Destroyed mirage: Kremlin cathedrals in Kostroma

“Long before the pier, when against the background of blue wooded distances, white Kostroma bell towers gently appear and ... you can hear the raspberry ringing of bells spreading freely across the water ... – the image of some magical city rises in the sky in a living mirage” – described the artist and architectural connoisseur Georgy Lukomsky, who sailed to Kostroma from Yaroslavl in the summer of 1912.

The bell tower and cathedrals of the Kremlin served as the main architectural vertical of the city. Shopping rows, houses, administrative buildings resorted to their protection and prayer help. So conceived two people in the XVIII century.

The first was the Kostroma bishop Simon Lagov, himself of the Vologda peasants, together with all in 1773 survived the fire of Kostroma. His share fell on the restoration of the ancient Assumption Cathedral. Vladyka decided to build a warm Epiphany Cathedral, which is an unprecedented thing! - more than cold. It's always been the opposite. And these projects were entrusted by the bishop to Stepan Vorotilov. He was the second.

The Quran is the testimony of the Quran:

“he engaged in fishing with his parent, then, having learned skillfully tailor, and then blacksmithing, he entered into stone work, and being subordinate to contractors, diligently delved into his duty. By himself he learned to draw and draw plans; finally, about the 30th year of his life by natural attraction, without the help of outside teachers and mentors, he himself read geometry and algebra with attention, learned architecture, in which he managed and greatly improved himself in practice.

Vorotilov learned from his own mistakes, corrected failures at his own expense. Perhaps that is why it was so difficult to break the beauty he created.

“Religion is the opium of the people,” said Anglican priest Charles Kingsley. He meant pain relief. This is how this substance was used in the nineteenth century. Karl Marx launched the phrase into political journalism. But in the next century, opium was no longer considered a cure, and religion was destroyed as a legacy of a cursed past.

The Presidium of the Kostroma City Council on June 26, 1933 considered the question:

“The presence of church buildings among the park, the only place in the city for mass festivities, next to the monument of the leader of the world proletariat Comrade Lenin and the buildings of the textile institute, insults the feelings of the mass of working people free from religious prejudices, completely does not correspond to the plan of this part of the city and prevents the proper planning of the park” and decided: “to consider it necessary to demolish the church of the cathedral group this year.”

Kremlin cathedrals were blown up in the summer of 1934. At the end of June, the gilded chapters were removed, galleries began to be dismantled. A representative of restoration workshops, one L.K. Lyubimov, arrived. Under his supervision measured the Assumption Cathedral.

The first explosions occurred on July 6 and 7. On the night of the 8th new destruction opened the oldest part of the cathedral. Work stopped, began to explore and sketch. During the night from 19 to 20, additional subversive work was carried out. According to Lyubimov, “for the first time, perhaps, we had the use of explosives in the survey of architectural monuments.” Again explosions, again measurements and photographs.

The Red Army joked that they dumped all the “material” into the Volga. The brick was supposed to be used in the construction of the Zvorykinsky plant.

Today the Epiphany Cathedral was restored, the restoration of the Assumption began. You can imagine how centuries ago the inhabitants of wooden Kostroma every day went out of the house and celebrated how he grew up. And rejoiced - as we did...

And the Zvorykinsky plant suffered the fate of cathedrals. Too bad.

Epiphany Cathedral – the final point of the red route of daily excursions"Kostroma at 15:15."On the blue route, we inspect it from the Volga embankment, and on a VR excursion."Flight over Kostroma"- from a bird's eye view.

According to the materials of the scientific consultant of the project “Kostroma at 15:15” candidate of cultural studies Larisa Sizintseva.