Nativity of Christ Church, Anna, Orthodox church in Anna, Voronezh Oblast, Russia
The Nativity of Christ Church is a brick Orthodox church in Anna, Voronezh Oblast, built 1894–1899 to a design by architect Stanislav Myslovsky. It is cross-shaped, crowned with 13 domes, and has a four-tier bell tower on the west side; with the bell tower it measures 43 m long and 28 m wide, and the bell tower reaches 43 m with its cross. It holds three altars: the main one for the Nativity of Christ, the south for Prince Vladimir, and the north for Martyr Nadezhda.
A wooden church stood here from 1788, but the present brick building was laid on 1 June 1894, the silver wedding day of Prince Vladimir Baryatinsky and Princess Nadezhda, who paid for it. Architect Stanislav Myslovsky designed it; the commission accepted the work on 10 May 1899, and it was consecrated on 1–2 June 1899. The cost reached 150,000 roubles.
The church's three altars are dedicated to the Nativity of Christ, Saint Prince Vladimir, and Saint Martyr Nadezhda, reflecting the names of the Baryatinsky couple. The iconostases were made in the workshop of the Slonov and Vitalyev trading house. In 1899, the consecration drew crowds admitted by free invitation tickets, and the choir was directed by Polyakov, regent of Saint Andrew's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg.
The church stands north of the site of the older wooden church it replaced, on the same grounds in Anna. The building is cross-shaped with a four-tier bell tower on the west side, 43 m long and 28 m wide. Visitors should arrange access around services, when the interior is open.
The church was heated by a stove in the basement whose calorifer channels warmed the interior in winter and served as ventilation in summer, a rarity for churches even in large cities at the time. The building was accepted on 10 May 1899 by a commission including provincial engineer A. Kuprinsky.
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