The Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Samara) is a unique architectural monument. Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Samara) - a unique architectural monument of the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of the Roman Catholic Church

Church spiers

One of the main and most recognizable architectural masterpieces of Samara is the building of the Catholic Church on Frunze Street. Its red, elegant 37-meter Gothic spiers, literally piercing the sky, are clearly visible both in the panorama of the street and from the Volga.

Almost from the moment of its foundation, Samara attracted representatives of the most different nations and confessions. In addition to the Orthodox, Muslims (mainly Tatars and Bashkirs) appeared in the city. Later Lutherans, Jews, and Catholics settled here. Everyone needed their own religious buildings. Compared to places of worship of other faiths, the history of the construction of a Catholic church in Samara was perhaps the longest and full of unexpected twists.

The question of building a Catholic church in Samara was raised by Yegor Nikitich Annaev, a merchant of the First Guild, and later the owner of a well-known Russian Empire kumys clinics.

Catholic Church

By the middle of the 19th century, the city already had a fairly large and influential Catholic community. In fact, one of the most influential Catholics in the city was a merchant of the First Guild, and later the owner of a well-known kumiss clinic in the Russian Empire, Egor Nikitich Annaev– raised the question of building a Catholic church. They began to erect the current building of the Lutheran church. But the Polish uprising of 1863 broke out, and Catholics in Samara were denied the right to build a church. Since many Polish families from the banks of the Volga were deported to Siberia, the required number of parishioners for the temple was not recruited. Only in 1887 were the Poles allowed to build a church. First, a prayer house was erected - a wooden religious building, which is now located behind a modern brick building (architect T.S. Khilinsky). Services were held in it, and the priest lived on the second floor. And only in 1906 the first service was held in the new Samara architectural masterpiece - the red brick Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, well known to every Samara resident.

Only in 1887 were the Poles allowed to build a church. But it began to be built in 1902.

The architectural design of the church is very unusual for Samara. Neo-Gothic buildings were very popular during the Art Nouveau era. But in the province there are no shortage of buildings with Gothic elements (for example, Subbotina’s mansion on Alexei Tolstoy Street, 30). The construction of the church began in 1902 according to the design of a Moscow architect of Polish origin Foma Osipovich Bogdanovich by Samara architects under the leadership Shcherbacheva and builders. The Volga church also has an “elder brother”, which, however, has outgrown its predecessor. In 1904, in Moscow on Malaya Gruzinskaya Street, the same Bogdanovich erected a church very similar in architecture Immaculate Conception, which is larger than its Samara counterpart. But during the Great Patriotic War The Moscow church was badly damaged and regained its original appearance only after restoration work, carried out in the 1990s. Samara catholic church preserved in its original form.

During Soviet times in the building catholic church a children's theatre, a cinema and a theater technical school were located, and then a builders' club.

Interestingly, the prototype of these buildings is not so easy to find. The heyday of Gothic ended in the 16th century, and was replaced by other styles of Catholic religious architecture. But if you walk around Vilnius, you can see the beautiful Church of St. Anne, which has a striking resemblance to the Samara one, only it is more than four centuries older. It was probably this that Bogdanovich used as a prototype for his Samara and Moscow buildings.

During Soviet times, the church was closed. The building of the Catholic Church housed a children's theater, a cinema and a theater technical school, and then a builders' club. The administration of the latter institution tried to rebuild the interior of the church, filling it with reinforced concrete structures and making it multi-story inside. Fortunately, the building was recognized as an architectural monument and was never rebuilt. Since 1938, the church has housed a museum, which allowed it to be preserved in good condition until 1991. Except that the crosses from the spiers and the organ were lost.

Catholic dioceses in the Russian Empire appeared in the middle of the 18th century. Catherine II allowed settlers professing Catholicism to build churches and perform divine services. Most of the Catholics settled in the Samara province.

At that time, it was allowed to build churches only in colonies or villages, so the residents of Samara (Catholics) had nowhere to pray. Then the merchant Yegor Annaev took the initiative to build a church within the city. Permission was not obtained immediately, but thanks to the persistence of E. Annaev, the temple Sacred Heart Jesus (Samara) was built after all. The decision in favor of the believers was made by Governor A. A. Artsimovich, a Pole by nationality and a Catholic by religion.

