Navy Cathedral in Kronshtadt to be restored

The Historical Heritage Foundation started restoring the Naval Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Kronshtadt – the main shrine of the Russian Navy.

The Curator Council is to meet in October. Among its members are representatives of St. Petersburg administration, the Leningrad naval center, banks, companies, enterprises and the Metropolia of St. Petersburg. Temporal iconostasis is soon to be constructed in the church.

The Naval Cathedral was founded in the town-fortress with the Emperor Nicholas II’s decree in 1903 to commemorate the 200^th anniversary of the Russian Navy and was consecrated ten years after with the Emperor present. Only the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior exceeded it in magnitude. 36 memorial desks with the names of 12 thousand sailors who died for the Motherland were placed there. The dome cross gave light for the ships navigating in the Finnish Bay. The church housed a club in 1929 and the UNESCO site of world heritage was driven to a pitiful plight. The church community was organized several years ago and the theater of the Baltic Navy abandoned the building. The Russian Navy and the Metropolia of St. Petersburg agreed to convey the Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Pravoslavie.RU