History of the construction of the Old Fair Cathedral
In 1817, changes took place in the city that largely determined its future fate. Here from under the walls of the Makaryevskaya Zheltovodsk monastery
moved the traditional fair, which was badly damaged as a result of a large fire that happened a year earlier. The main builder of the fair was a skilled mechanical engineer and builder - Lieutenant General Augustin Betancourt (1758-1824).
General view of the Spassky Old Fair Cathedral
In 1817, Betancourt specially came to the city and created a project for a fair complex, as well as the necessary communications system, which began to be built on the vast territory of the cape at the confluence of the Volga and Oka. This place was chosen because it was convenient to transport necessary goods along the river. Betancourt supervised the construction work throughout the summer months until the opening of the auction in 1822.
A talented organizer, Betancourt really wanted the city to receive one of the best shopping complexes of the European level. He had great powers and funds and attracted the best architects and engineers to the construction of the fair. A year after the start of construction, an architect appeared in the city - Auguste Montferrand. Betancourt asked him to complete the design of the buildings of the shopping complex and pay special attention to the new temple. It is curious that the Nizhny Novgorod Cathedral, designed by Montferrand, was built before St. Isaac's Cathedral appeared in St. Petersburg.
Spassky Old Fair Cathedral from a bird's eye view
The Nizhny Novgorod temple was built in 1822 in the center of the fair, at the end of the main boulevard, right behind the large trading building.
A voluminous vaulted room was built under the cathedral. And later it was rented out to local merchants, in particular, for a wine cellar. It is interesting that not only an Orthodox church was built for the fair, but also a mosque and an Armenian church.
The interior of the cathedral was richly decorated with stucco according to classical canons. And the head of the Arzamas school of painting, Russian academician Alexander Vasilyevich Stupin and his son Rafail, were tasked with painting the walls. Unfortunately, these very first paintings were lost. The iconostasis of the cathedral was created by the artist from St. Petersburg F. Torricelli. The Italian master created images for the icons according to European traditions, different from the canons of Orthodoxy. On many of them the artist depicted figures with naked human bodies.
View of the cathedral from Yarmarochny Proezd
Such drawings caused bewilderment and embarrassment among merchants, and many of them did not want to pray in front of such images. They even brought their own icons to the temple. Because of these problems, it was decided to create a new iconostasis for the Old Fair Cathedral, the author of which was the architect Vasily Petrovich Stasov (1769-1848).
There is a curious story about the name of the cathedral. The fair in the city worked only for a month a year, and it was not profitable to maintain a separate parable for it. Therefore, the city authorities attributed the temple to the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin
.
From this temple the fair cathedral received the utensils, vestments and iconographic images necessary for holding services. Even before construction began, the priests of the Kremlin Cathedral
installed a linen tent with an iconostasis at the future fair.
Thus, after the main temple, the fair cathedral began to be called Spaso-Preobrazhensky, although this name in no way corresponded to any of its thrones. The second name, Old Fair Church, was received after the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
.
View of the main façade of the cathedral
Moskovsky district
Temple in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear” (Alexandra Liukin St., 9d) 01/06/2021 – 23:30 Confession 01/07/2021 – 00:00 Divine Liturgy 01/07/2021 – 09:00 Divine liturgy
Church in the name of St. Seraphim of Sarov (st. 50 Let Pobedy, 7a) 01/06/2021 – 23:30 Confession 01/07/2021 – 00:00 Divine Liturgy 01/07/2021 – 09:00 Divine Liturgy
Temple in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God (Berezovaya Poima, Luchistaya St., 3) 01/06/2021 – 23:30 Confession 01/07/2021 – 00:00 Divine Liturgy
Church in honor of the Most Holy Life-Giving Trinity (11, Topolnaya St.) 01/06/2021 – 17:30 All-night vigil 01/07/2021 – 08:00 Confession 01/07/2021 – 09:00 Divine Liturgy
History of the cathedral since the 19th century
The temple, like all fair buildings, was built on the low-lying left bank of the Oka. These were places that suffered from floods, and Betancourt put a lot of effort and money into carrying out large-scale excavation work that stabilized the ground under the buildings.
However, almost every year, the flooded river came close to the fair and even flooded some trade buildings. The bulk soil under the cathedral was also washed away by flood waters, and the walls of the temple began to be covered with cracks, running from bottom to top through the entire building.
View of the cathedral from the belfry
The city authorities had to decide a difficult question: is it possible to repair the temple or will it have to be demolished and a new one built? Provincial architect Robert Yakovlevich Kilevein made the necessary calculations and developed an original project. At the end of the 19th century, major restoration work was carried out in Staroyarmarochny, sponsored by the Nizhny Novgorod merchants. The restoration of the temple and the strengthening of the dilapidated foundation was led by Pyotr Samoilovich Boytsov, Kileiven’s assistant. A better candidate could not have been thought of. Boytsov was a famous eclectic architect and was successful in design. After restoration, the renewed Old Fair Cathedral was consecrated again (1888).
View of the southern façade of the cathedral
Just over 10 years have passed and problems related to flood water activity have continued. In 1899, the foundation under the bell tower standing next to the cathedral was so badly washed away that it could have collapsed and fallen on the temple.
