The Intercession Cathedral is located on the high bank of the Toima River in the historical center of Yelabuga. Three churches were built on this bank in the 19th century: Intercession Cathedral, St. Nicholas Church and Cathedral of Savior. The cathedral has a large refectory chapel, above which rises a three-tiered bell tower.
The chronicles associate the foundation of the first wooden Church of the Intercession with the name of Ivan the Terrible, who after the capture of Kazan in 1552 went along the Kama River to the city of Solikamsk. On the way, he fell ill and set up camp on a high bank, next to the Devil`s Hillfort. After his recovery, he ordered the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin to be founded on this site and presented her with an Icon of the Three Saints. This icon was kept in the Intercession Cathedral until the beginning of the 20th century, and at the bottom under it was the signature: "From Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich."
The stone Intercession Cathedral in Yelabuga was built in 1820, and it has been preserved to this day. The cathedral is built in the Empire style with a large dome. The parishioners of the temple were rich merchants, so before the revolution of 1917, the interior of the cathedral was one of the most beautiful in the city. The famous Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin took part in the painting of the iconostasis.
The Bolsheviks closed the cathedral in 1940, but the building was not destroyed. At first it was used as a warehouse, and then the church was in an abandoned state. In 1988, the church was returned to the Orthodox Church and divine services began again. The interior of the cathedral has been restored, including the frescoes of Vereshchagin.
In 1990, a memorial service for Marina Tsvetaeva was held in the Intercession Cathedral. She spent the last days of her life in Yelabuga from August 21 to 31, 1941, where she arrived with her son George for evacuation. Tsvetaeva was so severely depressed psychologically, due to the fact that the whole family ended up in NKVD prisons, that she committed suicide on August 31, 1941 in the house of the blacksmith Brodelshchikov. It is located 200 meters from the Intercession Cathedral, and now the Marina Tsvetaeva Museum is open in it.
In 1990, believers appealed to Patriarch Alexy II with a request for a funeral service, although according to church canons this is prohibited. He admitted that Marina Tsvetaeva had been driven to suicide, and allowed the funeral service. In 1990, the Bishop of Kazan and Tatarstan held a funeral service in the Cathedral of the Intercession of Yelabuga. A year later, on August 31, 1991, Patriarch Alexy II personally conducted the funeral service for Marina Tsvetaeva in the Moscow Church of the Great Ascension at the Nikitsky Gate.
Since then, a memorial service in honor of Marina Tsvetaeva, the great poet of the Silver Age, has been held every year in the Intercession Cathedral on August 31. After her, people go to the monument of Marina Tsvetaeva near the museum and read her poems.
