Religious, Spiritual sights in Russia
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Datsans
En route to the Ethnographic Museum, you'll notice Ulan-Ude's attractive new pair of datsans backed by stupas and trees that flutter with prayer flags; there are services from 09:00 to 11:00 most mornings. The nearby hippodrome is the venue for major Buryat festivals, including the Buryatiya Folk Festival, which features horse riding, wrestling and other folky delights.
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St Isaac’s Cathedral
The golden dome of St Isaac’s Cathedral, looming just south of pl Dekabristov, dominates the St Petersburg skyline. Its obscenely lavish interior is open as a museum, although services are held in the cathedral on major religious holidays.
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Alexander Nevsky Monastery
The Alexander Nevsky Monastery - named for the patron saint of St Petersburg - is the city's most ancient and eminent monastery. Peter the Great made a mistake when he founded the Alexander Nevsky Monastery on this spot at the far end of Nevsky pr. He wrongly thought that this was where Alexander of Novgorod had beaten the Swedes in 1240. Nonetheless, in 1797 it became a lavra, the most senior grade of Russian Orthodox monasteries.
Today it is a working monastery that attracts the most devout believers - a revered and holy place - and the gravesite of some of Russia's most famous artistic figures.
You can wander freely around most of the grounds, but you must buy tickets f…
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Annunciation Cathedral
The Annunciation Cathedral, at the southwest corner of Sobornaya ploshchad, contains the celebrated icons of master painter Theophanes the Greek. They have a timeless beauty that appeals even to those usually left cold by icons.
Vasily I built the first wooden church on this site in 1397. Between 1484 and 1489, Ivan III had the Annunciation Cathedral rebuilt to serve as the royal family's private chapel. Originally the cathedral had just three domes and an open gallery round three sides. Ivan the Terrible, whose tastes were more elaborate, added six more domes and chapels at each corner, enclosed the gallery and gilded the roof.
Under Orthodox law, Ivan's fourth marriage d…
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Old Believers’ Community
One of Russia’s most atmospheric religious centres is the Old Believers’ Community, located at Rogozhskoe, 3km east of Taganskaya pl. The Old Believers split from the main Russian Orthodox Church in 1653, when they refused to accept certain reforms. They have maintained the old forms of worship and customs ever since. In the late 18th century, during a brief period free of persecution, rich Old Believer merchants founded this community, which is among the most important in the country. The yellow, classical-style Intercession Church contains one of Moscow’s finest collections of icons, all dating from before 1653, with the oldest being the 14th-century Saviour with …
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Yelokhovsky Cathedral
On the outskirts of Moscow, Spartakovskaya ul is the unlikely address of Moscow’s senior Orthodox cathedral. This role was given to the Church of the Epiphany in Yelokhovo in 1943 (the Patriarch had been evicted from the Kremlin’s Assumption Cathedral in 1918), and the Patriarch now leads important services here. Built between 1837 and 1845 with five domes in a Russian eclectic style, the cathedral is full of gilt and icons, not to mention old women kneeling, polishing, lighting candles, crossing themselves and kissing the floor. In the northern part is the tomb of St Nicholas the Miracle Worker (Svyatoy Nikolay Ugodnik). A shrine in front of the right side of the iconost…
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Churches of the Grand & Small Ascension
In 1831 the poet Alexander Pushkin married Natalya Goncharova in the elegant Church of the Grand Ascension, on the western side of pl Nikitskie Vorota. Six years later he died in St Petersburg, defending her honour in a duel. Such passion, such romance… The church is frequently closed, but the celebrated couple is featured in the Rotunda Fountain, erected in 1999 to commemorate the poet’s 100th birthday. Down the street, the festive Church of the Small Ascension sits on the corner of Voznesensky per. Built in the early 17th century, it features whitewashed walls and stone embellishments carved in a primitive style.
