The Church of Christ's Resurrection (; ) is a popular tourist attraction close to the southernmost tip of the

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, known primarily for its scenic location, overlooking the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

littoral from a 400-metre

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of Rock (geology), rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. ...

near Baidarsky Pass.

History

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). The landowner's name was Alexander Kuznetsov; he was a tea trader from Moscow. Nikolai Chagin, a celebrated architect from

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, designed the church in a bizarre (though by no means unattractive) blend of Rastrelliesque

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

, 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. The last Tsar,

Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until Abdication of Nicholas II, hi ...

, and his wife prayed at the church on the day of the 10th anniversary of the Borki incident. After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

the church was closed for worshippers, its priest exiled to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

and frescoes painted over. The building was used as a snackbar for tourists until 1969 and stood empty throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was returned to the Orthodox Church and went through four restoration campaigns under the auspices of Leonid Kuchma. The Foros Church is a popular

wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...

location. In July 2003 Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan wed politician Viktor Medvedchuk and TV host Oksana Marchenko in the Foros church. Anastasia Zavorotnyuk and Peter Tchernyshev also chose to be married here.

Gallery

File:Foros in 02.jpg, File:Foros 5 (10649526924).jpg, File:Foros style.JPG,

References

{{reflist Churches in Crimea Tourist attractions in Crimea Byzantine Revival architecture in Ukraine 19th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings Churches completed in 1892 Russian Revival architecture Baroque Revival church buildings Buildings and structures in Crimea Yalta Municipality Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Crimea