Fedorovsky Royal Cathedral

The Fedorovsky Royal Cathedral is located 1 kilometer from the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin). This cathedral was built by the personal decision of Emperor Nicholas II. It is the only one in Russia who has the name "Royal". From the moment of its consecration in 1912 until 1917, the cathedral was the house church of the Romanov imperial family. 

Nicholas II was born in 1868 in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. After the 1905 revolution, it was dangerous for the royal family to stay in St. Petersburg. From 1905 to 1917, the royal family lived permanently in the Alexander Palace. His Imperial Majesty`s Own Convoy was also transferred here, as well as the Life Guards Consolidated Infantry Regiment of His Imperial Majesty. The protection of the Imperial Family was assigned to these units. 

Initially, these military units were settled in wooden barracks erected near the Alexander Palace, but then stone barracks were built for them. They have survived to the present day. The command of the regiment repeatedly appealed to the emperor with a request to build a temple near the barracks.  

The temple was also necessary for the imperial family. Unlike the Rastrelli palaces, the Alexander Palace did not have a house church, and the appearance of the imperial family in the St.Catherine Cathedral or other temples of Tsarskoye Selo aroused increased interest from others and interfered with worship. 

As a result, in 1908, Emperor Nicholas II allocated a plot of land in a Farm park between the Alexander Palace and the barracks for the construction of the cathedral. On August 20, 1909, the Emperor personally laid the foundation stone of the cathedral.  

The first drawings of the Fedorovsky Cathedral in Tsarskoye Selo were prepared by architect Alexander Pomerantsev, but then it turned out that his cathedral was too big. Another architect, Vladimir Pokrovsky, has prepared a new project. He took as a model the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, which in the 16th century was the house church of Tsar Ivan the Terrible.

On August 20, 1912, the cathedral was consecrated. It was named the Fedorovsky Cathedral in honor of the Fedorovsky Icon of the Virgin Mary, which in 1613 was blessed by Mikhail Romanov in the Ipatievsky Monastery of Kostroma. All German princesses who married Russian heirs to the throne were baptized into Orthodoxy with the same icon.  

The height of the cathedral reaches 43 meters. Byzantine mosaics can be seen on the walls of the cathedral. A Fedorov icon is laid out of mosaic above the main entrance to the cathedral. In addition to the upper temple in the cathedral, there is also a lower temple, consecrated in honor of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Members of the royal family used to come to this temple to pray. The cathedral houses the miraculous list of the Fedorovsky Icon of the Virgin Mary. 

In 1933, the Fedorovsky Cathedral was closed until 1991. A cinema hall was set up in the upper temple, and a film storage warehouse in the lower one. This saved the temple from destruction. During the WWII, the building of the Fedorovsky Cathedral was partially destroyed, but after the war it was restored. Restoration was made in the Fedorovsky Cathedral. The interiors and mosaics on the exterior walls have been completely restored.