Foros church in Crimea: history and location

On the Crimean expanses near the village of Foros on the Red Rock above sea level (412 m) the majestic Church of the Resurrection of Christ towers. For more than 100 years, church services have been held there, and people have been pleading for help to God and praise his strength and power.

The walls of the temple survived the onslaught of the fascists during the Great Patriotic War, "survived" inglorious times, when they were riddled with bullet holes. But thanks to the efforts of believers, the church is now an unsurpassed architectural monument: the domes shine with golden fire, and the saints lovingly look from the icons at numerous parishioners.

The church is a cross-domed temple, built in the Byzantine style. For the construction of walls used a special brick - plinfa. These are small in height, but very dense in composition and solid rectangles.

Brick mortar was added to the lime mortar that held the material together. Due to the alternation of yellow and red bricks and wall cladding with Inkerman marble, the temple looked very beautiful and solemn.

Byzantine masters expanded the space under the dome, installing it not on the walls, but on the columns inside the building. The latter were located in the form of a ring, on which the drum was hoisted, and already on it was a dome. Due to this, the temple was a pyramid-shaped structure, and sunlight penetrated unhindered through the dome windows.

This place was a symbol of the firmament - church services were held under it. This technique was used in the construction of a church near the village of Foros in the Crimea.

The Italian Antonio Salviatti, originally from Vincenz, created amazing mosaic creations in his workshop - many of his experiences were taken up by students, who then designed the interior decoration of the Foros church. The floor resembled a mosaic of Chersonesus of ancient times, and Carrara marble was used for window sills, columns, and wall panels.

The icons that adorn the Church of the Resurrection of Christ were painted by the great Russian painters: K. E. Makovsky, N. E Sverchkov. Here and "The Last Supper", and "Annunciation," and "Christmas, Christ," and "Mother of God."

Unfortunately, these masterpieces did not "survive" the revolution and the Second World War, and the wall compositions had to be restored again at the end of the twentieth century.

The luxurious interior decoration created a festive and very solemn atmosphere: multicolored marble, 28 large stained-glass windows, decorative stone patterns, magnificent frescoes, and a mosaic on a golden background. The light from the burning candles played on the icons, and it seemed to people that the living saints gaze upon them.

The cornerstone that marked the beginning of the amazing fate of the Foros temple was laid thanks to the Moscow merchant A.G. Kuznetsov, who bought untapped land near Foros, which in 1842 was a settlement of not more than 5 yards. In the early 1850s, after acquiring about 250 hectares, the merchant began to refine the territory: he laid vineyards, began building a new manor, a park, a mansion.

At the request of local Orthodox residents A. G. Kuznetsov ordered the architectural project of the future Foros church in early 1890 to academician N. M. Chagin. From that moment began the amazing history of the temple, which continues today. The consecration of the church took place on October 4, 1892. The ceremony was held by the Bishop of Simferopol Martinian.

Until 1917, Father Pavel (Undolsky) was the head of the church.

The revolution of 1917 did not bypass this magnificent building, although the Foros church was located at a distance from large cities, which made it possible to continue to hold church services in it until 1921. In 1920, the Revolutionary Committee was created in the Crimea, which decided to close the church in 1924, and to exile Father Pavel to Siberia (he never returned from there).

This misadventures are not over, after all, the church was not only a unique creation of architecture, but also a repository of valuable icons, decoration items, and this was for the Bolsheviks "tasty loot." In 1927, the church was ransacked, picking up gilded candlesticks and robe, icons, chandeliers, dropping crosses, melting the domes.

The walls of the "impersonal" church played a historic role during the Great Patriotic War. Here frontier guards under the command of A.S. Terpetsky found shelter.

The inscription on the walls of the dilapidated church has remained: "Guerrillas, beat the fascists!" The beautiful mosaic floor was beaten by the hooves of horses, and in the walls, like wounds, gaped holes from shell fragments.

In such an unattractive form Foros church in the post-war years was bought for the construction of a restaurant. The temple was turned into a catering building. This fact in the 1960s deeply outraged the shah of Iran, whom Nikita Khrushchev invited to dinner. In the hearts of Khrushchev ordered to demolish the restaurant (good, that the church itself was not destroyed).

Until 1969, she was "prepared" to be a warehouse. Ahead there was a terrible event: a fire, during which not only the little that remained in the church, but even the plaster fell off the walls did not survive.

In the 1980s, the regional executive committee and the Yalta city executive committee did not think of anything better than how to donate the Foros church and the lands near it for the construction of the boarding house of the Yuzhmashzavod design bureau (Dnepropetrovsk).

It was a pitiful sight: the building had no windows, no doors, no domes, and holes shone in the walls.

Restoration work began Sevastopol under the leadership of EI Bartan only in 1987. The church was returned to the believers, and the second “wave” of the restoration work occurred in the 1990s difficult years. In 1990, the young priest Father Peter (Posadnev) was appointed rector of the church. Despite his 24 years, the abbot managed to ensure that the active restoration and revival of the Foros church began.

Currently, the temple is a magnificent building, where people tend to come from all over the world. And, indeed, there is something to see: gilded domes and crosses began to play with bright colors, frescoes and mosaic patterns were restored, there are many icons of great masters on the walls, and the sonorous bell presented by the Black Sea Fleet (brought from Sarych lighthouse, made in 1962, weighs 200 pounds), carries measured, clean sounds for many kilometers around.

Due to the fact that the temple is located on a rock, it creates the feeling that it is floating in the air. A special reverent feeling appears, involuntarily evoking thoughts of the eternal.

In the middle of October, 1888, from the Crimea to St. Petersburg, on the Kursk-Kharkiv railway, was followed by a train in which Tsar Alexander III and his relatives were traveling. It was a sabotage or accidental combination of circumstances, but the composition was derailed.

The carriage in which the royal family was located fell to the side, but no one was injured from the couple. Merchant A.Kuznetsov requested permission from the great sovereign to build the temple at Foros in honor of this wonderful event.

More than once the writer A. P. Chekhov visited the walls of the Foros Church. He was friends with the first abbot of the temple - Father Paul. There was a school of letters at the church, and the genius of Russian literature was actively involved in its development, as well as in the construction of the parochial school in Mukhalatka.

Ten years after the train accident, in which the royal family survived miraculously, Emperor Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna visited Foros Church. He came with princesses.

At the end of the twentieth century, Michael and Raisa Gorbachev often visited here. The first president of Russia decided to build a cottage near Foros.

L. D. Kuchma, the former president of Ukraine, donated a large amount for restoration work and the purchase of necessary materials, due to which stained glass windows were completely replaced, walls, domes, gilded paintings were restored, the mosaic floor was put in order. Now the building looks different than in the 19th century, but the magnificent icons depicting the Mother of God, Jesus Christ and the great saints inspire no less a sense of awe and admiration than it was before.

It is more convenient to get to Foros Church by car, following the road signs along the Sevastopol-Yalta highway.

Collapse the need to sign "Baydarsky Gate." The path from the South Coast Highway to the temple is only 4 km.

A walk from the highway to the church itself will take 1-1.5 hours. You can follow the Baidar Valley through Orlinoye from Simferopol. Travelers will have a panorama of beautiful places that can be captured in the photo.

You can learn more about Foros church by watching the following video.