The Alexander Nevsky New Fair Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky, colloquially the Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky — an Orthodox cathedral (since 2009 the see cathedral) of the Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church in Nizhny Novgorod, near the river port in the historic district of the Strelka") at the confluence of the Oka and the Volga. It was built in 1868—1881 to a design by the architect L. V. Dal.

The height of the church is 87 metres. In height the cathedral ranks third among the Orthodox churches of Russia — after the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow and St Isaac's Cathedral in St Petersburg.[1]

The altars of the cathedral: of St Alexander Nevsky, of St Nicholas the Wonderworker, of Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles. In the projecting western narthex, on the gallery of the great cathedral, is the winter church of Makary of Zheltovody and Unzha.

The design and the fundraising

In 1856 the merchants of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair expressed the wish to build a second Orthodox fair church in memory of the visit of Emperor Alexander II to the fair, and petitioned the bishop of Nizhny Novgorod, Antony, for the construction of a new cathedral, and he in turn petitioned Governor) A. N. Muravyov. A collection of donations was held. The necessary funds (454 thousand 667 roubles 28 kopecks) were raised over 10 years (by 1866). The initiator and largest donor of the construction was the Kashin merchant Nikolai Vasilyevich Terlikov: at the very first meeting in 1858 he contributed 10,000 roubles and was unanimously elected chairman of the building committee; after his death in 1865 the committee lost its main financial support, and the 75 thousand roubles collected by that time were not enough to erect the cathedral.[1]

On 8 September 1864 the symbolic laying of the foundation stone of the future church took place. By 1864 the design by the provincial architect R. Ya. Kileveyn was ready. On the site of the future construction, even before the works began, a chapel had been erected, in which the ancient Pecherskaya icon of the Mother of God was placed.[1] It had to be reworked because of insufficient strength; after that it turned out that there was not enough funding for such a design. A new design, proposed by the young architect L. V. Dal, was likewise not approved.

On 18 November 1865 the design of the church was approved by the government. The authorship of the design approved by the government has still not been established with certainty. In 1866 L. V. Dal returned from abroad to take up permanent residence in Nizhny Novgorod and revised the design of the cathedral.

Construction

On 15 September 1867 a building committee was established for the erection of the church, and on 11 August 1868 the cathedral was laid a second time on the Strelka. The first stone in the foundation of the church was laid by Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, who arrived in Nizhny Novgorod on 15 July 1868; in 1869–1870 the walls of the cathedral were raised and the roof structure was put in place, while the finishing works continued until the end of construction.[1] The main construction of the cathedral began on 18 August 1868 and lasted for 13 years; the interior works continued until 1881. To replenish the building fund, in August 1869 the fair traders were subjected to a special 10 per cent levy — on land and on stalls — for the needs of the cathedral under construction.[1]

The cathedral was erected without the traditional pile foundation and "was a centrally planned monumental structure with five octagonal tent roofs, the central one of which rises to a height of 72.5 metres. The decoration of the facade combined elements of different architectural styles. The plan of the cathedral was eclectic in character". In addition to the icons painted by the Moscow icon painter F. A. Sokolov, icons were brought to the church from the Makaryevsky Monastery, which had been closed after a fire.

Pastoral care

On 20 July 1881 the construction was completed and the cathedral was solemnly consecrated in the presence of Emperor Alexander III, his consort Maria Feodorovna and the tsesarevich Nicholas.

Only the heated winter church of Makary of Zheltovody and Unzha was in use.

The church housed a miracle-working icon of the Mother of God and the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, which were venerated by many people suffering from paralysis and other illnesses.

Confiscation of property, the Soviet period

In 1929 the church was closed and its valuables confiscated, and in the winter of 1930, by decision of the leadership of the Volga Flotilla, the iconostases and all the wooden decorations of the cathedral were used as firewood to heat local houses.

The parishioners nevertheless managed to save several icons, including the icon of the Mother of God and the Life-Giving Cross, which until recently were kept in the Holy Trinity Church in Vysokovo, Nizhny Novgorod.

In the late 1920s a plan for the reconstruction of the fair grounds was drawn up.

