The Church of Saint Alexander Nevsky is an Orthodox church of the Tashkent and Uzbekistan diocese, located in Tashkent on the grounds of the Botkin Cemetery. Merchant Nikolai Ivanovich Ivanov donated a plot of land measuring 40 hectares for its establishment, and in 1872, a cemetery was founded on this site.
The architect of the church was Alexander Alexandrovich Burmeister, and the construction work was overseen by Captain Fyodor Smirnov, a military engineer. The church was built between 1903 and 1904 by order of the District Engineering Administration. General Vernander allocated initial funds for the construction, and a significant contribution was made by merchant N.I. Ivanov, whose funds were used to create a wooden, exquisitely crafted gilded iconostasis. The altar in the church, consecrated on May 8, 1905, is the only stone altar in Tashkent. The construction of the church was fully completed in 1905. In the early 1920s, the church was seized by Renovationists, and in the mid-1930s, it suffered a major fire. The bell tower was restored only in the 1960s.
In the autumn of 1996, Tashkent was preparing for the visit of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Rus. The rector of the church, Father Nikolai Rybcinskiy, decided to carry out restoration of the monuments to Tashkent saints and the entire church. Over the years of its existence, the church has endured many calamities. Earthquakes and fires have shattered it into four parts, but it has not collapsed. The restoration took four months, during which the vaults and walls were restored, frescoes were repainted, and damaged icons of the Iveron Mother of God, Alexander Nevsky, and a large Crucifixion were repaired. The walls were painted in the color of "sea wave," and the rosette of the dome was adorned with a fresco depicting the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove with outstretched wings. On the sides and below are depicted a multitude of Angels and Archangels, as well as Saint John the Baptist. All restored elements were re-consecrated in the autumn of 1996. In May 2014, major repairs of the church building began.
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