Construction of the church and its life before the revolution

The site for construction was chosen in the forty-ninth block, at the intersection of the future Kuibyshev and Nekrasovskaya streets. Land The townspeople of Novokreshchenov, Kanonova, Razladskaya and Zelenova sold it for construction.

The Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Samara) was designed by the architect from Moscow Foma Bogdanovich. There are also versions that the design of the church was carried out by Nikolai Eremeev or a team of architects from St. Petersburg. Construction work was carried out by Nizhny Novgorod masons led by Alexander Shcherbachev. A magnificent Austrian organ was installed inside the church.

The newly built building was consecrated in 1906. The first service was performed by the curator of the Samara parish, I. Lapshis. The Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Samara) remained active until the 20s of the 20th century.

In addition to worship services, the church was actively involved in charity work. Those in need received money, clothing, food, and a roof over their heads. Members of the charitable society spent evenings with music, dancing and a lottery. A public library and reading room were opened at the church.

During the First World War, clergy and parishioners helped refugees and prisoners of war. The victims of the hostilities were in dire straits and needed medical care. Orphanages were opened for the children of immigrants from the western provinces.

during the USSR period

The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Samara shared the fate of many churches in the Soviet Union. The church was deprived of the right to dispose of metric books. Civil status acts were compiled in newly established bodies (registry offices). Buildings and property were taken away from churches, and parishes, called collectives of believers, were forced to negotiate with the state regarding the use of the church for worship.

The transfer of the church property to the state took place in 1918. At the same time, an agreement was concluded to transfer the premises to the parish. In 1922, made of gold and precious metals, confiscated in favor of the starving people of the Volga region.

In the 30s of the last century, the church building housed a children's theater, in the 40s - a local history museum, and later the building was given to a theater technical school and a construction club. Believers were offered to pray in the Smolensk chapel, but priest I. Lunkevich did not agree, citing the fact that Catholics praise God only in a cruciform church.

After the closure of the church, the Catholic community gradually collapsed. The church building lost the crosses on the towers, some elements of decoration and the organ. In 1934, the construction organization in charge of the church proposed to rebuild the church, dividing the building into two floors, but the architectural expert council did not approve of this idea, classifying the building as a cultural asset.

Renaissance

The Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Samara) found new life in 1991. The church was again transferred to the parish. IN different time the services were conducted by priests J. Huncaga, T. Pikus, T. Benush, T. Donaghy. Father Thomas took care of housing for the clergy and renovation of the church. In 2001, crosses returned to the spiers.

The current appearance of the temple

The church was built in the neo-Gothic style. The shape of the building is cruciform with a transverse transept. Two towers rise into the sky, their height is 47 meters. The entrance to the church is decorated with a stained glass window depicting the Virgin Mary. The altar houses the fresco “Christ on the Cross” (Salvador Dali, copy).

Among the visitors to the church are not only city residents, but also tourists who want to admire the architectural monument that is the Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Samara). Photos of works of art are beautiful from any angle.

The church building is unique in its own way. Gothic lost popularity at the end of the 16th century. For construction religious buildings Catholicism began to use other styles. A church similar in architecture was built in Vilnius. The church is older than the Samara church by the 4th century, but there are some similarities in the appearance of the temples. Perhaps Foma Osipovich Bogdanovich, when creating Moscow and Volga churches, was guided precisely by the Vilnius church.

Coming

Catechesis is regularly held for church parishioners. Those who wish to enter the ranks of the church study the basics of Christianity and doctrine. Temple servants organize ecumenical meetings. During the meetings, issues of achieving Christian unity, or at least understanding, between Christian denominations are considered.

The church houses a Bible study group, a library, and an editorial office. parish newspaper. Concerts of classical and sacred music are held in the temple premises. The church is open both for individual visits and for excursions.

Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Samara): address

Polsky is located at 157 Frunze Street. The place can be reached by buses, trams and minibuses. The nearest stops are “Strukovsky Park”, “Frunze Street”, “Krasnoarmeyskaya”, “Philharmonic”.

