A CATHEDRAL IS TO BE BUILT IN THE ULYANOVSK REGION
On January, 11 the governor of the Ulyanovsk region had a meeting with building organizations management and directors of building materials plants. The Патриархия.ru web-site runs - possible assistance to the cathedral construction provided by the representatives of the building sector was discussed at the meeting.
Sergey Morozov says it is planned to allocate around 20 mln rubles to the cathedral construction in 2007. Those will be raised funds, including people’s donations. The governor requested the building sector representatives to help with building materials, such as the brick and concrete. At the end of the meeting Sergey Morozov pointed it out that the Ulyanovsk region is the only region where there is no cathedral; the key target today therefore is to build one as soon as possible.
The prototype for a new cathedral is The Svyato-Voznesenskiy Cathedral, which was demolished in the 1930th. The construction was launched in 1996 but it had to be temporarily stopped due to a budgetary shortfall. In the late 2005 in Moscow the governor had a meeting with His Holiness Alexis II Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; Sergey Morozov suggested the construction of region’s main cathedral should be continued; the suggestion met an approval of The Primate of the Russian Church. In September, 2006 the works at the cathedral building area were resumed. Among the largest well-doers, that had made donations were OAO Oil and Gas Company RussNeft and Dvortsoviy ryad group.
It is planned that there be room for 2 thousand persons at the cathedral. Its highest point – the bell-tower – will be a 16-storeyed house high. The cathedral will be surrounded by an entire complex of buildings occupying more than 2 ha. Among others the complex will comprise a sunday school, a library, an eparchial museum. The cathedral complex is expected to become not only an adornment but also a principle sight of the Ulyanovsk region.