Znamensky Cathedral

"Belíssima Catedral, com dimensões suntuosas, sua cúpula alcança 48 metros de altura. A entrada principal dá acesso à lateral da nave que se estende de um lado ao outro do edifício. Seu interior é belíssimo. Após uma longa história de destruição, a catedral foi praticamente reconstruída em 2004 e devolvida à diocese de Kursk."

José Luiz Leduc

"Znamensky Cathedral
The main cathedral of Kursk was built in the early 19th century to commemorate the victory in the Patriotic War. The majestic cathedral in the classical style is astounding, as the size of the dome is comparable to the cathedrals of St. Petersburg. The wonderful building with only one bell tower (another one is yet to be returned) and richly decorated interiors is, without a doubt, the main attraction of the city. How good that it was put in order after the desecration in Soviet times, when the temple was used as a cinema…"

Sergey Kuznetsov

"At the beginning of the 17th century, the site of today's Znamensky Cathedral was the site of the Kursk city fortress. In 1612, Kursk was captured and ravaged by a 70,000-strong army of Polish-Lithuanian invaders under the command of Hetman Zholkiewski. Only the heroically defended fortress remained impregnable. The people of Kursk attributed their deliverance from destruction to the intercession of the Mother of God and vowed to build a monastery in honor of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God "of the Sign" in memory of this event.

By 1615, a wooden church in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary had been erected on the site of the present-day cathedral. That same year, Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich of Muscovy ordered the return of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God "of the Sign" to Kursk.

In 1649, by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a stone cathedral was founded on the site of the wooden one. The new cathedral was 58 meters long and 11.5 meters wide; in 1752, it was plastered inside and out, its single dome was dismantled, and five were erected in its place. In 1815, the dilapidated Znamensky Cathedral was dismantled.

Construction of the larger Znamensky Cathedral began in 1816 and lasted 10 years. The new cathedral was founded as a monument to the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. On Easter Sunday of 1893, Father John Sergiev, Archpriest of the Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral—later Saint John of Kronstadt—celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Znamensky Cathedral. In the spring of 1898, a deafening explosion rocked the Znamensky Cathedral. This was an attempt on the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, but miraculously, it was unharmed.

During the revolutionary unrest, the cathedral was heavily looted. In 1918, the miraculous icon was discovered in the old Feodosievsky Well (according to legend, dug by St. Theodosius of the Caves himself). In 1932, the parish was dispersed, and the cathedral building was converted into a movie theater. The building was severely damaged during the Great Patriotic War, and in 1945, the premises were transferred to a newly established low-voltage equipment factory. In 1956, the reconstructed Oktyabr Cinema reopened. In 1992, the cathedral was returned to the faithful."

Дядя Фёдор