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The Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Foros or simply Foros Church is a beautiful temple in an incredibly picturesque place on Red Mountain at an altitude of 400 meters above sea level. It is a monument of Russian architecture built in 1892 and an object of cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation. Its construction was dedicated to the rescue of Emperor Alexander III and his family during the train crash that occurred on October 17, 1888 at the Borki station of the Kursk-Kharkov railway, when the train was traveling from Crimea to St. Petersburg. Then the train derailed, but the emperor and the family somehow miraculously did not suffer. After learning about this incident, a wealthy Russian tea merchant Alexander Grigorievich Kuznetsov decided to build a temple, for which he requested permission from the emperor himself.
The crash of the imperial train was due to a violation of railway rules, in fact it was speeding and overloading. The train was driven by two steam locomotives: the freight T.164 of the Zigl plant (design speed 58 km / h) and the passenger of the Kolomna plant of the Struve brothers (design speed 82 km /h). The locomotives galloping in different rhythms at a speed of 68 km / h loosened the weak upper structure on this section of the railway, and the second locomotive fell between the parted rails. As a result, there was a derailment of 10 wagons, and the heavier royal wagons crushed with their mass the ordinary wagons with servants placed at the head of the train. As a result of the crash, 23 people died, and the imperial family and the emperor himself escaped with bruises.
In Soviet times, the church was closed, and in its premises there was a stable, a warehouse, a restaurant. They even tried to demolish it, but, fortunately, the residents defended it. It was fully restored only by 1990.
From an architectural point of view, it will not surprise an ordinary tourist in any way, but its location on the edge of a cliff is very remarkable, and an impressive view of Foros and the sea opens from the observation deck nearby. In the evening, with the advent of darkness, it is very beautifully illuminated. The highlight of the interior decoration of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, perhaps, can be called the restored mosaic floor and stained glass windows.
You can visit the church itself, it is operational. Organized tourists are constantly brought here, and if you want to stay in peace and quiet, you may have to wait until the next group leaves.
🕐 Working hours: from 08:30 to 20:00, seven days a week.
💵 Entrance fee / tickets price: free of charge, donations are welcome.
🚶 How to get there: from the center of Foros to the church 9 kilometers by road (Foros Church on the map). You can get there on foot or by taxi, public transport does not go here. There is parking for private transport, but there is not much space.
You can also walk here from Foros on foot in the form of an interesting one-day tourist route if you are confident in your abilities. On foot it is better to climb not along the existing Sevastopol highway (so the way is much longer), but along the old abandoned road, then you will have to walk only 3 kilometers in one direction with a climb of almost 400 meters, and then also go back down. This route is generally uncomplicated, but if you do not have hiking experience and are poorly oriented, then it is better not to climb on your own. And, of course, you can make a hike, and go back down with hitchhikers, because there are always a lot of car tourists here. You need to take water with you on the route, sun protection (panama hat, sunscreen) on hot days, and put on comfortable sports or hiking shoes.
The hiking trail begins on the South Coast highway in the area of the gas station, more precisely 300 meters to the east of it. It is clearly visible on the slopes, quite wide and clearly distinguishable, it goes in a serpentine. Actually, there are even two trails: one is unpaved and difficult to distinguish, and the other is a pedestrian path with an old asphalt pavement. Obviously, it is better to walk on asphalt, because the ground is poorly groomed, in places you will have to make your way over rocks and through bushes. Here the beginning of the asphalt path on the map.
In order not to get lost, we recommend using Yandex.Navigator or at least Organic maps offline map apps, Maps.me , OSM, etc., this path is marked on them.
💥 We remind you that it is much more interesting to get acquainted with the sights of Foros with the help of excursions, and therefore we advise you to look at online booking options on these proven search and price comparison sites: