
After the end of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40, and the Karelian Isthmus, together with Priozersk, was withdrawn by the USSR, the church was closed, and its building was taken over as a quartermaster warehouse. During the Great Patriotic War, Finland again regained its lost territories, and divine services resumed in the church, which lasted until 1944. On September 19, 1944, Finland and the USSR signed the Armistice Agreement, one of the conditions of which was the return to the 1940 borders. As a result, Priozersk again became Soviet, and the Nativity Church was closed again. The building of the temple housed a museum, a pioneer house, a printing house, and a household utility.
In 1991, the temple was returned to the believers. Since 1995, it has been the lakeside courtyard of the Nativity of the Mother of God Konevsky Monastery.
