The history of the main cathedral of the ancient city of Alexandrov begins in the 11th century, when Christianity was just being established in Russia. It was at this time that a small wooden church of the Nativity of Christ appeared next to the Nikolsky churchyard. Over its long history, the temple has been overhauled eight times. He withstood the invasions of the enemy, hunger years and revolution. In the last century, the temple was closed for several decades. However, today the restored Nativity of Christ Cathedral is reopened and attracts many pilgrims and tourists traveling along the routes of the "Golden Ring" of Russia.
Cathedral history
Today, opposite the main cathedral of Alexandrov, there is a cinema "Saturn". In 990, the very first wooden church dedicated to St. Nicholas of Mirliki was erected here. It was located near the Nikolsky churchyard, where the inhabitants of the surrounding villages were buried for a long time. The remains of this ancient cemetery can still be seen today.
Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ from a bird's eye view
Years passed, and the settlement around the Nikolsky churchyard grew. One church was no longer enough, and in the second half of the 11th century, a second church was erected to the east of the cemetery - the Nativity of Christ Church. After that, the village was named after the name of the temple - Rozhdestvensky. Gradually, it merged with the unspoken capital of Ivan IV the Terrible and became the extended Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda.
Surprisingly, both temples managed to survive the devastating Time of Troubles. In the annals compiled in the 20-30s of the 17th century, it is noted that the whole earth around Aleksandrovka Sloboda was ruined. The fields were empty, and most of the villages were burned down. However, the Nikolskaya and Nativity of Christ churches miraculously remained intact.
View of the cathedral from the side of Sovetsky lane
By the middle of the 17th century, the lands around the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda began to recover from the ruinous Polish-Lithuanian invasion. Villages grew, local residents rebuilt destroyed houses. The parishioners of the Nativity Church raised funds, and the church was expanded and renovated. During this period, the first nuns began to settle with her, who later united in the Assumption Monastery. So the Nativity of Christ Church became the ancestor of the female Holy Dormition monastery.
In the chronicles of 1675, the church at the churchyard is described as a chopped cage with a four-walled altar room. In those days, she was quite rich - she had a refectory and an extensive porch. Inside the temple there were colored paintings, as well as icons with gilded and silver-plated frames.
View of the eastern facade and the main entrance of the cathedral
12 years later, the children of the Russian Emperor Alexei Mikhailovich - 21-year-old John and 15-year-old Peter (the future Emperor Peter I) - visited the church in Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. In 1696, thanks to the active participation of Peter I, one stone church appeared on the site of two ancient wooden churches.
Its main altar was dedicated to the Nativity of Christ, and the side altar was dedicated to Nicholas the Wonderworker. So in the new church the memory of the first two churches of the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda was immortalized. From the documents it is known that the stone church was built on donations from the tsar and money collected by parishioners, and the palace clerk Yakov Ladogin supervised all the work.
It is curious that the history of the Nativity of Christ Cathedral is closely intertwined with the fate of the daughter of Emperor Peter I - Elizabeth. Until 1741, during the reign of the despotic Tsarina Anna Ioannovna, she lived for a long time in the Alexandrovskaya Sloboda, sent away from the royal court. The Tsarevna's palace stood just a hundred meters south of the Nativity of Christ Church. Elizaveta Petrovna was very fond of visiting the cathedral built by her father. She took part in the sacraments of weddings and baptisms, helped to equip the church and took care of its parishioners. When the daughter of Peter I ascended the Russian throne, she came to the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda many times and always came to the service at the Nativity of Christ Church.
In 1829, the old wooden bell tower was replaced with a new stone one with the money of the Alexandrov merchant Fyodor Nikolayevich Baranov. Unfortunately, it has not survived to this day. This bell tower stood for exactly 100 years and was dismantled in 1929 by order of the city authorities. In 1831, a new chapel was added to the Nativity of Christ Church in honor of the Archangel Michael.
