■ Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral The Zhytomyr diocese of the UOC is the architectural dominant of Zhitomir. A 60-meter bell tower rises above the main entrance to the temple, the southwestern corner of which serves as the “zero” coordinate point for accurate maps of the city. In the 1770s. near this place they began to build a stone Uniate Church of the Transfiguration. In 1793, Volyn, including Zhitomir, passed from Catholic Poland to the Orthodox Russian Empire and became the Izyaslav governorate. In 1795, the governorship was renamed Volyn. His administration was temporarily stationed in Zhitomir. For this reason, the newly built Transfiguration Church was consecrated in 1796 as Orthodox and received the status of a city cathedral. At the same time, the Volyn governorate was abolished, and in 1797, the Volyn province was established in its place. In 1804, Zhitomir, as a place of temporary residence of the provincial administration, acquired the status of a permanent center of the province. The Transfiguration Church, accommodating only about 200 parishioners, was too small for the high rank of the cathedral. The need for expansion became even more obvious when in 1841 the residence of the Volyn archbishops was transferred to Zhitomir. In 1844, a project for the reconstruction of the temple was drawn up in St. Petersburg, which included the inclusion of old walls in the new construction. In 1851, construction work began. Due to the mistake of the architects, who did not take into account the weakness of the local brick, in 1853 the almost finished cathedral collapsed when its own bell tower fell on it. They decided to build a new temple in a different place. In 1858, near the ruins, the consecration of the wooden Transfiguration Church took place, which temporarily served as a cathedral. In 1865 the ruins were dismantled, and in 1866 a new cathedral was founded. It was built adjacent to the foundations of the old temple according to the design Baron von Mickwitz . Architects finalized the project Karl Mayevsky , Ernest Gibert , Karl Rochau. The architects who worked on the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow were involved in the work. According to the project Vladimir Shalamov made the iconostasis of the cathedral Nikolay Murashko , but painted Mikhail Vasiliev . The riches of Volyn were used in the decoration of the temple - local granite and labradorite. The consecration of the cathedral took place in 1874.

■ Volynskys were buried in the crypt under the temple Archbishops Agafangel (Solovyov, † 1876 ), Tikhon (Pokrovsky, † 1885 ), Modest (Strelbitsky ,† 1902). Fulfilling the will of the late Bishop Modest, his successor Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) set up in the crypt in 1902–1903. aisle prmts. Anastasia Romanyni and brought the honest head of the ascetic here: in the 1860s. Patriarch Hierotheus of Antioch gave it to Russia, and later Archbishop Modest became the custodian of this shrine (during Soviet times, the shrine disappeared from the temple).

■ After the revolution, the cathedral witnessed persecution of the Church. At this time, the diocese was alternately cared for by three hierarchs who suffered for their faith: sschmch. Thaddeus (Uspensky) (since 1908 - vicar of the Volyn diocese in the rank of Bishop of Vladimir-Volynsky, in 1919–1921 he managed the affairs of the entire diocese, since 1922 - Archbishop of Astrakhan, in 1937 - arrested as the ruling ruler of the Kostroma diocese, in 1938 . - shot), Bishop Averky (Kedrov) (since 1915 - vicar of the Volyn diocese in the rank of Bishop of Ostrog, since 1922 - Bishop of Volyn and Zhitomir, was arrested more than once, after his release he returned to administer the diocese, from 1926 - archbishop, in 1930 - arrested again and in 1931 he was exiled to the north of Russia, in 1937 he was sentenced to death), Bishop Maxim (Ruberovsky) (since 1923 - vicar of the Volyn diocese in the rank of Bishop of Polonsky, since 1930 - Bishop of Volyn, in 1937 - executed).

■ In 1931, the Soviet authorities decided to close the cathedral and create a museum in it, but in the end they set up a warehouse. At the same time, the graves of the archbishops were opened and destroyed. Risking their lives, believers secretly entered the temple and hid the remains of the rulers in a secluded place. In 1932, the iconostases were destroyed. Since 1933, the cathedral was used as an archive, and in 1941 it was reopened for worship. In 1988, a monument in honor of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' . In 1993, the remains of the archbishops were discovered in the cathedral and reverently reburied.

St. Michael's Cathedral is located in the city of Zhitomir, Ukraine. It was built in the Baroque style, and its domes are painted in an unusual blue color for this style.

Initially, a church was located on the site of the modern St. Michael's Cathedral. It was built in 1856, at the expense of the merchant M. Khabotin. The costs of the temple amounted to a colossal sum of 37,000 rubles at that time, which was almost twice the entire annual budget of the city. After the death of the merchant, he was buried under the altar of the church. During the reign of the Soviet Union, his remains were barbarically removed.

The temple was recognized as one of the outstanding architectural monuments of the entire 19th century. Fragments of icon painting from those times still survive on the walls of the building. It is worth noting that the famous pianist Svyatoslav Richter was baptized in St. Michael’s Cathedral.

In the period 1917 - 1927, the temple acted as a church of the autocephalous Orthodox community, and soon, under the guise of repairs, it was closed and used as a warehouse. In 1942, the temple was given to believers by the Germans, and was used until 1960, when the Soviet government destroyed its domes and bell tower, and the temple itself was given to the use of a puppet theater.

