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Church of Cosmy and Damiana in Borovskoye.

Tours in Kostanay region.

"Prayer boils down to the following: everyone is for himself, and the Lord God is for us"

Orthodox monuments in Kostanay region.

The Church of Cosmas and Damiana is located at an altitude of 174 meters above sea level, located 150 meters from the eastern shore of Lake Zonovo, at the corner of Abay and Zhenis streets, in the settlement of Borovskoye, Mendykarinsky district, Kostanay region.
An architectural monument of the early XXth century is the five-domed church of Cosmas and Damiana, built in the Siberian baroque style. The church is an interesting example of a cult building, with rich decorative facades, using architectural elements typical of Russian architecture. In the Soviet years, the church was closed, the building housed various warehouses, later a sports school, a museum.

History of church of Cosmas and Damiana in settlement of Borovskoye.

According to archival records, the temple was built on the site of an old wooden church, which was erected in 1888 by the parishioners of the village. But for 4,000 inhabitants, it became small, and already in 1904 permission was given to build a brick church.
In 1905, the construction of a new church began. The construction was led by the architect from the Yaroslavl province Mikhail Kirillov. Timber for construction was transported on carts from Ara-Karagay. The brick from which the temple was built was locally produced.
It was made and fired at the confluence of the "backyard" lake Zonova and Lake Borovskoye. Bricks were molded in wooden mills, fired in a floor oven with firewood from the nearest plot. The architect personally controlled each batch of bricks and often rejected them.
Defective bricks were sold to local merchants who built pantries, shops, barns. Some still stand today and are also monuments of architecture and history. The construction of the church was carried out exclusively on voluntary donations from Borovets and residents of nearby villages.
Completing the work, on August 1, 1911, the residents of Borovets turned to Pavel Nikulin, a master in painting and gilding iconostases. He agreed to erect an iconostasis in the Borovsk temple. According to the Clearing List, “the church was built in 1912 at the expense of the parishioners of the village of Borovsky and consecrated on October 16, 1912 with a full consecration.
The building is stone, warm, with a stone bell tower. There is only one throne - in honor of the unsilvered Cosmas and Damian, celebrated on November 1..."
In 1933, the temple was closed, the crosses were cut down, the iconostasis was destroyed, the icons lay on the floor unguarded. At first, a cinema hall was set up there, then the church turned into a workshop for the production of tractors of the Chelyabinsk plant.
In the harvest year of 1956, a granary was built in the building. Subsequently, the building and its basement were used as a warehouse for household and building materials, at the same time there was a fire in the basement of a large amount of roofing felt and roofing material.
Both outside and inside it was engulfed in clouds of thick, suffocating smoke... Then the temple served as both a school shooting gallery and a children's sports school. Until 1961, the facades and interior of the church suffered significant losses and destruction.
The building was frightening with blackened and half-rotten rafters above the refectory and the porch. In 1934, the bell tower was dismantled, and a bathhouse was built from bricks, it was this building that was extremely necessary in those years to save the people from pediculosis.
In 1990, the temple was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. Father Pyotr Hutsul was the rector, after him the parish was received by Archpriest Vladimir Korolyov in 1992. Reconstruction began in 2004. In 2010, the restoration painting inside the temple was completed.
- Local businessmen have been providing charitable assistance in the renovation of the temple for many years, - says Archpriest Vladimir. - At first we tried to clear the walls in order to restore the former painting.
But every centimeter of it was fragmented, so I had to paint again.
Until that time, we collaborated with local artist Andrey. He painted 60 icons for the church. But when the temple began to be reconstructed, I distributed them to parishes and other churches. So we again turned to Andrey so that he painted the temple inside.
He designed the entrance, the sponsor liked it, and started painting the temple. Work on the painting lasted five years, since Andrei went to study and came with his associates only for the holidays. The most difficult thing was to paint the dome, for this they built high scaffolding.
When the work was completed, it was necessary to dismantle the scaffolding so as not to damage the painting. This succeeded, although closer to the bottom of the forest collapsed. When the temple inside was completely restored, in 2011 the bishop of Kostanay and Peter and Paul Anatoly consecrated it. But the reconstruction did not end there.
In 2015, the old one was dismantled and a new one was installed. The uniqueness lies in the fact that the dome, installed on the temple of Cosmas and Damian, is one of the largest domes in the Kostanay region. Its diameter is 8.5 meters, height is about 13 meters, weight is about 8 tons.
The structure rises to a height of more than 45 meters from the ground. In 2016, four more domes were replaced on the temple. Both the main and the small domes are assembled from stainless steel coated with titanium nitride, which in this combination has unique properties: a bright golden color and high durability.
Geographical coordinates of Church of Cosmas and Damiana: N53°47'47.09" E64°10'49.98"

Authority and photos:
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