Храм Преображения Господня, Orthodox church in Kursk, Russia

The Transfiguration Church was a large two-storey stone church in the Baroque style, its main volume topped by a tall quadrangle with five domes on faceted drums. A three-sided two-storey apse adjoined the east side, and a small three-storey refectory linked the building to a three-tier bell tower, later crowned with a tent roof. Its bell weighed up to 400 poods and was known for its special sound.

A wooden Spasskaya church stood here from 1594, painted red and covered with planks. By the late 18th century it was dilapidated, and Kursk merchants chose a stone replacement modelled on a Tobolsk cathedral they had seen on a trading trip. The new church was founded in 1776, its lower altar consecrated in 1783, and finishing work completed in 1793. Closed in 1934, it was converted into a bakery in 1937 and blown up on 30 October 1941.

The church was also called Spasskaya, and its bell, weighing up to 400 poods, was known for its special sound. In 1906, Alexandra Lavrova, widow of merchant Grigory Lavrov, funded a parish school at the church in his memory. The building no longer stands, so these details survive only in records and old postcards.

The church no longer exists: it was blown up on 30 October 1941 during the retreat of Red Army units, after the building had been converted into a bakery in 1937. Nothing of the structure survives at the site between today's Krasnoy Armii, Sofyi Perovskoi and Gaidara streets, so there is no interior to visit. Look instead for old postcards of the Spasskaya church to see its five domes and bell.

The church's bell weighed up to 400 poods (about 6.5 tonnes) and was known for its particular sound. The building was closed in 1934, its bell tower dismantled a year later, and the church converted into a bread factory in 1937 before being blown up on 30 October 1941 during the Red Army's retreat.