After 40 years, the Cathedral of the Pontifical Apparition on the island of Kirge reopened

Source: Global Times

The Cathedral of the Visible Facade is the second place of interest in Russia to be inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. The first to be included is the historic center of St. Petersburg, which has many monuments, and in third place is the Moscow Kremlin.

One of the main buildings in the wooden church of The Archaic Church of The 23 domes, completed in 1714 and repaired a century later. By the end of the 1970s, the Basilica of the Manifesto was in tatters: the unfounded building began to tilt, decaying in some places, and the risk of collapse increased. Since then the church has ceased to be open to the public, and the "superstructure"—the wooden vaults and four rows of icon walls—had to be demolished and transported out.

The restoration of the church did not progress quickly, mainly because of its unique structure – chiseled with an axe and without a single nail. The interior of the church removed the floor, ceiling, icon wall, and replaced the old logs with new ones without demolishing the walls. The total weight of the church is 600 tons, and 3,000 logs were used to build the church. In 2009, the restoration of the church entered an active restoration period, after which every year the restoration work was inspected by experts from the International Council for the Conservation of Monuments and Sites and by members of the Special Committee of the Competent Body, which included the best experts in Russia and experts in timber architecture from more than 30 countries.

The final phase of the restoration and sealing of the church was completed only last year. The restoration work, using a technology unique in the world, was successfully preserved by restorationists who preserved more than 60 percent of the historical material, while also restoring the icon walls. The restoration work was difficult because the central part of the icon's wall frame was more than 7 meters high and nearly 24 meters long.

Anastasia Dibrova, the museum's chief custodian of the collection, said: "The iconoclasm of the Basilica of the Manifestation of the Blessed Sacrament is organically integrated into the architectural structure of the church, fully displaying the mysterious color and spirituality. From the pastel colors of the gilded carvings of the icon's wall frames, one can feel warmth and tranquility. ”

This article is published in the Global Times "Russia Perspective" special issue, the content is provided by the "Russian newspaper".