Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox church in 6th arrondissement, Lyon, France

Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church at 5 Rue Sainte-Geneviève has a pale beige facade topped by a blue roof and a small cupola with columns. The upper tower holds two arched louvered openings divided by a central column, and a projecting gabled porch with a red-tiled rim frames a religious painting above wooden double doors. Inside, a painted iconostasis on a three-step platform separates the nave from the sanctuary.

The parish was officially founded on 11 May 1928 in a large wooden barrack on rue Baraban, dedicated to Saint Nicholas in memory of Tsar Nicholas II, with priest Viktor Pushkin sent from Yugoslavia. The wooden church burned to the ground on the night of 13 June 1937. The foundation stone of the stone church, designed by émigré architect Sergey Bazderev, was laid on 7 May 1938 for 200 people; parishioners built it by hand in the evenings through the Second World War, and it was consecrated on 5 May 1946.

The church serves as a gathering place for the Russian Orthodox community in Lyon, where you can experience traditional liturgical practices during regular services. It maintains a spiritual center where Russian-speaking residents come together for worship and community life.

You can visit during regular service times or other hours when the building is open to visitors. The church is easily accessible by public transportation and located in a central neighborhood with nearby amenities.

In 1976, parishioners here were the first Orthodox faithful to hold a service commemorating the Martyrs of Lyon of the 177 Roman persecution, inside the Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls. The church keeps standards of the Imperial Russian Army bearing the motto «Съ нами Богъ» and of the Imperial Russian Navy.