Khram Ilii Proroka, Orthodox temple in Tula, Russia
Khram Ilii Proroka is a two-storey stone Orthodox church built in 1760 with baroque decorative elements, its facade later reworked in the Russian style at the end of the 19th century. The heated ground floor held a chapel of Saint Catherine with a wooden floor, while the cold upper floor had chapels of the Prophet Elijah, the Kazan Icon and Saints Boris and Gleb, with a stone altar floor. A wooden bell tower with seven bells stood beside it, and the iron roof was painted a copper colour.
The Ilyinskaya church was first recorded as a wooden church in cadastral books of 1627–1628, with side chapels to Saints Boris and Gleb and to the Great Martyr Catherine. In 1739 work began on a stone church financed by the merchants Yakov Lisitsyn and Khariton Antonov Pastukhov, and the two-storey building with Baroque decoration was completed in 1760. From 1924 to 1943 it served as Tula's cathedral; during the Great Patriotic War a joinery workshop operated inside, later a sewing workshop and in the early 1990s a design bureau. It was returned to believers on 1 March 2006, and the first service was held on 2 August 2006.
The church kept many old icons, among them the temple image of the Prophet Elijah, the Saviour, Saints Boris and Gleb, the Last Judgement, and the Passion of the Theotokos, which tradition says Empress Elizabeth Petrovna gave to the church. From 1884 to 1917 a parish school operated in the parish. The church was returned to believers on 1 March 2006, and the first service was held on 2 August 2006, led by Archbishop Alexy of Tula and Belev.
The temple is located in central Tula and is easily accessible by public transportation. Visitors should plan their visit around worship hours and dress appropriately for a place of worship.
Among the church's old icons was a copy of the Mother of God of the Passion, which tradition says Empress Elizabeth Petrovna gave to the church. The building later held a carpentry workshop during the Great Patriotic War, a sewing workshop in the late 1980s and a design bureau in the early 1990s.
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