The rebirth of the temple took place in 1991. It was restored and given to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral is the most outstanding religious landmark. The majestic structure, erected in the ancient Russian style, might not have survived to this day, because in the 20th century it was planned to be demolished. However, fortunately, this did not happen. Therefore, today the cathedral is an active Orthodox church, the bells of which are called for worship and are heard at a distance of up to 20 kilometers.

History of the Transfiguration Cathedral

The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Zhitomir rises on a place of prayer for years, because earlier there were also churches there - the Greek Catholic Basilian, and then the Spaso-Preobrazhensky. The latter did not last long and collapsed. According to one version, the material from which it was built turned out to be of poor quality; according to another, it was impossible to build an Orthodox church on the site of a Greek Catholic one.

The new Transfiguration Cathedral on the site of the destroyed one was built in 1851 according to the design of the then famous architects Karl Rochau, Ernest Gibert and Varlam Shalamov. Upon completion of the work, the cathedral became the main temple of Volyn.

Cathedral in the 20th century

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Transfiguration Cathedral was included in the state register of architectural monuments, but this did not stop the Soviet authorities in the 30s from issuing an order for its demolition and the construction of a Red Army house on this site.

Fortunately, the plans could not be realized; the Second World War prevented this. The temple withstood shelling and attacks and has survived to this day almost undamaged.

Temple architecture

The Transfiguration Cathedral was built in the Russian-Byzantine style with expressive accents of Russian architecture of the 11th–12th centuries. The cathedral is cruciform in shape, has five domes and a four-tier bell tower topped with a sharp spire. A large bell weighing 500 poods (about 8 thousand kilograms) is installed on it, the sound of which is heard, according to local residents, for 20 kilometers.

Cathedral interior

The interior of the temple is especially striking, the decoration of which uses granites and labradorites mined in the Zhitomir region and Volyn. The eye is immediately attracted by three thrones: the Transfiguration of the Lord and in honor of princes Vladimir and Alexander Nevsky. The real decoration of the cathedral are the icons painted by Mikhail Vasiliev.

It is known that in the Transfiguration Cathedral there was kept an ancient image of St. Basil, which Prince Vladimir the Great brought from Byzantium after being baptized. But he disappeared without a trace in 1936.

How to get there

The Transfiguration Cathedral is located in the center of Zhitomir. You can get to it by trolleybuses No. 1, 3 and minibuses No. 11 and 58 from the railway station or minibuses No. 25 and 108 from the bus station.

Opening hours: morning services in the temple begin at 8:00, evening services at 17:00.

On June 26, 1804, by decree of Alexander I, Zhitomir was officially approved as the center of the Volyn province. Many Orthodox churches in Volyn at that time were miserable, dilapidated buildings. In Zhitomir itself there were only two very old wooden Orthodox churches - the Exaltation of the Cross on Castle Hill, built in the 17th century, and the Assumption Church on Podolsk Hill, built in 1700. As archival documents testify, their condition was so pitiful that during worship, streams of rainwater poured onto the parishioners, and birds flew through the holes in the dome. The bishop himself and the diocesan administration were then located in the Ostrog Transfiguration Monastery, which in 1821 suffered a devastating fire.

After the fire, the poor parish Pyatnitskaya Church in Ostrog began to serve as the cathedral. Since 1825, the administration was located in the palace of Prince Yablonovsky in the town of Annopol, Ostrog district, from 1831 in the Pochaev Lavra, and from October 1, 1840, finally in Zhitomir. The cathedral in Zhitomir was placed in a “wooden postal station building that was rickety from dilapidation,” and then until 1958 in the old Illarionovskaya Church in a visiting courtyard (from the history of the Zhitomir diocese).

Emperor Alexander I, back in October 1821, in his conversation with His Eminence Stefan (Romanovsky) noted: “The episcopal department cannot exist without premises and without a decent cathedral church; I will think about it.” But this conversation had no significant consequences. The order to build a cathedral in Zhitomir was given by Emperor Alexander II. The site for the construction of the main temple of the Volyn province - the Transfiguration Cathedral in Zhitomir - was chosen as Trader Square (present-day Victory Square), where there were suburban shopping arcades and shops, and in its center stood the Basilian Greek Catholic Church, built in the second half of the 18th century. The Rudavka River flowed through the square.

The original design of the cathedral was drawn up in St. Petersburg in 1844, incorporating into its walls the remains of the old Basilian Church, destroyed in 1771. They began to build the cathedral in 1851, and in 1853 the almost completed building suddenly collapsed. Due to errors in calculations and insufficient strength of local raw brick, the bell tower fell one night and destroyed the entire building. We had to build the temple anew.
On the right side of the beginning of the current Kotovsky Street (where the square is now) as a temporary cathedral in 1858, using voluntary donations collected with the active participation of the former governor Sinelnikov, a wooden church was built in the name of the Holy Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky (dismantled at the end of the 19th century ). And on the opposite side of the street, old wooden houses of the former visiting yard were used to house church ministers.

