Alexander Nevsky Church (Chelyabinsk)

Pre-Revolutionary Period

On the former outskirts of the city in 1881, Alexander Square was defeated. The name was given in memory of Emperor Alexander II . With the help of Chelyabinsk citizens and his personal funds, the merchant Kutyrev laid a chapel here, named after the prominent Russian commander Prince Alexander Nevsky , for the feats of arms elevated to the rank of saint. The construction was carried out without the participation of an architect and was soon suspended, all buildings were broken; in this form, the area lasted about 10 years. Only on October 3, 1884 did the Orenburg Consistory offer Kutyrev "the chapel he had begun, which he could convert to the church."

The construction of the church of Alexander Nevsky in Chelyabinsk in the late XIX – early XX centuries was not an isolated phenomenon. The opening of the railway station in 1892 in 10 years doubled the population of the provincial town, and in the first decade of the 20th century it amounted to more than 60 thousand. The Church, caring for the moral education of the flock, urgently required the appearance of new religious buildings. One of them was a church in the name of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky.

In 1907, at the request of local merchants and philistines, the construction of the church was resumed according to a new project, the author of which was the world-famous architect Alexander Nikanorovich Pomerantsev , at that time the former head of the workshops of the higher school at the Academy of Arts. The famous Moscow trade rows (1889-1893), Alexander Nevsky Cathedrals in Moscow (destroyed in 1952), Sofia and other cities were built according to his projects. At the end of the XIX century, Pomerantsev with a group of Russian architects, which included K. Ton , V. Schusev , developed a new style in architecture - “ Russian-Byzantine ”. This style was also used in the construction of the temple in Chelyabinsk. It took four years to finish the outdoor work. 60 thousand rubles were donated for the construction, donated by the Chelyabinsk citizens, the City Duma and Nicholas II . Funds were enough only for the construction of walls. The mosaic above the entrances laid in the project, the pedestals for high reliefs in the tented part of the building, were not realized. The building committee of the parish trusteeship, established at the church, sought to complete the internal funds for the lighting of the building, painting the walls, painting the dome part, etc. with the remaining funds.

Local masters were involved in the work on the iconostasis and monumental painting: the iconostasis was made by a master woodworker from Verkhneuralsk , and the icons for the iconostasis and painting of the dome part were created in the workshop owned by the artist V.M. Oshchepkov. Artwork was carried out from the end of 1914 until May 1915, and in 1916. Themes are canonized Russian saints: Alexander Nevsky , Metropolitan Jonah , Boris and Gleb , Yaroslav the Wise , Vladimir Monomakh .

Divine services in the church of Alexander Nevsky were held for more than 10 years, starting in 1916. Soon after the October Revolution, the organs of Soviet power in the city ​​of Chelyabinsk in memory of the events of 1905 assigned a new name to Aleksandrovskaya Square - Scarlet Field. In 1924, the parish council of the church openly entered the platform of the autocephalous church , recognizing the ruling Soviet power as the only legal administration. The congress of the Chelyabinsk diocese , which took place in the building of the church of Alexander Nevsky on June 29, 1926, confirmed its position in relation to Soviet power.

During the years of Soviet

On April 13, 1922, the temple building was transferred to the group of believers in accordance with the current legislation for “free, unlimited use”. In the same year, all valuables were seized from the church, with the proceeds from the sale of which the Bolsheviks planned to fight hunger .

March 4, 1930 the church was closed. The presidium of the district committee ordered the use of the vacated premises "for state official needs."

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the destruction of church buildings on the city squares and the removal of chapters from churches began in Chelyabinsk. The temple on the Crimson Field did not escape such a fate: the chapters with crosses and the tent of the bell tower were removed, the paintings on the walls were covered with paint, and later, ceilings and partitions were built in the middle of the church.

The building was initially given over to the newspaper workshop of the Chelyabinsk Worker Printing House, then it housed a military property warehouse and a planetarium. From 1940 and during the Great Patriotic War, collections of the Chelyabinsk Regional Art Gallery were located here, from 1944 - the vaults of the State Archives of the Chelyabinsk Region (archive employees also lived in some rooms ^[4] ), from 1956 to 1981 the planetarium worked, then the chess School and circles of the Palace of Pioneers.

Restoration. Organ Hall

In the early 1980s, it was decided to transfer the building of the Chelyabinsk Philharmonic. Preparations for the restoration of the building began in 1983. In the Central State Archive of Ancient Acts in Leningrad, 30 correspondence sheets were found outlining the construction and drawings made by Alexander Pomerantsev: two facades of the building, its plan and section without specifying dimensions. Architects had drawings without sizes and two photographs of 1916 and 1956 on hand. Unparalleled work was done to restore the building. Fully updated facade. The secret of the chain and cross masonry of brick was rediscovered. The walls of the building with brickwork of different colors were covered with a material that gave the building a uniform red color.

13 domes were re-installed at a height of 30 m. The largest onion bulbs were 2 m in diameter and 5 m in height; the smallest diameter is 1.2 m. Each bulb ended with a spire of 2.5 m.

