Foros Church

44°24′16.3″N 33°47′17.9″E / 44.404528°N 33.788306°E / 44.404528; 33.788306

View on the Red Cliff from the Baydar Gate

The Church of Christ's Resurrection (Russian: Воскресенская церковь, romanized: Voskryesyenskaya tserkov'; Ukrainian: Церква Воскресіння Христового, romanized: Tserkva Voskresinnya Khrystovoho) is a popular tourist attraction close to the southernmost tip of the Crimea, known primarily for its scenic location, overlooking the Black Sea littoral from a 400-metre cliff near Baidarsky Pass.

The church overlooking the village of Foros was commissioned by a local landowner to commemorate Alexander III's survival in the Borki train disaster (1888).[1] The landowner's name was Alexander Kuznetsov; he was a tea trader from Moscow. Nikolai Chagin, a celebrated architect from Vilnius, designed the church in a bizarre blend of Rastrelliesque Baroque, Russian Revival, and Byzantine Revival.

The church was consecrated on 4 October 1892 in the name of the Resurrection of Christ in a ceremony attended by Konstantin Pobedonostsev.[2] The last Tsar, Nicholas II of Russia, and his wife prayed at the church on the day of the 10th anniversary of the Borki incident.[2]

After the Russian Revolution the church was closed for worshippers, its priest exiled to Siberia and frescoes painted over. The building was used as a snackbar for tourists until 1969 and stood empty throughout the 1970s and 1980s.[3] It was returned to the Orthodox Church and went through four restoration campaigns under the auspices of Leonid Kuchma.[2]

The Foros Church is a popular wedding location. In July 2003 Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan wed politician Viktor Medvedchuk and TV host Oksana Marchenko in the Foros church.[4] Anastasia Zavorotnyuk and Peter Tchernyshev also chose to be married here.[4]

  • Interior
    Interior
  • The porch/bell tower
    The porch/bell tower
  • The dome
    The dome
  1. ^ "Церковь Воскресения Христова в п. Форос". Archived from the original on 2008-04-20. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  2. ^ a b c "Пасха | Храм в Форосе". www.paskha.ru. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
  3. ^ "Church of the Ascension of Christ". Archived from the original on 2008-09-29.
  4. ^ a b "Заворотнюк и Чернышов обвенчались | Мобильная версия | Новости на Gazeta.ua". 16 October 2008.