Foros Church in Crimea: history and location

In 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 rises. For more than 100 years, church services have been held in it, and people turn with a prayer for help to God and praise his strength and power.

The walls of the temple resisted the onslaught of the Nazis in World War II, "survived" the inglorious times when they left the skeletons riddled with bullets. But thanks to the efforts of believers, the church is now an unrivaled monument of architectural art: the domes shine with golden fire, and the saints lovingly look at the icons of numerous parishioners.

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

Brick chips were added to the mortar that held the material together. Thanks to the alternation of yellow and red bricks and the wall cladding of 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 arranged in the form of a ring onto which the drum was hoisted, and already on it was a dome. Thanks to this, the temple was a pyramid-shaped structure, and sunlight penetrated unhindered into the windows of the dome.

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

The Italian Antonio Salviatti, originally from Vincenza, created amazing mosaic creations in his workshop - a lot of his experience was taken over by the students, who then worked on decorating the interior of the Foros Church. The floor was reminiscent of the Chersonesus mosaic of ancient times, and Carrara marble was used for window sills, columns and wall panels.

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

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

Luxurious interior decoration created a festive and very solemn atmosphere: multi-color marble, 28 large stained-glass windows, decorative patterns of stone, magnificent murals, mosaics on a golden background. Light from burning candles played on the icons, and it seemed to people that living saints were looking at them.

The cornerstone that laid the foundation for the amazing fate of the Foros Church was laid thanks to the Moscow merchant A.G. Kuznetsov, who had bought undeveloped land near Foros back then, which in 1842 was a settlement of no more than 5 yards. In the early 1850s, after acquiring about 250 hectares, the merchant began to ennoble the territory: laid vineyards, began the construction of a new estate, park, and mansion.

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

Until 1917, the rector of the church was Father Paul (Undolsky).

The revolution of 1917 was not spared, and this magnificent building, although the Foros Church was far from big cities, which allowed until 1921 to continue to conduct church services in it. In 1920, the Revk was created in Crimea, which decided to close the church in 1924, and exiled Father Paul to Siberia (he never returned from there).

The misadventures did not end there, because the church was not only a unique creation of architecture, but also a repository of valuable icons, details of decoration, and this was a tidbit for the Bolsheviks. In 1927, the temple was looted, taking gilded candlesticks and vestments, icons, a chandelier, dropping crosses, re-melting the domes.

The walls of the "depersonalized" temple played a historical role during the years of World War II. Border guards under the command of A. S. Terpetskiy found shelter here.

On the walls of a dilapidated temple from those times there was an inscription: "Partisans, beat the Nazis!" During the occupation, the Germans reached the walls of the sacred building, setting up a stable in it. The beautiful mosaic floor was beaten by the hooves of horses, and holes from shell fragments gaped in the walls like wounds.

In such an unsightly form, the Foros Church in the postwar years was purchased for the construction of a restaurant. The temple was turned into a catering building. This fact in the 1960s was deeply outraged by the Shah of Iran, whom Nikita Khrushchev invited to dinner. In the hearts of Khrushchev instructed to demolish the restaurant (fortunately, the church itself was not destroyed).

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

In the 1980s, the regional executive committee and the Yalta city executive committee did not come up with anything better than to give the Forossky temple and the land near it for the construction of the boarding house of the Yuzhmashzavod Design Bureau (Dnepropetrovsk).

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

Restoration work began by Sevastopol residents under the leadership of E.I. Bartan only in 1987. The temple was returned to believers, and the second “wave” of restoration work fell on the difficult years of the 1990s. In 1990, a 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 from all over the world are eager to come. And, indeed, there is something to see: gilded domes and crosses sparkled with bright colors, frescoes and mosaic patterns were restored, there are many icons of great masters on the walls, and a sonorous bell donated by the Black Sea Fleet (brought from Sarych lighthouse, made in 1962, weighs 200 pounds), carries dimensional, clear sounds for many kilometers around.

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

In mid-October 1888, a train was traveling from Crimea to St. Petersburg along the Kursk-Kharkov Railway, in which Tsar Alexander III and his relatives were traveling. This was a diversion or a coincidence, but the composition went off the rails.

The carriage in which the royal family was located collapsed to one side, but none of the four was injured. Merchant A. Kuznetsov asked permission from the great sovereign to build a temple at Foros in honor of this wonderful event.

More than once the walls of the Foros Church were visited by the writer A.P. Chekhov. He was friends with the first rector of the temple - Father Paul. There was a school of literacy at the church, and the genius of Russian literature took an active part in its development, as well as in the construction of a parish school in Mukhalatka.

10 years after the railway accident, in which the royal family miraculously survived, Emperor Nicholas II and Alexandra Fedorovna visited the Church of Foros. He came with the princesses.

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

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

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

You need to turn off at the sign "Baydar Gate". The path from the South Coast Highway to the temple is only 4 km.

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

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