Sofiyskiy Sobor

Saint Sophia Cathedral (Софийский собор) is a Russian Orthodox cathedral, the oldest surviving stone building in the city of Vologda. It was constructed between 1568 and 1570 under personal supervision of Tsar Ivan the Terrible in the period when Vologda was the capital of the Oprichnina lands in Russia, and completed in 1587. The cathedral is located on the right bank of the Vologda River

I saw him for the first time in February 1973: passing through Vologda, we went for a walk before going to sleep and quite accidentally came out to this square. Night. Frost. Snow white and Cathedral white. Deserted. Silence. AND THE MOONLIGHT ... the first impression of this Council will be forever in my memory. Then I saw many other church buildings: in Reims, and in Cologne, and in Girona, and in Barcelona, ​​and in many other places (Rome, Vienna, Milan ...) and St. Sophia Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod. But this one, although small in comparison with the ones listed above, stands out among them for its some kind of purity of proportions, underlined by asceticism, the absence of small details on the facades, some kind of elastic density of lines. Unfortunately, the bell tower completely falls out of this style: it took too long to build and too much of everything of different times was mixed in it; I am interested in it only as an opportunity to climb onto its viewing platforms, from where interesting panoramas of the city open up and from where the St. Sophia Cathedral appears in a completely unusual perspective. All surfaces in the interior: walls, vaults and pillars are completely covered with frescoes, which are very well preserved. Excellent acoustics. A small detail: when I saw the Cathedral for the first time, an entrance portal was attached to the current entrance to the temple, completely out of the general style. When they guessed to demolish it, fragments of the frescoes that had previously framed the entrance were revealed under it ... The cathedral is clearly visible almost from everywhere: it is not only a specific, but also the main semantic point of the city. And so it was until 25 years ago, the regional and city authorities decided to erect a gigantic, completely monstrous-looking building of their administration not far from the Cathedral, designed by a certain Russian - an honored architect of Vietnam: an absurd urban planning blunder ...

The majestic construction of Vologda! Even the government house on st. Herzen does not look so stately ...

The temple is very beautiful and unusual, inside there is an ancient painting on the walls. The frescoes are arranged in several tiers; the entire southern wall is occupied by a picture of the Last Judgment. Nevertheless, the cathedral looks very bright and joyful inside. In addition to the beautiful frescoes in the temple there is an unusual iconostasis. Almost every day there are interesting excursions where you can find out the history of the cathedral.

A sea of ​​impressions from visiting the ancient St. Sophia Cathedral in Vologda. The murals of the temple give a wonderful insight into Old Russian art. And of course you should definitely visit the bell tower of St. Sophia Cathedral, which offers a magnificent view of the city center. Churches, crosses and domes, old houses, river !!!! You only need to visit in good weather and the rise there is difficult, but it is worth it and the effort and entrance fee!