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Nikitsky Monastery
Founded in 1010, the Nikitsky received its current name only in the 12th century, after the death of the martyr St Nikita. To punish himself for his sins, Nikita had clasped his limbs in chains and spent the end of his days in an underground cell on the monastery grounds. The handcuffs, which now hang in the main cathedral, are said to help cure addictions and other worldly vices. Behind the cathedral, a small chapel is being built around the dank cell where Nikita died.
Nikitsky Monastery is about 3km north of the centre on the west side of the main road. Buses 1, 3 and 4 go most of the distance, or you can catch a taxi from Narodnaya pl.
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Church Of The Deposition Of The Robe
This delicate single-domed church, beside the west door of the Assumption Cathedral, was built between 1484 and 1486 in exclusively Russian style. It was the private chapel of the heads of the Church, who tended to be highly suspicious of such people as Italian architects.
Originally an open gallery or porch surrounded the church; it was later removed and the church was connected with the palace for the convenience of the tsars. The interior walls, ceilings and pillars are covered with 17th-century frescoes. It houses an exhibition of 15th- to 17th-century woodcarvings.
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Nikolsky Cathedral
Its picture-perfect canalside setting, baroque spires and golden domes make the ice-blue Nikolsky Cathedral, just south of the Mariinsky Theatre, one of the city’s best-loved churches. Nicknamed the Sailor’s Church (Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors), it contains many 18th-century icons and a finely carved wooden iconostasis. A graceful bell tower overlooks the canal, which is crossed by the Staro-Nikolsky most (from this bridge, you can see at least seven bridges, more than from any other spot in the city).
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Church of Ascension-Ilinsky
The 1786 Church of Ascension-Ilinsky was used during the Soviet era as a warehouse for the Dom Knigi bookshop, a hulking neoclassical structure placed smack in front of the strawberry-milk-hued, 18th-century church. With the fall of communism in Russia, the books were moved out and the church reopened. When a regional bank was constructed next door in 1997, tinted glass was used to reflect the church, creating the illusion that it is once again part of the main street. Inside, you can see original frescoes by famous icon painter Vasnetsov.
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Zaikonospassky Monastery
This monastery was founded by Boris Godunov in 1600, although the church was built in 1660. The name means ‘Behind the Icon Stall’, a reference to the busy icon trade that once took place here. On the orders of Tsar Alexey, the Likhud brothers, scholars of Greek, opened the Slavonic Greek and Latin Academy on the monastery premises in 1687. (Mikhail Lomonosov was a student here.) The academy later became a divinity school and was transferred to the Trinity Monastery of St Sergius in 1814.
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Lutheran Church
Tucked in a recess between Bolshaya and Malaya Konyushennaya uls is the lovely Lutheran Church that was built for St Petersburg’s thriving German community in the 1830s. Distinguished by a four-column portico and topped with a discreet cupola, it was turned into a swimming pool in the 1950s (the high diving board was placed in the apse) – but is that worse than using it to store vegetables, as it had been since the 1930s? The church is open to visitors, having been restored beautifully.
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Nikolsky Women's Monastery
Southwest of the kremlin, the Nikolsky Women's Monastery has undergone a massive renovation. Since its founding in 1350, this monastery has been on the brink of destruction - whether from Tatars, Poles or Communists - more than seems possible to survive. In 1994 four nuns from the Yaroslavl Tolga Convent came to restore the place, and today it looks marvellous. Rumour has it that the rebuilding is being bankrolled by a wealthy Muscovite businessperson who has benefited from the nuns' blessings.
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Armenian Church of St Catherine
Continuing with a tradition of non-Orthodox churches being welcome on Nevsky pr, the Armenian merchant Ovanes Lazarian paid for the city’s first Armenian church to be erected here in 1771. It was designed and built by German architect Georg Veldten and completed in 1780. The Soviet regime deemed it reasonable to bash the place to bits and install a 2nd floor, which blocked the view of the cupola. The church has been fully restored now, however, and it’s open to visitors.
