Foros Church

The Church of Christ's Resurrection (Russian: Воскресенская церковь; Ukrainian: Церква Воскресіння Христового) is a popular tourist attraction close to the southernmost tip of the Crimea, known primarily for its scenic location, overlooking the Black Sea littoral from a 400-metre cliff near Baidarsky Pass.

View on the Red Cliff from the Baydar Gate

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).[1] The landowner's name was Alexander Kuznetsov; he was a tea trader from Moscow. Nikolai Chagin, a celebrated architect from Vilnius, designed the church in a bizarre blend of Rastrelliesque Baroque, 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.[2] The last Tsar, Nicholas II of Russia, and his wife prayed at the church on the day of the 10th anniversary of the Borki incident.[2]

After the Russian Revolution the church was closed for worshippers, its priest exiled to Siberia and frescoes painted over. The building was used as a snackbar for tourists until 1969 and stood empty throughout the 1970s and 1980s.[3] It was returned to the Orthodox Church and went through four restoration campaigns under the auspices of Leonid Kuchma.[2]

The Foros Church is a popular wedding location. In July 2003 Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan wed politician Viktor Medvedchuk and TV host Oksana Marchenko in the Foros church.[4] Anastasia Zavorotnyuk and Peter Tchernyshev also chose to be married here.[4]

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  Interior
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  The porch/bell tower
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  The dome