Foros Church (Church of the Resurrection)

The serpentine road along the southern shore of the Crimea will lead you from Yalta to Foros, where you’ll notice a small snow-white church with domes glittering in the sun. It is located on Red Cliff (in Ukrainian Chervona Skelya) at an altitude of more than 400 meters. Due to such location Foros Church resembles a shrine living in the clouds.

The shrine was erected in 1892 and financed by Alexander Kuznetsov, a famous manufacturer and a tea trader of those times. According to the legend, his daughter narrowly escaped death on the cliff mentioned above. One day her carriage behind a four-horse team was heading for the sea, but suddenly something happened and the horses carried the crew towards a precipice. The horses have been stopped on the very edge of the cliff. Later Alexander Kuznetsov ordered to build a temple on this brink. However, the real story of church’s creation is related to the tsar family. In 1888, a train with the royal family crashed, but Alexander III and his family survived. The merchant was impressed with this occurrence and has decided to build a beautiful temple in honour of the emperor’s surviving. Architect Nicolay Chagin and famous artists Konstantin Makovskyi, Aleksey Korzuhin and Nicolay Sverchkov have designed this unique construction and interior paintings. Experts of Antonio Sal’vati’s Italian workshop have created frescos for the church.

Today, Foros Church is open to the public. It is located not far from the village of Foros. An old Yalta-Sevastopol’ highway, rarely used at the present day, will lead you to the Baydar Gate, which is the right point on the way to Foros Church. The path to the church is not easy, especially if you go on foot, that’s why many tourists prefer to take a taxi in Yalta or Foros. You are advised to take warm clothes as the church is located 400 meters above sea level and the temperature usually is lower there than on the coast.

When you climb Chervona Skelya, you’ll see a small church with nine domes. The central dome is higher and bigger than other, therefore such construction gives the building a pyramidal shape. One of Foros Church’s features is its dome’s form. The architect has used a drum and cut windows in it to increase the space under the dome – therefore such design enhanced daylight illumination of the church’s hall.

Go inside the temple to estimate artfully painted walls, the floor decorated with mosaics, and window sills, pillars and panels made of Carrara marble. Your attention will be attracted by the oak iconostasis carved in the Old Russian style. Holy gates with the Mother of God and Jesus Christ on both sides are depicted there, and above them there is a painting of the Last Supper.

On the observation deck in front of Foros Church you can expect a beautiful view of the coast. In the evening the church is especially beautiful as it is illuminated by lanterns, installed on its façade.

For the present day Foros Church is considered by many as a pearl of the Crimean peninsula, a small shrine in the clouds.