Church of St. Michael the Archangel (Kozmodemyansk)
Yurino Village, Kozmodemyansk.
The Church of St. Michael the Archangel, one of the most gorgeous Orthodox buildings in the Mari El Republic, rises proudly above trees in the centre of the village of Yurino. This Church is often called a pearl of the entire Volga Region.
Formerly, in Yurino near a castle on the hill called "makovka" (eng.: cupola) there was a wooden church named in honour of the St. Michael the Archangel (built in 1770). In the mid-19th century, the Church could not seat all comers. A new church was necessary to build. All people together raised funds for construction. A considerable amount of money was allocated by the Sheremetev family, the owners of the castle and the estate. Merchants, working men, and peasants contributed too.
A new two-storeyed stone church was built in 1869 to 1889. The old wooden church stood in Yurino till the 1920s, when it was burned in the fire and never reconstructed.
Unfortunately, we do not know the name of an architect of the new Church of St. Michael the Archangel. Surnames of some church builders are known only. Smislov, Morozov, Belyakov. One thing is clear — it was not a typical project. The Church is very special in its design and decor. The building is octagonal with a quadrangle basement. Side chapels are attached around the quadrangle on the sides of the cross. They are topped with big arched gables (zakomaras). Towers are situated diagonally and well fit into the general design As a result, the five-dome quadrangle was complemented with four more domes. The nine-dome church looks impressively and solemnly. Combination of two colours, red and white, stresses gay decoration and festive appearance of the building. The ornamental decoration matches the whole church design. Mix of different ornamental styles, that was a peculiar feature of the church architecture of the time, imparts the building with lightness and matches in the Church's appearance.
A small frater connects the Church with the bell tower. The central drum is especially original in the form of a tent with round windows.
The Church's walls and arches were painted by artists of Nizhny Novgorod and Vladimir. There was a churchyard, where priests were buried. Vasily Sheremetev, Olga Sheremeteva and their son Peter Sheremetev, the last owners of the estate and the castle before the 1917 Russian Revolution, were buried in a special vault.
In the 1930s, the Church of St. Michael the Archangel was closed and devastated. The bells were thrown down; the crosses were removed; the interior paintings were painted over.
In February 1941, the Yurino District Executive Committee reported that the Church was converted into a cinema and a club. The ground floor of the Church was used to show films, and on the first floor there was the club.
In 1989, at the request of people living in Yurino the Church was returned to the faithful. Reconstruction works started.
On 19 November 1991, a big cross was mounted on the main dome, and on 8 August 1996, the Nikolsky Side Chapel was consecrated by John the Bishop of Yoshkor-Ola and Mari El. The Yurino pearl regained its original mission.
The Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel is one of the most ancient Kremlin's architectural monuments, out of those that have survived. When the city was founded in 1221, a wooden church was constructed on the site of the Cathedral; as early as 1227–1229, the church was replaced with a stone building.
The white-stone church also featured anima...
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