Friday, July 12, 2019

St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral - Estonia

I've a lot of places that I want to visit, the list is quite long and for many years Tallinn was on the top of that list. If someone asked me about a city I'd like to visit, Tallinn would always be my answer. I finally visited it last month, actually, I was there one month ago and loving every minute in this lovely city. I'll definitely come back one day, a snowy day!! 
Hint! If you want to buy stamps and send cards from there, there's a post office on the left side of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, that's where I bought my stamps and I think you can guess which one of these cards I've sent to my mailbox. Yes, the snowy view.  The other card was sent by Rita. 

Foto: http://pilvepiksel.ee
This spectacular, onion-domed structure perched atop Toompea Hill is Estonia's main Russian Orthodox cathedral.
It's also by far the grandest, most opulent Orthodox church in Tallinn.
Built in 1900, when Estonia was part of the tsarist Russian empire, the cathedral was originally intended as a symbol of the empire's dominance – both religious and political – over this increasingly unruly Baltic territory.
The cathedral was dedicated to the Prince of Novgorod, Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky, who led the famous Battle of the Ice at Lake Peipsi in 1242, which halted the German crusaders' eastward advance. It was deliberately placed in this prominent location right in front of Toompea Castle, on the same spot where a statue of Martin Luther had previously stood, to show the mainly Lutheran locals who was in charge.

Now with the controversy long since faded, what's left is simply an architectural masterpiece. Designed by respected St. Petersburg architect Mikhail Preobrazhenski, the church is richly decorated in a mixed historicist style. The interior, filled with mosaics and icons, is well worth a visit.
The church's towers' hold Tallinn's most powerful church bell ensemble, consisting of 11 bells, including the largest in Tallinn, weighing 15 tonnes. You can hear the entire ensemble playing before each service. - in: https://www.visittallinn.ee/eng/visitor/see-do/sightseeing/pid-307/st-alexander-nevsky-cathedral

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