Uspenskyi Cathedral, one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Poltava is located in the center of Cathedral Square. Post-war generation unfortunately was not able to see the former Uspenskyi Cathedral standing near Bell tower. It was blown up in 1934 by zealous followers of our Great Helmsman’s will, who dreamed about the society living in totalitarian atheism. To the authorities’ credits of those times, who strictly followed a pattern of church destruction, that is all church belongings were inventoried firstly by a special committee, then the precious stuff with icons were delivered to various museums. And only after dealing with this “distribution”, the “green” light was given to demolition squads. Yes, indeed it was for them to proceed – ‘cause the churches were so scrupulously built by our ancestors that they could easily have stood for ages. Surely a fat chance for bulldozers. If you happen to be some day in a former bishop’s house (garrison hospital) or in a Petrov Military School, just pay attention to a walls’ thickness, it’s about one meter!
The Cathedral was restored to its original appearance only in the years of Ukraine’s Independence. Though there is work still to be done on internal restoration (It isn’t open for now), Cathedral once again pleases Poltavites and city visitors alike with its beauty and austere greatness.
The 1940es years reaped the “harvest of sorrow” of destroyed Poltava churches. Sretenskaya church, which had stood at the place of former Executive Committee of the City (at the corner of Komsomolskaya and October streets), ceased to exist in 1937. Voskresenskaya church (at the place of which a musical school is standing now) shared the same lot, it was closed in 1936. There are many of such instances of destructive materialism to be cited, even for a small city like Poltava. Nowadays, our new authorities in power keep repeating the same mistake the aggressive advocates of materialism had made before. And once again, some attempts are made towards a demolition of some old monuments in the city, or streets renaming, not returning them old names but rather giving new ones of new national heroes etc, instead of restoration and rebuilding works. I see that the silent monuments are easy to fight against, but the people’s memory will prevail anyway.
We are heading back to the history of Poltava Uspenskyi Cathedral’s erection – one of the most beautiful architectural buildings in the city. There was a wooden Uspenskyi Cathedral with two-floor small bell tower, standing on Ivanova Gora (a part of Cathedral square) as early as in Peter’s times. According to one of the legends, the tsar Peter I had thanksgiving there for the victory in Poltava battle. Grandfather of our great countrymen I.P. Kotlyarevsky, was employed as a clerk in Uspenskyi Cathedral.
In 1776, because of a Cathedral’s decay, it was sold to Ivashki village (8 miles from Poltava) to be demolished, where a small church was constructed from its materials.
A churchyard was situated near Cathedral, which existed till the beginning of 19th century. This area is well known because of a lot of archeological finds, many of which can be seen in the museum of local lore, as well as of its subterranean passage system running to the deepness of 6 to 12 meters, many passages of which date back to 17-18th centuries.
In 1748 Poltava colonel Andrey Gorlenko, who held his office till 1765, had concluded the contract with major-general Ivan Khorvat, the governor of New Serbia, on the subject of new stone Cathedral’s construction in Poltava. In 1748 a construction of the new stone Uspenskyi Cathedral had begun at the territory of fortress under the guidance of talented architect Stephan Stabansky. For a long time the lands were called New Serbia, which in 1764 became a part of Novorossiysk province, the capital of which since 1765 was Kremenchuk. Arrived on invitation from New Serbia, architect Stephan Stabansky, was charged with the Cathedral’s construction activity. The construction period was quite lengthy one, with minor outages due to funds and building materials shortage, and lasted till 1770. By consulting the book “Memoirs about Poltava and its monuments” by Bunevich V.E, one can find out about the construction expenses from 1754 till 1767, which were religiously calculated and made up 8637 rubles and 25,5 kopecs. Actually the Cathedral was constructed at the Poltava regiment’s expenses and all reports on work progress were filed to regiment office and finance committee.
Initially the Cathedral had three cupolas on the roof and was 30 meters long, 17 meters in width. In 1780 another two cupolas were raised on the top over the altar room. The originality in architectural ensemble made it next to impossible for the cathedral to be ranked by its architecture. V.E Buchnevich wrote: architecture of the cathedral’s central part bears traces of Roman style, whereas cupolas of Greek one. Michael Yakovlevich Rudinskyi, a well-known researcher of history and culture, who worked for many years as a director in our Museum of local lore and who laid the basis for Poltava Arts Museum, wrote in his pamphlet «Architectural aspect of Poltava» : “ The cathedral’s architecture if examined closely attracts attention most likely by the unusualness of its forms rather than by their beauty. Overall austerity of the contours, lack of warmth in wall decorations as well as simplicity in windows’ design makes cathedral’s appearance cold and alien in close range. Thanks to a large square and a location in highland, the cathedral is neatly silhouetted against the sky, that all intensifies the impression to even greater extent. If it weren’t for two rear cupolas, I would have called it a Roman-Catholic church, nonchalant to the land and emotionless in its eminence” I recommend you to look at the cathedral on a bright sunny day from Mazurov hill (where St. Nicholas church stands) or from Kelin’s (Pervomay) avenue.
