Church in honor of the Holy Martyr Queen Alexandra in Finland, Turku resort
Rating: 8,0/10 (654 votes)  The Church in honor of the Holy Martyr Queen Alexandra is the main Orthodox church in the city of Turku. Located on the Market Square. The building of the temple is protected by the state as an architectural monument At the beginning of the 19th century, after the incorporation of Finland into the Russian Empire, a Russian military garrison was placed in Turku, in connection with which the Orthodox population of the city grew significantly. The first attempt to build a stone Orthodox church in Turku was made by the Russian military back in 1812. It was unsuccessful due to lack of funds. In 1835, the Senate of Finland decided to build a parish Orthodox church in the city. Drawings of a new church were sent to St. Petersburg, which were later rejected. A new project created by Karl Engel was presented in the spring of 1837, approved by Nicholas I in early 1838. Construction, begun in 1938, was completed six years later. The iconostasis of the temple is noteworthy: white and gold, two-tiered, created in the Empire style, the iconostasis in the bottom row has nine, and in the top - four icons. All icons were painted by Finnish artist Berndt Gudenjelm in St. Petersburg. The facade of the temple is decorated on four sides with Doric porticoes with four columns. The temple is 29 meters long and 21 meters wide. The height with the cross is 31 meters. The dome of the church is crowned with a lantern with a cross. The internal volume of the church is decorated with 16 composite columns made of imitation marble. The walls are painted white, while the space under the dome is blue and decorated with numerous gold stars. The temple was consecrated in the name of the holy martyr Queen Alexandra, wife of Emperor Nicholas I, in August 1846. In 1896, at the expense of the Holy Synod, a bell tower, designed by S. Mikhailov, was added to the church. The largest bell, weighing more than 120 pounds, was cast at a local foundry at the expense of the headman of the temple, PA Ananyev. In 1930, due to the fragility of the foundation, the bell tower had to be removed. The bell was placed on the porch at the entrance to the church. By the middle of the 20th century, the church was completely dilapidated and in need of major repairs, which was carried out under the leadership of E. Bruggman. The following relics are kept in the church in honor of the holy martyr Tsarina Alexandra: icons of the holy Tsarina Alexandra, the Great Martyr George the Victorious and Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker donated by the elder Alexander Dementyev; large images against a gilded background of the early 20th century: the Monk Seraphim of Sarov and the Monk Arseny Konevsky. There is also a beautiful icon of the Mother of God in a silver setting and an icon of the Mother of God in a gilded icon case with stucco. Services here are usually held in Finnish, but once a month you can attend a service in Church Slavonic.    We also recommend reading Small area in Finland, Turku resort Topic: Church in honor of the Holy Martyr Queen Alexandra in Finland, Turku resort. |
