The Cathedral of the Dormition

The Holy Cathedral of the Dormition is one of the oldest buildings in the city, located at 5 Soborna Street.

History of creation

In 1785, Kherson residents raised the question of building a new church, since at that time, there was only one - Greek Sophia's church where the worship service was conducted in Greek. According to legend, in 1786, upon completion of the church foundation, the plague epidemic that was ravaging the city’s population stopped.

The construction site was chosen in the very center of the Merchants’ Suburb on the wide Greek Square. The church was completed with the help of 40,000th donation of one of the Cossacks whose name was not preserved by history. Over time, the shrine became the main church of Kherson province.

The cathedral was painted by artists from Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. The cathedral had an iconostasis 30 meters high which covered three sections and included 50 icons. The Blessed Virgin Mary standing on the crescent is the only icon from the old iconostasis that has survived to this day. Over more than two hundred years of history, the cathedral has experienced both a tragic decline and miraculous revival. In September 1993, the building was returned to parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Cathedral on the map