It provided for the demolition of the cathedral and the erection in its place of a lighthouse with a monument to V. I. Lenin.

This plan was not carried out, but in preparation for it the tent roofs were dismantled in the late 1930s.

Later the cathedral building served as warehouses and partly as housing.

Numerous outbuildings and various offices were attached to the cathedral, transforming it beyond recognition.

Warehouses were located in the cellars of the church.

During the Great Patriotic War an anti-aircraft battery was installed on the central drum of the cathedral, defending the skies of Nizhny Novgorod from Nazi air raids.

In the 1940s a fire broke out that destroyed the interior of the cathedral building and the paintings on the ceiling and walls of the church.

After this the remains of the interior plaster were completely knocked off.

Revival of the church

In 1983 the restoration of the cathedral began; volunteer restorers took an active part during this period. In 1989 the restoration of the church's torn-down tent roofs began.

In February 1991 the Brotherhood in the name of the holy right-believing Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky was founded, and in June 1992 the cathedral was returned to the Church.

From 1992 services began in the winter chapel of St. Macarius.

On 30 December 1998 Metropolitan Nikolai of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas consecrated the church's central Alexander Nevsky altar.

On 24 April 1999 the Mariinsky chapel was consecrated, and on 18 May the St. Nicholas chapel.

Services began to be held in the main hall of the cathedral; the restoration, however, continues.

A new design for the iconostasis had to be developed for the cathedral, since it proved impossible to uncover the secret of the old masters who in the previous century installed and secured the 23-metre iconostasis — as tall as an eight-storey building!

The external decoration of the iconostasis will be restored, as far as possible, from surviving old photographs.

On 8 September 2009 Archbishop Georgy celebrated the Divine Liturgy, and at its conclusion consecrated the new cathedral icon of the Saviour Not Made by Hands — a copy of the miracle-working image of the Most Merciful Saviour of Tutayev, painted at the Traditsiya icon-painting workshop. The icon of the Most Merciful Saviour kept in the cathedral was painted in 2008 by the cathedral's icon painters and is an exact copy of a 14th-century icon from the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Tutayev, Yaroslavl Region.[3]

On 12 September 2009 the Cathedral in honour of the holy right-believing Prince Alexander Nevsky in Nizhny Novgorod was granted the status of a cathedral of the see.

Wall paintings

In October 2009 the painting of the prayer room in the Avtozavodsky boarding school for children with developmental disabilities was completed. The boarding school has been under the pastoral care of the cathedral parish since the late 1990s.

Work on the interior paintings of the cathedral began in April 2010. In 2010 the painting of the altar was completed, and in the summer of 2011 work began on two supporting columns. The total area of the paintings will be 11 thousand m².

On 1 July 2010 Archbishop Georgy consecrated the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God — the first of 187 icons of the Theotokos planned for installation in the cathedral. During the consecration the icon was placed in a large icon case by the left column. In August 2011 work was completed on the Donskaya Icon of the Mother of God, a copy of the ancient original kept in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Veneration of the Cincture of the Theotokos

On 4 November 2011 the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos was brought to the cathedral. The relic was placed in the centre of the cathedral and remained there until 6 November. During that time about 170 thousand people venerated it, among them Patriarch Kirill and the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev.

The Sobornyy bell

Next to the cathedral, together with a belfry, a bell weighing 60 tonnes is to be installed.

The project to create the bell is being carried out with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus.

It will be the third largest bell in Russia (after the Tsar Bell in Moscow and the bell at the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius).

Its height will be 4 metres, its diameter the same, and it will be cast from bell bronze.

An inscription immortalising the names of all the patrons and benefactors who took part in its creation will run along the lower band of the bell. The design and construction of the belfry are being handled by the Stary Nizhny company, the bell will be cast at the Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg, and its artistic decoration and tone are being supervised by specialists from Moscow.

The bell was cast at the Baltic Shipyard on 5 October 2011. The work took several hours. Three weeks were allowed for the bell to cool.