The cathedral was built for the second time from 1866 to 1874 according to the design of academician of architecture Karl Karlovich Rachau, with the participation of professor of architecture Ernest Ivanovich Zhiber and famous St. Petersburg architect V.G. Shalamova. This time we chose a place on the square a little south of the previous one. The cathedral was designed with three aisles, five domes with tent-shaped endings in the Russian-Byzantine style with characteristic features of ancient Russian architecture of the 11th-12th centuries.

In plan, the temple is designed in the shape of a cross with double rows of granite columns inside the temple, lined at the base with polished labradorite slabs and the same belts and cornice. The cathedral has three altars: the Transfiguration of the Lord, St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and St. Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky. The cathedral is designed for 3000 pilgrims. The building is made of brick. Three heating stoves of the Krolev system are installed under the floor. Much attention was paid to the design of the interiors, which incorporated the idea of ​​​​displaying the mineral wealth of the Zhytomyr region: granites from the quarries of the villages of Kroshnya and Trigorye, and magnificent labradorite from the town of Goroshek (now Volodarsk-Volynsky).
The iconostasis was made of oak by master A. Murashko according to sketches by architect V. Shalamov. The artistic wall decoration and icons belong to the brush of academician of arts Mikhail Vasiliev. On a four-tier bell tower 53 meters high, a main bell weighing 515 pounds and 8 pounds was installed, and all nine bells with tongues weighed 1017 pounds. Their ringing could be heard at a distance of up to twenty kilometers. The bells have not survived. Now the new main bell weighs about 750 kilograms (46 pounds). The crosses on the bell tower and domes of the cathedral were installed by the honorary citizen of Zhitomir and hereditary builder Alexander Nikitich Korol (he lived in Korolya Lane - now Krasny Lane in the Khmelniki district).

This time, specialists who built St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg in 1818 - 1858 took part in the construction. Design supervision during the construction period was carried out by the authors of the project, Karl Rachau and Ernest Gibert.
On the initiative of the Volyn governor, a special commission was created in 1866 to technically monitor the progress of construction of the cathedral and examine the condition of its structures, headed by engineer-colonel Ottobald Andreevich Glaser (grandfather of the famous poet and artist Maximilian Voloshin). The commission also included engineers Groshev, Avrinsky and Ludwig. The main contractor for the construction of the cathedral was the Zhytomyr merchant of the first guild, Kipriyan Avraamovich Lyashkov. For the successful completion of the construction of the cathedral, he was given the personal status of a nobleman by decree of the emperor, and he was also appointed mayor of Zhytomyr, and remained in this position from 1876 to 1883. The construction cost 336 thousand 865 rubles, not counting church utensils and icons.

On August 30, 1874, the main altar was solemnly consecrated by Archbishop of Volyn and Zhitomir Agafangel (in the world Alexey Fedorovich Solovyov) in the presence of Major General Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Dondukov-Korsakov, Volyn Governor Peter Apollonovich Gresser, the authors of the project, professor of architecture E.I. Zhiber and architect V.G. Shalamova. Even during the construction of the cathedral, in 1871, the Volyn provincial government issued a decree on the closure of shopping arcades on the square and on the creation of a city park around the cathedral under construction. At the same time, a new configuration of the square was determined, called Cathedral Square, which was planned to be the main square of the city. The park was founded only in 1886.
The configuration of the square has remained virtually unchanged to this day, and what remains of the park is a small square. The cathedral preserved an ancient icon of Basil the Great, which, according to legend, was brought by Prince Vladimir from Greece after he adopted Christianity. Today her fate is unknown.

In the basement of the cathedral, starting from 1876, the dead Volyn archbishops were buried (three archbishops were buried - Agafangel, Tikhon and Modest), and on May 29/June 11, 1903, the opening of the lower church of St. Anastasia of Rome, who lived in the 3rd century - the patroness of Zhitomir, took place here. Here, in a silver shrine, the head of the Venerable Martyr Anastasia was placed. In the 60s of the 19th century, she arrived in Zhitomir as a gift from the Antioch Patriarch Hierotheos. It was brought by Archbishop Modest (Strelnitsky) of Volyn and Zhitomir.
Pilgrims came to the miraculous relics not only from Volyn, but also from Kazan, St. Petersburg, and Warsaw. Here, deputies from the Volyn region to the State Duma were blessed, students of parochial schools celebrated the New Year, and recruits prayed before being sent to the fronts of the First World War.

During the Soviet years, St. Anastasius Church was closed. Anastasia's relics disappeared. Until 1991, the basement of the temple was used as a warehouse. In the 1930s, the city General Plan planned to demolish the Transfiguration Cathedral and build the House of the Red Army in its place, and this despite the fact that even then the cathedral was included in the state register of architectural monuments. The Second World War prevented the implementation of this barbaric idea.

Today, the Transfiguration Cathedral in Zhitomir is an architectural monument of national importance, one of the largest Orthodox churches in Ukraine, as well as the greatest and most perfect building in the city.

Cathedral address: 10003, Zhitomir, st. Pobeda 14, tel.: (0412) 47–49–34.