The Assumption Church in Bolgar was built in 1734. It is built in the style of Peter the Great Baroque, but many of its features are similar to the Islamic buildings of the Bulgarian era of the Golden Horde. In the 18th century, builders used the stones of many buildings of ancient Bolgar for the construction of this church.
The construction of the church in Bolgar is associated with the visit of Tsar Peter I to the settlement during the Persian campaign in 1723. The tsar sailed along the Volga to Astrakhan, and later went to the conquered Derbent. This campaign allowed Russia to gain access to Persia through a narrow passage at the foot of the Naryn-Kala Fortress. Sailing past Bolgar, Peter I climbed the high bank of the Volga, visited the ruins of Bolgar and climbed the minaret.
At the beginning of the 18th century, monks founded the Assumption Monastery in the ruins of the Bolgar settlement. The first Church of St. Nicholas is located in the Eastern Mausoleum of Bolgar. It was built in the 14th century in the hip roof style and has been preserved to this day in its original form.
Funds for the construction of a new Assumption Church, a decade after the visit of the Bolgar Peter I, were allocated by a merchant from Kazan Ivan Mikhlyaev. Later, with the money of parishioners, a bell tower was built near the church. The appearance of the bell tower is similar to a minaret. In 1841, a large minaret fell due to the excavation of treasure hunters under its foundation. Falling, the minaret damaged the bell tower, and it had to be dismantled and rebuilt in 1862.
In 1763, the Assumption Monastery was transferred to Cheboksary, and the Assumption Church of Bolgar became a parish. Now it houses the Museum of the Assumption Church. It is dedicated not only to the church, but also to the history of Bolgar in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it was part of the Russian Empire.