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Church of Peter the Metropolitan
The walls of Yury Dolgoruky's kremlin are now a grassy ring around the central town. Inside is the 1152 Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour, one of the oldest buildings in Russia. A bust of Alexander Nevsky stands out in front, while three additional churches across the grassy square make for a picturesque corner. These include the tent-roofed Church of Peter the Metropolitan , built in 1585 and renovated in 1957, and the 18th-century twin churches fronting the road.
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Vladimirskaya Church
The 18th-century Vladimirskaya Church, designed by Quarenghi, was used as an underwear factory during Soviet times. It was reconsecrated in 1990 and is now one of the busiest churches in town. For a brilliant view of its amazing onion domes, have a drink in the 7th floor bar of the Hotel Dostoevsky across the road, part of the Vladimirsky Passazh shopping mall. The church’s interiors are also stunning (go upstairs to see the main body of the church).
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SS Peter & Paul Cathedral
SS Peter & Paul Cathedral, in the grounds of Peter & Paul Fortress, has a magnificent baroque interior, quite different from other Orthodox churches, and a landmark needle-thin spire. All of Russia's prerevolutionary rulers from Peter the Great onwards (except Peter II and Ivan VI) are buried here. Peter I's grave is at the front on the right. Nicholas II and his family - minus Alexey and Maria - were the latest most controversial additions in 1998.
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Church of SS Boris & Gleb
The 1152 Church of SS Boris & Gleb, on the Nerl River in this quiet village 4km east of Suzdal, is the oldest in the district. It was built for Yury Dolgoruky, who had a small wooden palace here.
The palace has disappeared; the church has been rebuilt many times. But a few fragments of 12th-century frescoes remain, including two figures on horseback. They probably represent Vladimir's sons, Boris and Gleb, who were the first Russian saints.
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Cathedral of the Assumption
The star-spangled Cathedral of the Assumption was modelled on the cathedral of the same name in the Moscow Kremlin. It was finished in 1585 with money left by Ivan the Terrible in a fit of remorse for killing his son. It is closed to the general public but included as a part of guided tours. Outside the west door is the grave of Boris Godunov, the only tsar not buried in the Moscow Kremlin or St Petersburg's SS Peter & Paul Cathedral.
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Church of the Trinity in Nikitniki
This little gem of a church, built in the 1630s, is an exquisite example of Russian baroque. Its onion domes and tiers of red and white spade gables rise from a square tower. Its interior is covered with 1650s gospel frescoes by Simon Ushakov and others. A carved doorway leads into St Nikita the Martyr’s Chapel, above the vault of the Nikitnikov merchant family, one of the patrons who financed the construction of the church.
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Assumption Cathedral
At the south end of Krasnaya pl is Kursk's most distinctive building, the domed 1816-28 Assumption Cathedral. The Soviets converted the cathedral into a cinema, but it's recently been restored to its former glory. Behind the greenish-blue walls, you'll find a mix of the lavishly ornate (gilded columns, an enormous chandelier) coupled with even larger paintings depicting scenes from Christ's life.
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Monastery of the Epiphany
This monastery is the second-oldest in Moscow; it was founded in 1296 by Prince Daniil, son of Alexander Nevsky. Stefan, one of the first abbots of the monastery, was the brother of Sergei Radonezhsky, who was patron saint of Russia and founder of the Trinity Monastery of St Sergius. The current Epiphany Cathedral was constructed in the 1690s in the Moscow baroque style.
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Trinity Cathedral
The grandeur of the 1699 Trinity Cathedral, Pskov's principal sight, is heightened by the simplicity of the skeletal kremlin surrounding it. The gilded centre dome, as high as a 28-storey building, can be seen from 30km away on a clear day. The interior, with a large collection of bejewelled icons of the Madonna, is still undergoing restoration, though services have returned.
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Temple of the Assumption
The attractive 1895 neo-Byzantine Temple of the Assumption is again a working church, although restoration of the interior’s beautiful murals continues. Closed during the Soviet period from 1957, it was turned into the city’s first year-round skating rink. You’ll find a good church shop here selling choral music and freshly baked cakes.
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