The son of Baranov's benefactor, Ivan Fedorovich, continued the glorious family tradition and kept the promise he made to his father. With the money of Ivan Fedorovich, the temple was reconstructed and expanded. The side-altar of St. Nicholas most of all needed repair work, so it was rebuilt and consecrated anew.
Under the leadership of the Vladimir provincial architect Ya.M. Nikiforov, the entire Nativity of Christ church was rebuilt in the pseudo-Russian style. The expanded cathedral became very spacious and could accommodate almost all the parishioners of the city of Alexandrov and nearby villages. The church's Proverbs consisted of an archpriest, two priests, a deacon, and two psalmists.
View of the dome of the Cathedral of the Nativity
Since 1827, there was an almshouse at the cathedral, designed for 38 places. The charitable institution had its own building, and poor and sick men and women lived in it all year round. The maintenance of the almshouse cost 1405 rubles a year and was covered by the funds of local merchants and benefactors.
When the Soviet government actively fought against religion, the Nativity of Christ Church was closed, and all liturgical utensils and the library collected by parishioners were taken from it. In the summer of 1929, by decision of the city authorities, the head of the cathedral and the upper part of the bell tower were demolished. Until the 1990s, a variety of organizations were located inside the headless temple. The opera house staged its performances here, and the youth club held dance evenings. He worked in the cathedral as a house of artistic creation and a center of culture. There was a period when the local bakery baked bread inside the cult building.
The revival of the Orthodox church began in 1991. At this time, the Holy Dormition Monastery was recreated, and the Nativity of Christ Church had a new abbot. Just a year later, the first service was held here. However, the old building required major repairs. It was half empty and had no chapters. The temple was restored gradually, by the beginning of 2003 the main work was completed, and the cathedral appeared before the parishioners and guests of Aleksandrov in all its glory. The work on the restoration of the temple was supervised by the architect, Honored Artist of Russia Yuri Pavlovich Khmelevskaya.
Architectural features of the temple and its interior
Today the majestic cathedral has the main Nativity of Christ side-chapel. The southern and northern aisles are not yet fully utilized. On the western side, there used to be a bell tower, additional premises for church needs were added to the building. Here, in particular, the baptismal is located.
The main volume of the cathedral is covered with an elegant sailing vault, above which there is a powerful drum and a bulbous cupola. The refectory is completed by three spherical vaults covered with a gable roof with rafters.
Inside the temple is very spacious - there is a lot of air and light, as well as excellent acoustics. The cathedral has a beautiful gilded five-tiered iconostasis, but the plastered white walls have not yet been painted.
The area around the cathedral is well-groomed. From here there is an excellent view of the surrounding quarters of Alexandrov, the valley of the Seraya river and the territory of the Kremlin. In 2013, a monument to the holy noble Prince Alexander Nevsky was erected near the temple.
The current state of the temple and the visiting regime
Nativity of Christ Cathedral is one of the attractions of Alexandrov. Although the temple was recently restored, it attracts many tourists and pilgrims.Since 2013, the cathedral has the status of a cathedral in the newly created Alexander diocese. There are no tall buildings around the temple building, so it can be seen from different parts of the city.
Today it is a functioning Orthodox church, and church services are held here daily. There is a library and a prosphora bakery at the temple, and Sunday school classes are held for the children of the parishioners.
How to get there
View of the dome of the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ from the inside
The temple stands in the center of the city, on Cathedral Square, 1. It is located 1.7 km east of the Aleksandrov 1 railway station. The Cathedral can be reached on foot along Lenin Street and Sovetsky Lane in 15 minutes. City buses No. 2, 3, 4, 7, 9 also stop near it (stop "Cathedral Square").
If you get to the city by car, from the direction of Vladimir or Sergiev Posad, you need to go along the P75 highway. Within the city, these are Sovetskaya and Lenin streets. The cathedral is located 180 m from the south of the highway and is clearly visible from afar.
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