Assumption Cathedral (Yaroslavl)

The first stone temple of Yaroslavl began to be built in 1215 by the will of Rostov prince Konstantin Vsevolodovich in the territory of the prince’s yard (Kremlin) . The church was solemnly consecrated in 1219 by Rostov Bishop Cyril and, as the main temple of the city, was named, according to the existing tradition, in honor of the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady - the Assumption Cathedral . Unlike other cathedrals of North-Eastern Russia , it was built of brick, but architects made extensive use of white stone carvings, the floor was lined with multi-colored majolica tiles, and the doors were decorated with gilded copper . ^[one]

In 1501, a fire broke out and vaults collapsed near the church. When clearing the rubble, the relics of the 13th-century Yaroslavl princes , Vasily and Konstantin Vsevolodovich, were discovered, which later became the main cathedral relic. They rebuilt and consecrated the temple around 1516 , probably on the site of the previous one. The Assumption Church was small in size, on the basement or basement, and had a side chapel in its western part. Its closest analogue can be considered the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin . After 1605, an illustrated synodic begins to be compiled in the Assumption Cathedral. In 1612, during the Time of Troubles, Metropolitan Kirill (Zavidov) blessed Dmitry Pozharsky here on a campaign to liberate Moscow.

When the Assumption Cathedral was dilapidated, according to the royal decree of 1642, it was ordered to make a new stone cathedral church in a new place, and disassemble the old one, keeping only the cellar under the church, where the "green and lead treasury" was located, to strengthen it and use it for the same purpose. But, since this room was damp, at the suggestion of the governor , a treasury chamber was built on the basis of the undiscovered walls of the upper tier of the old cathedral. In 1646 a five-domed cathedral with a 55-meter bell tower was erected and consecrated.

In the second half of the 17th century, state-owned construction took place in Yaroslavl, and in 1659 the tsar issued a decree on the construction of a new cathedral church, since the old one was modest in size and suffered (roof, chapters and other external buildings ^[2] ), although less than others, in a fire on July 10, 1658, in which most of the buildings of Yaroslavl burned down. The new cathedral was a six-pillar five-domed building; stone porches typical of many 17th-century Yaroslavl temples were built at the northern, western and southern entrances. At the same time, the octagonal tented bell tower was laid.

The temple was badly damaged in the fire of 1670 and a few years later it was built again. The building had a Byzantine cubic figure and five large chapters. The interior of the cathedral was painted in 1671-1674; this letter was preserved without updating until 1825. ^[2] In the next two centuries, the temple underwent a series of reconstructions, especially significant after 1788, when it became a cathedral in connection with the transfer of the center of the diocese to Yaroslavl. In the 1720s, the western porch was added, at the end of the century the porch was redone, in 1832-1833, a warm church with a throne was added to the south wall in the name of the holy princes Vasily and Konstantin. In 1832-1836, according to the project of architect A.I. Melnikov, a new bell tower was built instead of the old one, with a tent, in 1844 the domes of the cathedral - the first in the city - were covered with gold, at the end of the 19th century they expanded the warm western porch and combined it with the church of Vasily and Konstantin .

At the end of the 19th century there were 2 thrones in the cathedral: the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Prince Vladimir; five-tier iconostasis with precious salaries; a number of remarkable icons and other antiquities. Under the arches of the temple, archbishops Pavel , Simeon and Leonid were buried. ^[2]

The Assumption Cathedral was badly damaged during the anti-Bolshevik uprising in 1918, a partial restoration was carried out in the autumn of 1924. In 1922, the temple was given over to the labor exchange , from 1930 to 1937 it housed a grain warehouse. August 26, 1937 the cathedral was blown up, and in its place - a city park of culture and recreation. During repeated excavations, the efforts of N. N. Voronin and other archaeologists to find the foundations of the brick cathedral of the pre-Mongol era were unsuccessful.

On October 26, 2004, the new Assumption Cathedral was laid in the same place. Despite the fact that the Yaroslavl restorer Vyacheslav Safronov , whose project involved the exact reconstruction of the destroyed temple, and the Moscow architect Aleksey Denisov (who participated in the restoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior ) won the competition for the best design of the cathedral, the choice was made in favor of Denisov ^[3] . The main sponsor of the project is Moscow businessman Viktor Tyryshkin .

The appearance of the new Assumption Cathedral is alien to the Upper Volga tradition; of the Old Russian monuments closest to him is the Smolensky Cathedral of the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow ^[4] . The area of ​​the temple is about 2 thousand m², capacity - more than 4 thousand people, the height to the base of the cross - 50 m. The basement floor houses the hall of church cathedrals, a museum, the refectory and the chambers of the ruling bishop. ^{[5] [6] [7]}

The main volume of the temple was built on the 1000th anniversary of Yaroslavl in 2010, but already during construction the cathedral was criticized, primarily for its size ^[8] . In particular, its construction raised concern at the 33rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee , as changing the general view of the city: ^[9]

“It’s dangerous to put such a colossus on Strelka. The soil there “floats”, and even if the temple does not move down, the embankment may collapse under the influence of such a huge. The Metropolitan Chambers can also “float,” writes one of the local publications. ^[8]

It was also planned to build a stand-alone bell tower 70 meters high, however, according to the defenders of the cultural heritage of Yaroslavl, this building can finally violate the historical panorama of the city ^[10] .

In the evening of August 27, 2010, Archbishop Kirill of Yaroslavl and Rostov held the first service in the new church, despite the fact that not all construction work was completed. The cathedral was consecrated by Patriarch Kirill on September 12, 2010.

In the temple are the relics of the holy noble princes of Yaroslavl Theodore Rostislavich and his sons David and Konstantin ^[11] , as well as particles of the relics of the holy noble princes Vasily and Konstantin Vsevolodovich ^[12] .

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  Cathedral under construction in 2009

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  View from the Volga

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  Main facade

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  The iconostasis of the new cathedral

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  Bells

• Lebedev A. Assumption Cathedral in Yaroslavl. 2nd ed. - Yaroslavl: 1896.
• Marasanova V.M. Chronicle of Yaroslavl: 1010-2010. St. Petersburg: Publishing House “Marine Petersburg”, 2007. - 360 s; silt

•   Wikimedia Commons has media related to Assumption Cathedral on Strelka
• News about the construction of the cathedral at the office. site of the Yaroslavl diocese
• "Secrets of the Assumption Cathedral" in Yaroslavl