Russian Orthodox Church of Geneva, Eastern Orthodox cathedral in Genève-Cité, Switzerland.
The Russian Orthodox Church of Geneva is built of white stone from Swiss quarries in the Russian style, with a cross-shaped plan and five gilded domes. The main cube has clustered columns and kokoshnik arches under a jagged cornice, and the west side has an arched gallery with a single-tier bell tower. Grey marble crosses 1.4 metres high stand on the north and south walls.
The parish began in Bern, where a church was approved by imperial decree in 1816 and attended by Grand Duchess Anna Fyodorovna; it closed in 1848 and moved to Frankfurt. A Geneva chapel opened in November 1854 in a rented villa on Rue des Eaux Vives. In 1862 the canton gave the Russian mission land in Les Tranchées, site of the medieval Saint-Victor monastery, and the church was laid on 26 September 1863, built to David Grimm's design under Jean-Pierre Gilbo, costing 280,000 francs and consecrated on 26 September 1866.
The cathedral is the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia's Western European diocese, whose rector is Archbishop Michael (Donskov). A brotherhood of Saint Maurice is attached to it, and the churches of Vevey and Davos were once assigned to it. In 1868 the first daughter of Dostoevsky, Sophia, was baptised and buried here.
The church can be visited throughout the year, with weekdays being quieter times for exploration. It is best to dress respectfully and be mindful when religious services are taking place, as these occur regularly.
The site was granted to the Russian mission by the Canton of Geneva in 1862, on condition that it remain Russian church land for as long as a Russian church stands there. Before that, a monastery of Saint Victor stood on the spot until the 15th century; its prior was François Bonivard, the "prisoner of Chillon".
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