The Holy Ascension Cathedral in the city of military glory Velikiye Luki is a landmark with a rich and largely tragic history. In 2014, the city celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the restoration of the temple.
Ancient Monastery and Time of Troubles
Despite the fact that, in fact, the modern Holy Ascension Cathedral is a new building, Velikiye Luki keeps the memory of its ancient origin. Initially, on the site where the temple now stands, the Ilyinsky Monastery was located. The history of this unpreserved monastery is drowning in the darkness of centuries, and, unfortunately, very scarce information about it has survived to this day. What is known for certain is that the monastery was burnt down by Polish troops during the Time of Troubles, at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Alas, after the ruin the monastery could not be revived, and for almost a century the remaining buildings fell into decay, and the territory fell into disrepair.
New life in the old place
Ilyinsky Monastery was officially abolished in 1632, although it had not actually operated for many years. Only in 1675 life was revived here. On theIn the place of the remnants of the old monastery overgrown with grass, a new Ascension nunnery was founded. The initiator of its construction was the Metropolitan of Novgorod and Velikoluksky Kornily. The basis for the construction of a new monastery complex in the city was the petition of the nuns from the Vvedensky monastery destroyed by the Lithuanians.
Initially, the monastery was built in a tree, but these buildings did not last long. The fire of 1719 almost completely destroyed them. For the second time, solid stone structures were erected.
An invaluable contribution to the development of the monastery and its construction was made by its fourth ruler, Abbess Margarita. Through her efforts, in 1752, a church was erected in the name of the Ascension of the Lord, from which the Holy Ascension Cathedral subsequently grew. Velikie Luki was enriched with a magnificent stone building.
Plan and architectural features
According to its architectural design, the church was a typical building in the style of Moscow or Naryshkin baroque. On a rectangular basement, or quadruple, an octagonal volume rose - an octagon, covered with an onion dome.
These forms of architecture lead from Russian wooden church architecture. At the end of the 17th century they switched to stone construction. Although by the beginning of the construction of the Holy Ascension Cathedral, St. Petersburg and Moscow had already captured the new style of classicism, in provincial cities, churches of this type were built until the end of the 18th century.
The modern plan of the church includes a western gallery, a vestibule, side aisles,a five-sided apse, a refectory, as well as a three-tiered bell tower. The latter was a special pride of the monastery, which singled out and elevated the Holy Ascension Cathedral above the city.
Veliky Luki, like many ancient cities, since the foundation of the monastery and the end of the construction of the cathedral, has been overgrown with buildings of different times and styles. Against their background, the architecture of the church is lost. However, this dissonance does not prevent the city from enjoying the revived monument and spiritual center.
Holy Ascension Cathedral (Veliky Luki) and the history of the 20th century
The monastery existed until 1918. The turbulent vicissitudes of modern history have not bypassed either the city of Velikiye Luki or the cathedral itself. After the revolution, it was abolished, although the temple operated for some time. In 1925 it was also closed. The building of the 18th century was given over to trading warehouses, and gradually it began to collapse. Before the war, the bell tower was dismantled, the bells were removed and melted down.
Surprisingly, during the hostilities, the cathedral was practically not damaged, but in subsequent years it was systematically destroyed, trying to bring it into a non-cult look. To do this, the central octagon was demolished, and only a rectangular box of the basement remained from the former splendor of the cathedral. In 1990, the cathedral was restored and began to function again as a parish church.
