Dikanka Village: Trinity Church

Not far from Poltava, in the village of Dikanka, there is a beautiful Holy Trinity Church, built in 1780 in the late Baroque style. It is located on the site of the old wooden Church of the Exaltation of the Cross and built at the expense of Pavel Kochubey. This tall, single-domed temple with four half-domes was a kind of inspiration for Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. It is believed that it was in this church that the blacksmith Vakula from the legendary work “The Night Before Christmas” worked. The writer himself visited her many times.

This majestic temple, gravitating to samples of classical architecture, is richly decorated with modeling and amazing painting on the walls. The floor of the temple is paved with cast iron slabs, under which there were secret entrances to the temple. It was believed that the church had two secret entrances: the first - for protection from enemies, the second - the way to the crypt, where Pavel Kochubey and his wife were buried. In 1781, a two-tiered bell tower was built next to the church, and the territory is surrounded by a metal fence.

Unfortunately, the temple was closed for a long time. In Soviet times it was used as a warehouse for grain. Only in 1993, the restoration of the church began: a postcard from 1902 recreated the general appearance of the church, built a new iconostasis. Local artists painted about 50 icons, and the masters were towers with a characteristic ornament.