Trinity Cathedral (Kaluga)

A wooden church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity was built in Kaluga in the 16th century ^[1] . One of the first references to it is contained in the New Chronicler and is associated with the burial of the body of False Dmitry II in 1610: "... his thief took and buried honestly in the cathedral church at the Trinity " ^[2] . In 1619, the church building burned down during the ruin of the city by the Cossacks and was restored only in 1626 at the expense of the boyar Romanov. However, it quickly fell into disrepair, and in 1686 a cathedral of white stone was built by the noblewoman A.P. Khitrovo , which became the first stone building in the city. This building was dismantled in 1808-1811 ^{[3] [4]} .

In 1786, at the behest of Catherine II , a new one was laid north of the dilapidated church, for the construction of which she allocated 30 thousand rubles. The author of the project was P.R. Nikitin . By 1788, the foundation of the cathedral was ready and a basement was erected, but construction was suspended due to war . In 1800, the base was proposed to be dismantled, and on the foundation to build a temple in the name of the apostles Peter and Paul. Funds were raised for this matter, but the idea did not receive further development ^[5] . The construction of the Trinity Cathedral was resumed according to the project drawn up by I. D. Yasnygin in 1803 on the basis of the parts already erected ^[4] . Later it was suspended for several years due to doubts about the correctness of the construction of the giant dome with a diameter of about 17 m, while the dome that was being built at the same time in Kazan Cathedral was planned to be only 14.5 m in diameter. When Yasnygin proved the correctness of their calculations, the construction of the temple was continued and completed in 1811, after which work began on the interior decoration. The first iconostasis , commissioned by Governor A. L. Lvov in Moscow, designed by architect M. M. Kazakov and executed under his supervision by master Dmitriev in the forms of classicism, burned down during a Moscow fire . A year later, Dmitriev re-manufactured the iconostasis, already working in Kaluga ^{[6] [7]} , and in 1814 it was installed in the church. April 10 (22), 1819 the cathedral was consecrated by the Kaluga archbishop Anthony ^{[4] [5] [8]} . Since 1866, the banner of the Azov Infantry Regiment , saved by the standard bearer Starichkov when captured by the French in 1805, was kept in the cathedral ^[9] . However, an examination conducted in 2003 established that this banner could not be related to the feat of Starichkov, since it was granted to the Azov Regiment in 1810. In 1894, on the initiative of the governor A. G. Bulygin , a square was set up around the cathedral called “Vladimir” in honor of the visit of Kaluga by Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and his wife in 1888 ^[10] .

In 1924, the cathedral was closed. In the 1930s, the interior decoration and the iconostasis were taken by the Bolsheviks to Moscow ^[1] . The decision to blow up the temple of power was stopped by the lack of funds for the analysis of the rubble formed in this case. Subsequently, the building served as the House of Defense, a cinema, a menagerie, an exhibition hall, and a sports school. In the early years of the war, ammunition was stored in it. During the retreat of the Soviet troops in October 1941, the building was set on fire ^[11] .

The cathedral was returned to the ownership of the Kaluga diocese in July 1991. A year later, a temporary chapel was built in the western part of the church, in which services were held. By 1997, the crosses, the central dome and the spire of the bell tower were restored to proper condition, the internal walls were restored and plastered. By the summer the exterior decoration has been completed, the central dome is painted inside. On August 24, 1999, the cathedral was given the status of a cathedral. In 2001, a new iconostasis was installed in the temple ^[11] .

In terms of plan, the cathedral repeats the schemes of the Latin cross, the external decor is made in the spirit of classicism . The four-tier bell tower, crowned with a spire, originally stood separately from the western side, connected to the temple by a separate passage- porch . Subsequently, the transition was built up ^[6] . The walls of the temple were lined with colorful alabaster. The height of the bell tower was about 70 meters. The iconostasis was made in the Empire style and rose about eight meters in the opening of the arch of the altar ^[11] . Its upper part was crowned with a Corinthian order , the pilasters of which united the three-tiered flanks, and in the middle formed a dome semiconductor with an arc-shaped colonnade, repeating the bending of the outer wall of the apse of the cathedral. The middle part of the iconostasis was occupied by a forward arch with royal doors , ending with a stepped attic . This part was crowned by an ionic order of a smaller scale with thin columns, which continued in the iconostases of the side chapels ^[6] .

The original iconostasis was lost in Soviet times. The interior of the temple, created in the 1990-2000s, is distinguished by very dark murals "in the old Russian style" and has a multi-tiered iconostasis.