Transfiguration Cathedral
Odessa Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral
Ukraine, Odesa
Odessa Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral - the largest Orthodox church in Odessa; laid down in 1794; consecrated in 1808. After restoration, re-consecrated in 2001 — belfry chapel; in 2002 - the lower temple; in 2003 - the upper temple.
The cathedral, in the course of its architectural development, reflected the level of development of Odessa and the entire region. Being a small religious building at the beginning of the 19th century, it became one of the largest cathedrals in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The cathedral could accommodate up to 12 thousand people at a time, and the Cathedral Square of Odessa was the main square of the city, where all major city holidays began and took place. The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral by the beginning of the 20th century became the main temple of Novorossiya.
In August 1794, the solemn consecration of the city of Odessa took place, during which the construction site of the church in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was consecrated on Cathedral Square, and in 1795 the first stone was laid.
According to archival documents and literary sources, Metropolitan of Ekaterinoslav Gabriel (Banulescu-Bodoni) entrusted the construction of the stone cathedral church in Odessa to the architect, engineer-captain V. Wonrezant, and on November 14, 1795, next to the temporary Nicholas Church on one of the main squares in Odessa, the metropolitan consecrated the laying of a stone churches in the name of the same saint. The construction of the church according to the project of the engineer V. Wonrezant was planned to be completed in 1797, but the solemn consecration of the church took place only on May 25, 1808.
February 18, 1800 Church of St. Nicholas was called cathedral. But soon, due to the death of Catherine II, on the orders of Paul I, the construction of the temple, like other construction work in Odessa, ceased. On January 27, 1803, the Duke de Richelieu was appointed mayor of Odessa, who submitted to St. Petersburg for approval and appropriation of the appropriate funds, out of the six churches provided for, only the plans of two - Nikolaevskaya and Catherine's. The drawings were approved, work began on April 8, 1804.
May 20, 1808 completed the construction of a new stone temple - the main array of the cathedral. On May 25, 1808, Archbishop Platon (Lyubarsky) of Yekaterinoslav consecrated the main altar of the cathedral in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the right one in the name of the Holy Wonderworker Nicholas of Myra, and the left one in the name of St. Spyridon, and since then the cathedral began to be called not Nicholas, but the Transfiguration . In 1825, the design of the bell tower, developed by D. Franolli, was approved. The bell tower is located to the west of the church. The construction of the bell tower was completed in 1837. Considering that Odessa became the diocesan center of the Kherson diocese in 1837, the Transfiguration Cathedral became a cathedral. There was a need to expand it. By order of the Archbishop of Kherson and Taurida Gabriel (Rozanov), in 1841 the architect D. Heidenreich developed a project for the refectory, which combined the bell tower and the old church. Partial reconstructions of the cathedral were carried out in the period 1870-1880, and in 1894 a major overhaul of the cathedral was carried out.
The architectural shortcomings of the cathedral, which arose during multiple additions, were corrected during the last reconstruction in 1900-1903. The reconstruction included not only a change in the facades, but also a significant restructuring of the interiors. During this period, two side domes were built, and a portico was built to the eastern facade. The bell tower was also decorated. After reconstruction in 1903, the cathedral became one of the largest churches in the Russian Empire.
In 1936 the cathedral was destroyed. Contrary to popular belief, it was not blown up, but was first carefully plundered (the Cathedral was lined, and the floors were lined with marble and granite slabs), and then dismantled stone by stone. This is confirmed by the fact that, as modern excavations have shown, the foundation of the Cathedral remained intact. Before that, under pressure from those interested in the destruction of the Cathedral, the chief architect of the city signed a decree that the Cathedral was of no architectural value. After that, the Bolshevik authorities of the city decided to arrange a place of entertainment on the site of the Cathedral, and it was planned to place a toilet on the site of the main altar. And only the intercession of the world luminary of science, Academician Vladimir Petrovich Filatov, saved the holy place from desecration - a fountain with a large marble vase in the form of a flower (later called the Filatov vase) was installed in place of the altar. After the restoration of the Cathedral in 2005, this fountain was moved to the site of the first city fountain on Cathedral Square.
May 25, 2008 marked the 200th anniversary of the consecration of the Transfiguration Cathedral. Funds were collected for casting the largest bell in Ukraine. Its weight is 14.5 tons. The bell was cast in Voronezh at the Vera factory.
The main shrine of the Cathedral was the miraculous icon of the Kasperovskaya Mother of God, which was delivered annually to Odessa from the village of Kasperovka on September 25 and remained in the Cathedral until the feast of Holy Easter. Archbishops Innokenty (1857), Ioanniky (1877), Dmitry (1883), Nikanor (1890) were buried in the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior. The Cathedral also housed the grave of His Serene Highness Prince M. S. Vorontsov and his wife. When the cathedral was destroyed in 1936, the ashes of Prince Vorontsov and his wife from Odessa were reburied at the Sloboda cemetery in Odessa, and in 2006 they were returned to their original place in the restored Cathedral.