The cathedral's own holy objects and relics

Holy objects of the cathedral:

  • an icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov with a particle of his relics;
  • an icon of the blessed Matrona of Moscow with a particle of her relics;
  • an icon of the holy right-believing Prince Alexander Nevsky with a particle of his relics;
  • an icon of the holy great martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth and the nun Varvara with particles of their relics;
  • an icon of St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, the Wonderworker;
  • since 2005 the cathedral has held the first icon brought to Russia with particles of the relics of the hieromartyr Cyprian and the martyr Justina. In 2014 a particle of the relics of the great martyr Panteleimon was transferred to the cathedral from the Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, and in the same year the Greek Orthodox Church handed over a particle of the relics of St. John of Damascus.[3] The cathedral keeps an icon of the Synaxis of the Saints of the Nizhny Novgorod Land, painted in 2008 for the first celebration of the Synaxis of the Nizhny Novgorod saints; the consecration of the icon took place on 14 September 2008, and particles of the relics of the Nizhny Novgorod saints residing in the Nizhny Novgorod land were later placed in it.[3] The icon with particles of the relics of the hieromartyr Cyprian and the martyr Justina was brought in April 2005 by Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou (Cypriot Orthodox Church) and presented as a gift to the Nizhny Novgorod diocese.[3]

Educational activities

The church has:

  • a Sunday school,
  • catechist courses,
  • a library of Orthodox literature,
  • an icon-painting workshop.

On Thursdays at 15.00 talks with a priest of the cathedral are held.

Schedule of services

  • Daily at 9.00 — the Liturgy, at 17.00 — Vespers.
  • On Sundays and feast days: at 6.30 — the early Liturgy, at 9.00 — the late Liturgy, on the eve at 17.00 — the all-night vigil.
  • On Wednesdays after the Divine Liturgy — a moleben with the reading of the akathist to the hieromartyr Cyprian and the martyr Justina.
  • On Thursdays after the Divine Liturgy — a moleben to the holy right-believing Prince Alexander Nevsky.
  • On Fridays after the Divine Liturgy — a moleben with the reading of the akathist to the holy right-believing Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia.
  • On Saturdays at 16.00 — a moleben with an akathist before the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God.

Interesting facts

  • The church stood out in that it had no permanent parish: its parishioners were the merchants who came to the Nizhny Novgorod Fair. For this reason the main hall was open only during the fair, and in winter it was not heated.
  • The church was a place where honoured guests of the city were received — the imperial family (1913), hierarchs of the Orthodox Church.

The Velikaya Rus music festival is held annually in front of the cathedral's facade: by 2026 it had taken place for the sixth time. The festival programme is devoted to the history of the Russian army's victories — from the era of Peter I to the end of the Great Patriotic War — and includes military marches, works by Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev and Sviridov, as well as poems by Lermontov, Gumilyov and Simonov. The performance is accompanied by a large-scale video projection on the cathedral's facade.[2] Soloists, the choir and the orchestra of the Nizhny Novgorod Pushkin Opera and Ballet Theatre take part in the festival's concerts. The festival is organised by the Tsentr 800 autonomous non-profit organisation with the support of the government of the Nizhny Novgorod Region and the Nizhny Novgorod diocese.[2]

Address

Telephones

  • (831) 277-99-26 (rector),
  • 277-99-80 (security).

Official website

See also

Initially, in 1856–1858, it was intended to dedicate the new fair church to St. Nicholas of Myra; the decision to change the dedication was taken at a merchants' assembly on 24 August 1858 — the day the fair was visited by Emperor Alexander II with his wife Maria Alexandrovna and their daughter: in memory of this visit the merchants resolved to establish the main altar in the name of Alexander Nevsky, the sovereign's namesake saint.[1]

Sources

  1. nne.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Metropolia — The cathedral keeps an embroidered belt that was laid against the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos, which was in the cathedral from 4 to 6 November 2011. Over the three days, to the relic… (archive)
  1. nne.ru — The icon of the Most Merciful Saviour kept in the cathedral was painted in 2008 by the cathedral's icon painters and is an exact copy of a 14th-century icon from the Church of the Resur
  1. nne.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Metropolia (archived)
  2. NIA Nizhny Novgorod — The Velikaya Rus music festival will be held in Nizhny Novgorod for the sixth time (archived)