In December 1913, a decision was made to build a church, for which the city is indebted to the recently appointed Bishop of Omsk and Pavlodar, Andronic (Vladimir Nikolsky). He brought the traditions of Veliky Novgorod to the local diocese and copies of miraculous icons, including a copy of the Novgorod Icon of the Sign of the Heavenly Queen, which was initially kept in his home church.
A site for the church was found in February 1914, after which fundraising began. The building committee included Andronic himself, and the work was carried out under the supervision of contractor I.P. Okinshev. It was planned that the building would house not only a church but also facilities for a school and missionary activities. The construction was completed without Andronic, as he was appointed Bishop of Perm and Kungur in the summer of that year, where he became Archbishop shortly before his execution in 1918.
Construction of the church slowed due to World War I and the subsequent civil war, but in 1918, the church was consecrated. The first protodeacon was Vasily (Plyaskin). The one-story building made of red brick, elongated from west to east, ended with a three-part apse. The narthex was narrow, but there was a spacious basement under the building. The decor was done in a stylized Russian manner. The first tent-shaped bell tower stood next to the church, but it was dismantled in 1923, and a new one was built over the narthex.
The church survived the early years of Soviet power but was closed in 1938, and the building was used for municipal needs. Church valuables were confiscated, some sent to Moscow, some transferred to local cultural houses, and more than 100 valuable icons were burned. The church contained valuables from closed churches, so much of the destroyed items were old icons.
In the 1940s, the former church building housed a tire repair workshop, for which the domes and bell tower were deemed unnecessary. Later, it became a driving school. The building was returned to the Omsk-Tara diocese in the early 1990s. At that time, it was included in the local register of protected architectural monuments, and restoration of the church began. The onion dome and tent over the apse appeared in 1999, designed by architect P.A. Samusudov. The church is currently active, and a crafts school operates under it. It is located on Kuybyshev Street, near the intersection with Mayakovsky Street. You can reach the Znamenskaya Church by any transport to the stop "Stepnaya St."
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