Our Saviour Cathedral

The current church is the replica of the former Our Saviour Cathedral that had been the most distinctive landmark of the old Penza, standing on top of the main street in Sobornaya square (now Moscovskaya street and Sovetskaya square). It was an impressive white two-storey, five-domed classical building. The belltower used to be connected with the cathedral with an open collonade, and later the refectory was built to join the two buildings.
The cathedral, being the main church in town, contained remarkable frescoes - 80 Biblical stories of the Old and the New Testament beautifully executed by local artists. The cathedral’s venerated icon was the Icon of Our Lady of Kazan, a miraculous icon in the Russian Orthodox Church.
After the major political change at the beginning of the 20th c, Our Saviour Cathedral suffered the same destiny as the majority of churches across the country. It was closed down, and in 1934 it was demolished. The works on re-establishing the cathedral began at the end of the 20th c. First the chapel and then the small church of Annunciation were built on the territory. Later, thanks to a massive public campaign, the fund was raised for the building of the new cathedral. Now the magnificent building with golden domes on top of the hill dominates the old city centre.