Parishioners and visitors note that the Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Catholic Church in Samara) is a quiet and peaceful place where you can relax, get away from the everyday hustle and bustle, and reflect on life.

The Samara church is recognized as a cultural monument. The building is protected by the state and is included in the UNESCO cultural heritage list.

On Frunze Street in Samara there is a religious building that is quite unusual for a Russian city, the like of which you would rather expect to see somewhere in Europe. This is a Polish church built in the Gothic style. The official name of this temple is the Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and it is called Polish because it was built by the Polish community.

At the end of the 19th century, representatives of the Catholic denomination of Samara, mostly Poles, raised money to buy a plot of land on which they first built a wooden church. In 1902, according to the design of the Polish-born architect Foma Osipovich Bogdanovich, the construction of a new stone church began using masons from Nizhny Novgorod under the leadership of Samara architect Alexander Shcherbachev. It lasted almost four years and ended only at the beginning of 1906. About eighty thousand rubles were spent on construction.

The church was consecrated in February 1906, and it functioned until the end of the twenties of the twentieth century. In the thirties, the church was closed, and most of the decoration was destroyed or looted, and in 1941 a local history museum was placed in the premises. The building was returned to the Catholic community only in the early 90s. The church was restored and re-consecrated in 1996 in honor of Catholic holiday Sacred Heart of Jesus. The crosses were raised on the spiers on May 31, 2000.

From point of view architectural style The church is classified as neo-Gothic, and according to the type of structure - a pseudo-basilica (the design combines the principles of creating basic and hall churches). The three-nave church with a transept is built in the shape of a cross, and its front part is decorated with decorative turrets - pinnacles. The height of the main towers reaches almost 50 meters. The temple was once decorated with very magnificent decorations, and there was also an organization inside A n, whom the church lost in 1913. Now in the altar of the temple there is a fresco, which is a copy of an unusual work by the famous artist S. Dali - “Christ of St. John of the Cross.”

The parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is included in the Middle Volga deanery of the Diocese of St. Clement, the department of which is located in Saratov. The parish organizes ecumenical (aimed at uniting Christian denominations) meetings, similar to the youth meetings of the Teze community, catechesis is held, a Catholic newspaper is created and there is its own library, in addition, there is a Bible circle. Concerts of sacred and classical music are often held in the church. The temple is available for private visits and group tours.

You can get to the Catholic Church by trams, minibuses, buses going to the stops “Frunze Street” and “Krasnoarmeyskaya Street”. The main attractions of the center of Samara can be reached on foot.

I’ve already tried twice to write something at least vaguely reminiscent of unlucky notes about our city (for those interested, part one is about Samara Square, part two is about Teatralnaya Square). Today - part three - about the Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Most Samara residents call it briefly - church.

I have long wondered where we have a Catholic Church, a Lutheran Church... Why a mosque in the city, I can still understand: after all, the proximity of Kazan, Volga Bulgaria, but where do Catholics come from here, on the Volga? It turned out that Catholics appeared in the Samara lands earlier than I could have imagined. Back in the 17th century, when Rus' concluded a truce with Poland, several detachments of Polish soldiers decided to enter the service of the Russian Tsar. It was decided to give them land on the border between Russia and the “Wild Field” (in general, these are now mostly Ukrainian lands, but the wild field also includes the territories of the Rostov, Voolgograd and other regions), so that the borders would be protected, and it would seem that they would be given land . By the way, there is an opinion that it was these nobles who became the basis of the Volga nobility. Further more. After the defeat of the uprisings in Poland, Lithuania and the Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the exiles were settled in these not very luxurious lands. I must say that for such a policy we must bow at the feet of Catherine II, because she was a smart woman. Among the displaced most consisted of the intelligentsia and intellectual elite: doctors, teachers, engineers. *if only such a policy were carried out now*

In short, our Catholic diaspora has become not only very strong, but influential. And the wild Russian people, looking at the more sedate and orderly Poles, Germans, and Lithuanians, also adopted their European way of life and thoughts. Therefore, it is quite natural that the Catholic community decided to build a temple on Samara soil with the permission of the authorities. This permission was received, and construction began in 1862. The most remarkable thing is that this temple still stands today. Only he is not Catholic. This is Kirkha (at the intersection of Kuibyshevskaya/Nekrasovskaya). It was originally conceived as a Catholic church, but at some point the authorities, doubting the peacefulness of the Poles, who staged an uprising in 1863, decided that Samara did not have the 100 families needed to open a parish, and gave the church to the Lutherans.