Therefore, the bell tower was dismantled and a new one was erected in another place in 1906, maintaining the same proportions and engineering solutions. The construction of the new bell tower was supervised by Nizhny Novgorod architects Pavel Petrovich Malinovsky and Ermingeld Mitrofanovich Michurin.
During the years of Soviet power, after the closure of the Nizhny Novgorod fair, the cathedral was initially wanted to be demolished. Then a warehouse was placed in it, and in the building on its territory there were apartments for city residents. The iconostases were lost, as were most of the wall paintings. And the bells were requisitioned by Rudmetaltorg.
Belfry
The cathedral was returned to believers in 1991. As a result of extensive work, its appearance and classic interior decoration were completely restored.
Until 2009, this cathedral served as a cathedral in the diocese, but now it is an ordinary parish church.
The architecture of the temple and its interior decoration
Today, the large Spassky Cathedral is the only building remaining from the old fair complex. The temple is built on stilts and on a bed of fill soil reinforced with moisture-resistant Portland cement. The cathedral was built in the traditions of late classicism and, according to the canons of this architectural style, is decorated on all four sides with strict porticoes with columns. The powerful drums that serve as the basis for five domes are decorated with slotted windows and semi-columns. Due to these light domes, the temple has excellent natural lighting.
Dome of the Old Fair Cathedral
In the immediate vicinity of the cathedral there is a small two-story baptismal church and an elegant building of the chapel-tomb, built in 2002 near the side altar above the burial place of Metropolitan Nikolai (Kutepov) of the Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas diocese. Not far from the cathedral there is also a light single-domed over-house chapel, from which parishioners actively pour water on the feast of the Epiphany. In addition, here on a high pedestal stands the figure of a mourning angel - a monument to the city residents who participated in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident.
Nagorny district
Temple in honor of the Vladimir - Oran Icon of the Mother of God and Defenders of the Fatherland (Beketova St., 69/1) 01/06/2021 – 16:00 All-night vigil 01/06/2021 – 23:30 Divine Liturgy 01/07/2021 – 08:30 Divine Liturgy
Church of All Saints (Maryina Roshcha cemetery) 01/06/2021 – 16:00 All-night vigil 01/07/2021 – 09:00 Divine Liturgy
Temple in honor of the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God (18 Meditsinskaya St.) 01/06/2021 – 15:00 All-night vigil 01/07/2021 – 08:30 Divine Liturgy
Current state of the cathedral and visiting hours
The Orthodox Church is active and open to believers and tourists daily from 8.00 to 19.00. Divine services in the cathedral are held on weekdays at 9.00 and 17.00, and on weekends and holidays at 6.30, 9.00 and 17.00. A Sunday school for the children of parishioners and a library are open here. Patronal feasts in the church are celebrated on August 7 and 14, September 12 and December 6.
Bell near the Old Fair Cathedral
Avtozavodsky district
Cathedral in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (Dyakonov St., 15a)
01/06/2021 – 16:00 All-night vigil 01/06/2021 – 23:00 Matins. Divine Liturgy 01/07/2021 – 09:00 Divine Liturgy
Church in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (Gnilitsy village, Gnilitskaya str. 1a) 01/06/2021 – 23:00 Matins. Divine Liturgy 01/07/2021 – 08:30 Divine Liturgy
Temple in honor of Archangel Michael and other Heavenly Powers (Monchegorskaya St., 17a/8) 01/06/2021 – 16:00 All-night vigil 01/07/2021 – 00:00 Divine Liturgy 01/07/2021 – 08: 30 Divine Liturgy
Church in honor of the Holy Trinity (48 Fuchik St.) 01/06/2021 – 16:00 All-night vigil 01/07/2021 – 00:00 Divine Liturgy 01/07/2021 – 09:00 Divine Liturgy
Church in honor of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Novoe Doskino village, 19th line, no. 2) 01/06/2021 – 16:00 Great Compline. Matins 01/07/2021 – 00:00 Divine Liturgy
Temple in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “Addition of Mind” (Prospect - Molodezhny, next to building 23a) 01/06/2021 – 21:00 All-night vigil 01/07/2021 – 00:00 Divine Liturgy 01/07/2021 – 09:00 Divine Liturgy
Church in honor of the Reverend Martyr Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna (Geroya Smirnova St., 71b) 01/06/2021 – 16:00 All-night vigil 01/07/2021 – 00:00 Divine Liturgy 01/07/2021 – 08:30 Divine Liturgy
Temple in the name of the holy prophet Elijah (Novostriginskoe cemetery)
01/07/2021 – 09:00 Divine Liturgy
Temple in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “Burning Bush” (Doskino village, Bakhtina St., 9) 01/07/2021 – 00:00 Divine Liturgy
Temple in the name of St. Spiridon of Trimifuntsky (Voroshilovsky village, intersection of Magistralnaya and Katernaya streets) 01/06/2021 – 16:00 All-night vigil 01/07/2021 – 00:00 Divine Liturgy 01/07/2020 – 09:00 Divine Liturgy
