St. Nicholas Cathedral (Vienna)

First Temple

The first, Trinity Church, was transported to Vienna in 1762 at the request of Prince Ambassador D.M. Golitsyn from Augsburg . There was an iconostasis “on a blue stone” in the temple. The church was housed in the prince’s house, and then "in a special living room."

In 1781, the church moved to another, but cramped and poorly lit place. In 1803, the temple was moved to a new, more adapted place, and in 1812 - to the house on Walfishgasse 5

Modern Cathedral

The temple was built as an embassy (at the Russian imperial embassy ) in 1893 - 1899 according to the design of Grigory Ivanovich Kotov by the Italian architect Luigi Giacomelli . A significant part of the construction costs (400,000 rubles) were donations from Emperor Alexander III .

Consecrated on April 4, 1899 by the Archbishop Jerome of Kholm and Warsaw.

After the outbreak of World War I , in view of the severance of diplomatic relations between Russia and Austria, the embassy was closed, and with it the cathedral. Upon the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USSR and Austria in February 1924 , the temple was transferred to the jurisdiction of the community in the jurisdiction of the Moscow-loyal Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky) . The latter, together with his parishes, transferred in February 1931 to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople ( West European Exarchate of Russian Parishes ).

After the start of World War II in June 1941 , all real estate of the Soviet diplomatic mission in Vienna , including the cathedral, was confiscated by the Foreign Ministry of the Third Reich . On May 19, 1943, the cathedral was transferred for temporary use to the ROCOR community, headed by retired colonel Georg von Genyuk.

After the liberation of Vienna by Soviet troops in May 1945 , the temple was transferred to the Moscow Patriarchate.

In 1962 , in view of the establishment of the Vienna and Austrian diocese by the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the church became known as the cathedral.

On May 19, 1969, the parish of the cathedral was recognized as a legal entity .

From 1975 to 1991, the Archbishop (later Metropolitan) of Vienna was Irenaeus (Zuzemil) .

From 2003 to 2008, the cathedral was undergoing restoration ^[1] , at the end of which it was planned to consecrate the renovated church ^{[2] [3]} . However, instead of him , a memorial service was held on December 21, 2008 for the late Patriarch Alexy II ^[4] .

The church is made in the forms of traditional Russian architecture .

In the building of the cathedral 2 floors: the upper church was consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker ; lower - in memory of Emperor Alexander III , his patron saint, Prince Alexander Nevsky .

Near the temple are the administrative premises of the diocese.

• Dehio Wien. II. bis IX. und XX. Bezirk. Anton Schroll. Wien. 1993 ( ISBN 3-7031-0680-8 )

• Official site (Russian) (German) (English)
• Unknown pages of the history of the Church of St. Nicholas in Vienna On the website of the Russian Embassy in Austria.