Cathedral of Mikhail Arkhangel in Sochi
The Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel is the oldest Orthodox church in Sochi, built in honor of the victory in the Caucasian War of 1864.
In 1871, Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich Romanov, who was then governor of the Caucasus, traveled throughout the Black Sea region to find out the needs of new settlers and, if possible, help them. While visiting the Navaginsky fortification, he saw the ruins of an ancient church built during the Byzantine Empire and ordered a new church to be built in its place. In 1874, the first stone was laid in the construction of the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel.
Dmitry Vasilyevich Pilenko, the head of the Black Sea District, played a huge role in the construction of the temple, who found State Councilor P.V. Vereshchagin to lead the construction. Vereshchagin had previously founded a partnership of landowners to develop the lands of the Caucasus and promised to attract only private funds for construction. One of these investors was the merchant S. I. Mamontov and Count F. F. Sumarokov-Elston, and Vereshchagin also gave all the money from the sale of a house in Smolensk for construction. The design of the future temple was carried out by the architect from Moscow A. S. Kaminsky. According to the project, the length of the temple should be 25.6 meters, 17.1 meters wide, and 34 meters high. Due to various circumstances, the construction was greatly delayed and was completed only in 1890.
Soon, a spiritual center was formed around the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel: a parish school, a parish house with various buildings, a large garden, and a chapel were built nearby. All this together in everyday life was called the Church Quarter. With the advent of Soviet power, a campaign began to close religious institutions, and in 1929 the cathedral was closed, making a warehouse in it, but in 1944 the temple was returned to the faithful. In 1981, the church was taken under state protection, and since 1992, restoration began, which restored the former appearance of the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel.
