Epiphany Cathedral amazes with its majestic radiant beauty. This is the oldest stone building in Irkutsk. The Cathedral was founded in the XVII century.
The beauty and grandeur
Then the Church was a wooden building. The fire completely destroyed the Cathedral buildings. At the beginning of the XVIII century, the construction of a brick Church was started with the money of parishioners.
Construction lasted two decades. The icons for the Central iconostasis were made for the longest time. The bell tower was built only a hundred years after the start of construction of the temple. For it was cast by the bell, named Great. His ringing was heard for dozens of miles. Today, unfortunately, the Siberian Tsar bell is no longer in the same place.
Repeatedly storms and earthquakes damaged the Shrine. The Soviet government and is placed here in the bakery shop. Only in the late 60-ies of XX century food enterprise was removed and began the restoration of the Shrine.
The tiered composition of the building is crowned with a hipped bell tower. The decoration of the Cathedral is incredibly magnificent, bizarre, unusual. The elegance and expressiveness of the temple is achieved through a combination of ancient decor, Baroque elements and motifs borrowed from the native Siberian peoples.
The decor of the facade of the Cathedral of the Epiphany consists of ornate window and door casings, cornices, arches, corbel arches, and other striking details and architectural finishes. Drawing of stone, which removed the doorway, striking in its beauty. Masters decorated it with thousands of beads of different shapes and cuts.
The interior of the temple
Magnificent tiles by local craftsmen adorn the temple. One of them depicts a babr with a sable in his mouth – a symbol of the city since ancient times. Tiles were able to do in Russia in the XIV century, they decorated the Russian furnace. On the surface was applied a pattern with relief, filled with enamel and glaze and burned.
Hard, painstaking work of masters was highly appreciated at all times. More than 300 tiles were made for the Epiphany Cathedral in Irkutsk! Some of them are decorated with unpretentious circles, petals, while others are masterpieces of craft art.
The courtyard around the temple is equipped with fountains. Every square meter of the territory is ennobled: everywhere flowering plants, benches. Summer is here broken pond and an Alpine, winter ice sculptures. At night, the temple is beautifully illuminated.
Pilgrimage tours to the Cathedral of the Epiphany are organized for guests of the city. The Cathedral is depicted on Souvenirs. So tourists can take with them the memory of the magnificent temple of Irkutsk.
The view of the temple from the Angara river amazes with its splendor. It looks like an old Russian tower. Irkutsk residents compare it with the beauty of a gingerbread, fairy-tale house. To match the beauty of the facades of the Epiphany Cathedral and its interior. There is no place free from icons or tiles. Admire the relief drawings of tiles can be a very long time, looking for them new motifs and elements.