Perm: return to originstranslated

Majestic. Perhaps this word best characterizes this city. Classicism, modernism, constructivism: any building in Perm is majestic. Modern skyscrapers, universities, theaters, philharmonic halls, industrial enterprises... But the most recognizable building in the city is the huge and beautiful cathedral!

Natalya KHARPALEVA

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral

Photo by Sergei Boldenkov

History knows cases when monuments, log buildings, residential buildings, even high-rise buildings were moved from place to place. But to transport the whole cathedral! It seems that the Perm Spaso-Preobrazhensky is the only one in this sense. It seems that he always stood here, on the mountain above the Kama, always met and saw off passing ships with the ringing of bells. But everything is more complicated...

The cathedral that floated 200 km!

In the middle of the 16th century, industrialists the Stroganovs founded the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery on the banks of the Kama in the village of Pyskor, more than two hundred kilometers from present-day Perm. 200 years have passed. Under Catherine II, Perm became the center of the new province. And the buildings of the monastery, which was abolished at that time, were transported there along the Kama River!

The oldest surviving image of Perm. Transfiguration Cathedral is on the far right. P. Razmakhnin...