Russian church in North Italy marking 110th anniversary

05.12.2007, 08.09

ROME, December 5 (Itar-Tass) - Festivities on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the St Nicholas’s Russian Orthodox church begin in the North-Italian city of Merano Wednesday.

They will continue for three days and will be attended by the CEO of OAO Russian Railways /RZD/ Vladimir Yakunin, who is also president of the St Apostle Andrew’s Foundation, the president of Russia’s Olympic Committee, Leonid Tyagachov, Russian ambassador to Italy Alexei Meshkov, and Russian Consul General in Milan, Alexander Nurizade.

The itinerary of the festival includes a festive service in the church and a photo exhibition displaying frescoes from Ferapontov Monastery in Northwest Russia painted by 15th century icon-painter Dyonisius.

The Russian church was built in the Southern Tirol region at the end of the 19th century, when the area was still part of the Austria-Hungarian empire.

Merano, a resort with a very mild climate, attracted many Russians at the time.

A private charity foundation of Russian residents of Merano was set up in 1875 and the St Nicholas’s Church was consecrated in 1884.

It was located in the basement floor at first and was later moved to the upper story of a two-story house, crowned with the Russian dome.

The consecration ceremony took place December 15, 1897, a few days before the day of veneration of the church’s patron. The church stayed open until the beginning of World War I, in which Russian and Austria-Hungary fought on opposite sides of the front.

The period of oblivion lasted through to 1991 when rare services – once or twice a year -- started in it. In 2002, the first Russian Orthodox community reporting to Moscow Patriarchate was registered in Merano and the services became more frequent.

A priest was appointed to the Merano community in 2006, and since then the services are held there on the first and third Sundays of each month.

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