Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral, Orthodox cathedral in Elista, Russia

Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral is a single-dome Orthodox church in Elista, built to the design of an 18th-century Moscow church in classicist style with late-baroque elements. An octagonal drum supports the spherical dome, crowned by a rotunda and cross; the bell tower above the main entrance holds seven bells. The crosses and two small bells were made of stainless steel at the Volgodonsk Atommash plant and coated with gold-coloured titanium nitride.

An Orthodox church has stood in Elista since the 1860s; the original burned in 1896, and a wooden Church of the Exaltation of the Cross built in 1898 was closed by Soviet authorities in 1933 and dismantled in 1939. The present cathedral was consecrated on 7 June 1997 by Patriarch Alexy II. The 1879 parish school nearby kept services alive from the early 1940s.

The cathedral is consecrated to Our Lady of Kazan, and since 2004 the republic has marked 4 November as the Day of the Kazan Cathedral. The church keeps an icon holding relics of Saint Innocent. The preserved 1879 parish school church of the Exaltation of the Cross stands beside it.

The cathedral is open to visitors during daytime hours and allows you to see the interior iconostasis and religious artwork inside. You should dress appropriately and be respectful of religious customs when entering the worship space.

The crosses and two small bells above the spherical rotunda and bell tower were made of stainless steel at the Volgodonsk plant Atommash and coated with gold-coloured titanium nitride. The copper scales on the roof were produced in Italy.