In 1787 Catherine II, Empress of Russia visited the cathedral during her stay in Poltava.
In 1845 T. Shevchenko portrayed Kotlyarevsky’s house with Uspenskyi Cathedral from Podol district’s side.
In 1847 the cathedral receives its cathedral status as a result of transference of Poltava bishop department from Pereyaslav into Poltava.
For a long time, the area encircling the cathedral was the city center. Even at the beginning of the 19th century there was only one paved street in the city – from cathedral to Sreten’e (Candlemas) church. When Poltava became a province in 1802, the question was raised about office blocks’ arrangement. One of the proposed options was to construct the province conference houses namely opposite of the cathedral.
Thanks to archpriest Iakim Yanovsky’s efforts as well as to donations and endeavours of the assessors Alexander Yashin and Ivan Ponomarev, the construction of a four-floor bell tower was completed in 1801, which had been started as far back as in 1774. It is classical in style and has a broach on its top. There was a huge bell on the second floor with the images of Virgin Mary, apostles Peter and Paul and Saint Nicholas cast on its sides. The weight of the giant-bell was 5, 73 tons! An inscription at the bell’s bottom said that Prince Vasiliy Michailovich Dolgoruky had presented that bell as a gift to the cathedral on January 25, 1780. In memory of this outstanding general and knight in Catherine’s time, the cathedral kept his portrait in its sacristy as well as wooden coats of arms of princes of Dolgoruky’s dynasty. And on the third floor there was a famous bell Kyzi Kermen, cast of captured Turkish cannons during the assault of a fortress Kyzi Kermen. When casting the bell at Moscow foundry M.D Finlyandsky, 442 kilograms of silver were added to improve the bell’s sound capacity donated by Poltava colonel Pavel Semenovich Hertsik who together with hetman Ivan Mazepa took part in capturing of the fortress Kyzi Kermen. But soon afterwards the bell was taken down off the bell tower, because of the crack at its bottom, and for a long time it stood at a churchyard. In 1980 the bell was recast in Moscow and from that time forward it was in use till the end of the century. You may see it presently at the Museum of local lore.
Cathedral together with bell tower was surrounded by sales outlets and military installations: regiment’s office that housed military government, powder-magazine made of stone and armoury with 12 cannons and weapons. Of all those buildings only the bell tower has survived.
The unique Gospels, edition of 1628 and 1644, were kept within cathedral’s walls.
The cathedral’s capacity has risen up to 10 000 people from the time of enlargement in 1899.
The 20th century has brought hard times for the cathedral. As it was witnessed by contemporaries, the power in Poltava had changed the hands for twelve times from fall in 1917 until April of 1919. In fall of 1917, a requiem was served at the Cathedral Square in commemoration of the 208th anniversary from the death of hetman Ivan Mazepa. When Bolsheviks were defending Poltava against advancing German troops in 1918, a machine-gun was installed in cathedral which served as a good strategical stand above the ground. One of the shells fired at city, hit the altar’s wall, but didn’t come through; some of the other buildings around the Cathedral Square were seriously damaged. On March the Germans occupied the city and deployed their artillery battery. In the summer of 1918 a Poltava bishop Theophan recited the liturgy in memory of Emperor Nicholas II executed by Bolsheviks, and some time later, on September in memory of provisional government’s shot-dead ministers; Sheglovit, Kokovtsev, Mayorov, Maklakov and others. Incidentally, one of them - Nicholas Alexeevich Maklakov (1845-1918) worked in a position of chairman in Poltava State Chamber (now Executive Committee of the City). Athanasius Yakovlevich Rudenko (Panas Myrny), the famous writer was one of his colleagues. In 1913 Maklakov was promoted to the position of Chernigov governor, then to Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russia Empire. At the same time in the summer of 1918, it was decided to rename Alexander Street into Mazepa Street and Korpusnyi park into Mazepa park. After the final establishment of the Soviet power in the city, Alexander Street had become Rosa Luxemburg Street and Cathedral Square – Krasnaya (Red) Square.
Then aforesaid time had come. On February 1929, deputies of the Poltava council received (their electorate’s mandate) which resolved to “close down and transform into cultural and public-service institutions the following churches: Voskresenskaya (Resurrection) church, Uspenskyi Cathedral, Sretenskaya (Candlemas) church, Spaskaya (Saviour) church and all chapels”. It is incomprehensible how the cathedral’s bell tower could have survived this atheistic carnage. By all accounts the bell tower might have served as a geodesic reference point, making cartography of the city much easier.
Not long ago, in the years of Ukraine’s Independence, the Cathedral was restored, but interior work is still under way. We hope that interior will be much like an original, not like modern stile and all, and once again we, together with city’s visitors enjoy its beauty not only from outside but from inside as well.
In short, much remains still unclear. But one thing is evident: it is our duty and duty of the future generations to revive even some of the destroyed churches. What we need for this is a sincere heart.
- Thanks to Virtual Museum of Poltava : http://museum.poltava.ua
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