Resurrection Church

The Resurrection Church (Voskresenskaya tserkov) stands in Tomsk on Resurrection Hill, in the oldest, protected part of the city, at Oktyabrsky vzvoz 10. The church gave its name to the hill where the Tomsk fort once stood, and it remains one of the symbols of Tomsk's historic centre.

History

The first, wooden church on this site was built in 1622, during the time when Kiprian served as the first bishop of Siberia. After standing for more than a century and a half, the wooden church fell into disrepair, and in 1789 Tomsk merchants Yegor Domonevsky and Pyotr Baranov laid the foundation of a stone church. The new building was erected after a standard design traced back to the architect Rastrelli, in the Siberian baroque style. The stone Resurrection Church was consecrated on 18 October 1803, and on 16 June 1807 its upper altar, dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God, was consecrated as well.

In 1897 a bell weighing 1005 poods and 30 funts — one of the largest in pre-revolutionary Tomsk — was raised onto a freestanding bell tower. After the revolution the church shared the fate typical of Russian churches of that era: in 1922 part of its silver vessels were confiscated, in 1930 the bell was taken down and melted, and on 4 August 1936 the church was closed. In 1937 an attempt was made to demolish it, but the building survived. In the 1940s it housed the archives of the RSFSR for the Far East.

Services resumed at the Resurrection Church on 16 August 1995. Earlier, between 1980 and 1990, the building's façades were restored. In 2004 a replica of the famous large bell was raised onto a newly built bell tower.

Legends

According to local accounts, when the stone church was built to replace the wooden one, the old building was taken apart and carried to the bank of the Tom River, where, following custom, it was burned and its ashes scattered over the water.

Today

The Resurrection Church is now an active Orthodox church. It holds a venerated relic — an icon containing a fragment of the relics of the great martyr Anastasia the Deliverer from Bonds.

Getting there

The church stands at Oktyabrsky vzvoz 10, in the historic centre of Tomsk, not far from Solyanaya Square and the Tomsk State University of Architecture and Building. It can be reached by trolleybus No. 1 or 3, or by bus No. 9, 20, 23, 26 or 33, to the "TGASU" stop, from which the church is a few minutes' walk up the hill.