Annunciation Cathedral, Kharkiv
49°59′25″N 36°13′27″E / 49.99028°N 36.22417°E
The Annunciation Cathedral is the main Orthodox church of Kharkiv, Ukraine. The pentacupolar Neo-Byzantine structure with a distinctive 80-meter-tall bell tower was completed on October 2, 1888, from designs by a local architect, Mikhail Lovtsov. The church was baptized in 1901, while the first church of Annunciation (built in 17th century), located next to it was dismantled.
The candy-striped cathedral supplanted the older Assumption Cathedral as the main church of Kharkiv and was one of the largest and tallest churches of the Russian Empire. The icon screen used to be of Carrara marble.[1] The church was frescoed in a style derived from St Vladimir's Cathedral in Kiev.[1] On July 3, 1914 the temple became recognized as the city's cathedral.
The cathedral was closed to worshippers in 1930, but it was reopened during the German occupation in 1943. During that time the space in the temple initially was assigned to a cultural lyceum, while there are some evidences that it was used as a warehouse. During the WWII it was a temple of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
Since 1946 the cathedral is the seat of the Kharkiv and Bohodukhiv eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), while the bishop residence has stayed in the Saint-Pokrov Monastery (Kharkiv). The Ecumenical Patriarch Athanasius III Patelaros and several saintly bishops are buried in the cathedral.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Official website