Altai Territory, Barnaul, St. Nicholas Church: history, architecture, modernity

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

St. Nicholas Church is one of the oldest in Barnaul, the capital of the Altai Territory. Built originally for the soldiers, it became the center of the spiritual life of the city and a century later restored again and receives parishioners. Its central location embodies the entire Christian Barnaul.

St. Nicholas Church: construction history

The construction of one of the oldest Barnaul churches falls on the beginning of the 20th century. During this period, there was a custom to build a regimental church for each military unit, if its strength was at least one battalion. Since a soldier regiment was stationed in Barnaul, the construction of a temple for its soldiers was simply necessary.

For the construction, a considerable amount was allocated from the treasury - 36 thousand rubles, and the project of the stone church was approved by the emperor himself. By the way, this was not a unique, but a typical project, according to which more than 60 soldiers' churches were built throughout Russia. Construction in Barnaul was led by the architect Ivan Nosovich, known for designing other chapels and churches, which to this dayproud of Barnaul.

St. Nicholas Church got its place in April 1903, when the city council allocated a plot of 290 sazhens in the very center of the city, on Moskovsky Prospekt, very close to the regiment's barracks. A year later, in a solemn ceremony, the first stone was laid, from which the future St. Nicholas Church grew.

Barnaul worked hard, and its construction proceeded at a record pace, largely due to the fact that a large number of not only soldiers, but also ordinary people were involved in it, because in those days it was an honor to participate in the construction of the temple, to take part in this many wanted to participate. It took the city only 2 years to build the church - six months later, the builders had already erected the walls and the roof, and it took another one and a half to finish the interior.

In February 1906, the church was consecrated and began to take the soldiers of Barnaul for the oath. In addition to the military, local residents also went to services here - the convenient location of the temple contributed to this. And the large area around it made it possible to hold ceremonial events for a large crowd of residents.

However, soon a sad fate befell the St. Nicholas Church, like many churches throughout Russia. In the 1930s, the temple was closed, the crosses were removed and destroyed, many things were looted and destroyed, such as unique paintings, ancient icons and books.

Modernity

For a long time the church was empty, in the Soviet period there was a military club and a school for pilots, despite the central location, the building came todesolation.

However, in 1991, the Patriarch of All Russia Alexy II came to Altai on a visit, in honor of his arrival the building was solemnly handed over to the Orthodox diocese, and in 1992, restoration began in St. Nicholas Church. In the early 2000s, she met the parishioners again.

Despite the fact that all the icons of the church were lost, today there are faces that come to pray from all over the region. This, for example, is the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, painted in the 19th century. It was found in one of the villages of the Toguchinsky district of the Altai Territory and first transferred to the local history museum in the 80s, and 10 years later - to the St. Nicholas Church.

Another acquisition of the church is an old bell of 1903 and new murals, the author of which was the famous Altai artist V. Konkov. A new iconostasis with paintings by Palekh artists was also brought to Barnaul.

St. Nicholas Church got a new dome and crosses

In 2006-2007, the dome and crosses of the temple were reconstructed. First came the turn of the dome - on June 3, 2006, it found its place under the gaze of Bishop Maxim of Altai and the parishioners of the church. The dome of titanium was made in Chelyabinsk, and the new three-ton dome shining with gold, as similar as possible to the one that crowned the church when it was built in the early 20th century, took its rightful place.

As for the crosses, they were made in Barnaul by local craftsmen according to their own sketches. There are only 5 crosses: two on each side of the church and one of the most importantcenter.

Temple Architecture

The temple was built according to the design of the architect Fyodor Verzhbitsky, which was approved in 1901 as a model for the construction of soldiers' and regimental churches throughout Russia. Made in the eclectic style, which was very common in Russia at the end of the 19th century. There are also elements of the Russian-Byzantine style in the project.

The type of church is single-nave basilica, that is, rectangular in shape with one nave. The temple was built of red brick with a three-tiered bell tower and a portal in the western part of the facade. At the time of construction, the building perfectly fit into the architectural ensemble of Moskovsky Prospekt, the main street around which Barnaul grew. Nikolskaya Church today is located on the central avenue of the city between the building of the cooperative technical school and the educational buildings of the Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

Relics of the Holy Matrona of Moscow

St. Nicholas Church meets crowds of parishioners not only on Christian holidays, but also on days when within the walls of the temple you can touch the holy relics or icons brought from other regions of Russia. This practice is very common today and allows believers to see the most important and sacred shrines with their own eyes.

So, in March 2016, in the St. Nicholas Church, one could pray to the relics of St. Matrona, which were brought to Barnaul from Kalmykia. By the way, this is not the first time that St. Nicholas Church has received the shrine. Barnaul already met the relics of Matrona in 2013. Then the parishioners could notonly to touch them, but also to participate in a specially organized religious procession.

Contacts: Nikolskaya Church, Barnaul

The address of the St. Nicholas Church is the city of Barnaul, Lenina Prospekt, 36. You can get to it from the bus station or railway station by bus number 55 or by trolleybus number 5 to the Medical Institute stop. There is the St. Nicholas Church (Barnaul). Temple phone - (3852) 35-49-75.

Services in the church are held daily from Monday to Saturday. Divine Liturgy starts at 8:30 am and evening service at 5:00 pm