Russian Cathedral: the Bells

While reorganising all my stuff on the computer I happened upon more photos of the Russian Cathedral that I'd intended to post and somehow never did. This tower houses a bell as you can see but it was the detailing round the top of the opening that really caught my eye. The colours are amazingly vibrant.

As you might expect the materials were some of the finest: the bricks were from England, the glazed tiles on the domes and the six crosses came from Italy. The domes themselves were coated with gold leaf and the mosaic icons on the facade were handpainted by Russian artists.

Sky Watch Friday

The roofs of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Nice; I fell in love with the Cathedral last weekend and have shown several photos from various viewpoints. I promise this will be the last, at least for a while.
For anyone interested in the history of the Cathedral scroll back to Tuesday's post..

A happy sky watch to all participants and if you'd like to see more sky shots visit the Sky Watch website.

The Chapel.

While holidaying on the French Riviera in 1865 the Crown Prince of Russia, Nicholas, contracted and died from meningitis. He was 20 years old.
His father, the Czar Alexander II, bought the entire 40 hectares of property belonging to the house where the young prince died, razed to the ground the 40 room house and its grounds and had constructed this commemorative chapel in 1867. The altar stands on the exact spot occupied by the death bed of the prince.

The chapel is built in the byzantine style and is situated in the grounds of the Cathedral.

From the Sublime..

..to the less sublime.
Imagine yourself living in an apartment block in this street. You put your head out of the window, look north and you have an amazing view of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, an explosion of colour in the sunlight.
Look south, however, you have a less stunning view of the main line railway that links us to points East and West and above it the voie rapide, the fast through road. Both are highly useful adjuncts to a busy life but don't cut the mustard aesthetically speaking.
So, would you buy an apartment on this street?

A Closer Look..

Firstly some facts...for two centuries there has been a strong Russian presence on the Cote d'Azur, composed mostly of the nobility and other influential people who followed the example of the Dowager Czarina, Alexandra Feodorovna when she moved to Nice for health reasons in the 1850s. To sustain their faith an orthodox church was built in Rue Longchamp but as the community grew it was considered necessary to build something bigger and more in keeping with the importance of the community.
To this end Czar Nicholas II gave the land which was his property and the first stone was laid in 1903 and the project finished in 1912.

The facts, of course, do little to explain the sight of all this Russian magnificence framed by fairly ordinary french apartment blocks and the Cathedral with the sun shining off its enamelled roofs tiles is enough to take your breath away. I can't believe that I've lived here so long and never seen it before but I'm so pleased I have done now.

I'm sorry that I will not be able to show you the interior. No photos are allowed and though I've searched can't find any on internet but I will try again..

The Russian Orthodox Cathedral

Yes, it really is Nice and not Moscow. This is the Cathedral of St Nicholas located in the Parc Imperial district of Nice and the largest Russian orthodox church outside Russia.
More about the church tomorrow but if you could see only one monument in Nice, make it this one!