The interior of the building has been transformed - stucco molding in gilding, the walls are decorated with panels of marble , jasper , serpentine , labradorite ; panels and floors are made of precious wood ; window frames, doors, etc. were re-made. ^[5] An air conditioning system was developed for the organ.

In the 1990s, the onion spiers were replaced with gilded Orthodox crosses.

Transfer of the ROC building

In 1990, the question was first raised about transferring the organ hall building of the Chelyabinsk diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church . The musicians stated that organ transfer carries a risk of organ organ loss, since each instrument is created taking into account the acoustics of a particular room ^{[6] [7]} . The creators of the Chelyabinsk organ in 1992 stated that "transferring the organ to another room from an artistic point of view and from the point of view of organ builders is unacceptable" ^[8] , is associated with a huge risk of damage to the instrument and will inevitably lead to the loss of its acoustic properties. Organist Vladimir Khomyakov in 1997 reported that the Hermann Eule company officially refused to participate in organ transfer ^[9] . In an official letter, Hermann Eule experts warned that moving the organ to another building is associated with a greater risk of damage.

Alexander Schipkov in his book “What Russia Believes” (1998) wrote: “Workers of the registry office bless the bride and groom, imitating the sacrament of wedding. Church walls, veil, organ, champagne, best men - all this is enough to satisfy the religious needs of young people. When the Chelyabinsk diocese tried to return the cathedral, the Committee of Culture employees went to the porch and hung out a poster: “Not with bread alone!”. Organ spirituality was defended, the diocese was put to shame in the eyes of the public ” ^[10] .

On April 19, 2010, during the visit of Patriarch Kirill to Chelyabinsk, the future governor of the Chelyabinsk region Mikhail Yurevich (at that time - the mayor of Chelyabinsk) announced that a decision had been made "to quickly free up the Alexander Nevsky Church in the city center" ^[11] . A commission will be created at the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk Region, which should develop a solution that suits all interested parties ^[12] . Some experts gave their assessment of the possibility of moving the tool to another room while maintaining the previous conditions for its use ^{[13] [14]} . Others pointed to a possible violation of the sound of the instrument in the new room ^{[15] [16]} . Jiri Kotsourek, Director of the Organizing Company Hermann Oil, said in an interview with the Kultura television channel: “We had repeated experience in moving and installing tools in a new place. But we came to the conclusion that when transferred, an organ loses its sound ” ^{[17] [18]} . The local press, citing this interview, published a number of reports stating that experts recognize the transfer of the organ as “fundamentally possible” ^{[19] [20]} , without mentioning the risks ^[18] to which the tool is exposed. Such a discrepancy among experts proves that even among them there was no consensus.

In June 2010, the director of the company “Hermann Oile” examined the organ, noted its good preservation ^[21] and called the existing premises “acoustically excellent” ^[22] . All three premises proposed by the city administration for organ transfer after the inspection were called absolutely unsuitable; it was recommended to build a new room for the organ hall ^[22] . The premises of the former Rodina cinema (examined by Eule specialists according to the drawings) were also called unsuitable, but it was possible that after a comprehensive reconstruction of the cinema, a hall suitable for the organ could be obtained ^[23] . For the reconstruction of the building of the former cinema "Rodina" in connection with the transfer of the body in the budget of the Chelyabinsk region for 2011, 200 million rubles were allocated ^[24] . The tool was planned to be carried out in 2012 ^[25] .

July 8, 2010 in the church building was the first worship in 80 years ^[26] . On December 3, 2010, a belfry of nine bells was installed with a total weight of 2.5 tons (the largest bell - 1140 kg) ^{[27] [28]} .

The transfer of the building of the Russian Orthodox Church’s organ hall caused widespread discussion in society, rallies and pickets were held against organ transfer and the installation of bells ^{[29] [30]} . November 27, 2013 it was announced the transfer of the temple building on the Scarlet Field of the Russian Orthodox Church.

• Official site of the Temple of Alexander Nevsky
• Chamber and organ music hall page (neopr.) (Inaccessible link - history ) . on the website of the Chelyabinsk concert association
• Concert Hall of chamber and organ music - an article in the electronic version of the Chelyabinsk encyclopedia (Chelyabinsk: Encyclopedia / Comp .: V. S. God, V. A. Chernozemtsev. - Ed. Rev. And add. - Chelyabinsk: Stone belt, 2001 . - 1112 p .; ill. ISBN 5-88771-026-8 )
• Alexander Nevskaya Church - an article in the electronic version of the Chelyabinsk encyclopedia (Chelyabinsk: Encyclopedia / Comp.: V. S. God, V. A. Chernozemtsev. - Ed. Ed. And add. - Chelyabinsk: Stone belt, 2001. - 1112 s .; ill. ISBN 5-88771-026-8 )
• Detailed history of the building, construction and transfer of the organ, photographs of the interior and office space of the organ hall: Part 1 , Part 2 (Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk community)
• The first concert in the new hall December 24, 2014 Live broadcast
• Unofficial site of the Organ Hall
• Panorama of the interior of the Organ Hall
• The plot of the STS-Chelyabinsk TV channel dedicated to the Temple of Alexander Nevsky
• Opening of the “Rodina” organ and chamber music hall (neopr.) (Inaccessible link) . Archived January 4, 2015.