We must pay tribute to the parishioners. They did not organize any actions or appeal to justice, but humbly made a decision and continued to think about how to live further. And a solution was found: in May 1887, the Catholic community was allowed to buy land in a vacant lot and begin building a house of worship. For a minute, what in 1887 was an abandoned wild wasteland is now the intersection of Frunze and Krasnoarmeyskaya! By the way, the house of prayer still stands today. And everyone walked past him 600 times, but I think no one paid attention to him. And it stands right behind the stone church familiar to all of us. Here he is.

I couldn't photograph it more successfully. Technical capabilities do not allow. Now it is difficult to imagine that this house was once perhaps the only and central gathering place for the Catholic community and worship, but this is true. Previously, the windows on the second floor had lancet frames, and in general, according to contemporaries, the house looked very modest, but nice. Now you can see for yourself... Later, after the church was built, the priest of the church began to live in this house.

But all the ordeals of Samara Catholics were redeemed when in 1902 they obtained permission to build a stone Temple, the silhouette of which is remembered by everyone who has even sailed along the Volga past Samara. From the moment of obtaining permission to the first service in the temple, by the way, only 4 years passed. Construction was completed in 1906. There were no masters of Gothic masonry in Samara - they were invited from Nizhny Novgorod. In total, the community collected and spent 80 thousand rubles on the construction of the temple - this was colossal money at that time, moreover, in Austria for 5 thousand rubles. an organ was ordered, which was to become the main pearl of the temple, because in those days only a few temples could boast of an organ within their walls. The church quickly became a symbol of the city; even Orthodox residents could not help but recognize the beauty and grandeur of the new cathedral. People came from neighboring cities to look at this creation, and by the way, even in St. Petersburg newspapers they spoke about our church in extremely positive terms.

And the Samara newspapers wrote this:

The floor of the church built on Saratovskaya Street is currently being covered with tiles and finishing internal organization. The magnificent organ, ordered from Austria and costing about 5,000 rubles, has already been installed. At the beginning of February the church will be completely finished and its consecration is expected on February 12

I found only one photo from that time.

Compare

The temple was consecrated on February 12, 1906, so here we go. week you can stop by and throw money into the donation tray.

And then, after the revolution, real hell came for this godly place. In 1930, the temple was closed so that the working people would not be embarrassed. Here in Samara there was a “Union of Atheists”, so you can imagine what the rednecks could do if they unexpectedly got their hands on power and carte blanche for atrocities. These bastards did not find anything smarter than to plunder the temple, destroy the frescoes and destroy that unique organ. As contemporaries said, the parts of the organ lay on the street for a long time and the children enjoyed playing with the organ pipes. So we lost the pearl. The temple was turned into an entertainment establishment, then into an anti-religious museum (aren’t they idiots to place an anti-religious museum in a building whose shape is a cross?!), and then a local history museum, which many of us still found. And again, both the temple and the community endured everything steadfastly. The temple survived, withstood everything, and now looks at what is happening calmly and with dignity. He is no longer afraid of anything. He is a legend.

The revival of the temple and the community as a whole began in 1991. When the first Polish priest who came to Samara celebrated a mass in the then premises of the local history museum. The service took place right among the exhibits, and a small number of parishioners were present. At the end of 1991, it was decided to return the temple to the church. In 1999, after numerous litigation the temple was rededicated and his misadventures, one hopes, ended.

Now the temple is fully operational. Masses, traditional concerts, which are held jointly with the Samara Philharmonic, a very warm and touching Christmas celebration in December, and an amazing, simply magical feeling of calm inside the temple. You can come there, sit on a bench and just sit, think about your own things, and watch how the coming spring sun is reflected in the discreet stained glass windows. Even if you are alone, no one will say a word to you, the people there are amazingly friendly. Above the altar there is a fresco copy of Dali's painting "Christ on the Cross". I can’t call surrealism my favorite genre, but it looks very harmonious.