Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Paris

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (French: Cathédrale Saint-Alexandre-Nevsky, Russian: , romanized: Sobor Svyatogo Aleksandra Nyevskogo) is a Russian Orthodox cathedral church located at 12 Rue Daru in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. The closest métro station is Courcelles . The Cathedral is under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Orthodox Churches of Russian Tradition in Western Europe, based in Paris. It should not be confused with the Holy Trinity Cathedral and the Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center, which opened in Paris in 2016, under the authority of the Moscow patriarch and Russian government. Services in the main cathedral are conducted in Church Slavonic. Some services in the Crypt are conducted in French.

The first Russian Orthodox church in Paris was a small oratory constructed on Rue de Berri in 1816. As the population of Russian immigrants in Paris grew during the 19th century, a larger church was needed. In 1847, the chaplain of the Russian Embassy in Paris, Father Joseph Vassiliev, received permission from Emperor Napoleon III to construct a larger church. The program was moved forward by a grant of 200,000 French francs from Czar Alexander II, whose patron saint was Alexander Nevsky (1219-1263) Nevsky had contributed to the unification of Russia as well as the establishment of the Russian Orthodox church throughout the Russian empire.

Work on the church began in 1859 under Roman Kouzmine, chief architect of the Russian imperial Court, and the chief engineer Strohm. The cathedral was established and consecrated in 1861, making it the first Russian Orthodox place of worship in France. The church was formally given cathedral status in 1951. During the Soviet period, it was the headquarters of an archbishop who supervised the other Russian Orthodox churches in Western Europe, independent of Moscow. Following the downfall of the Soviet Union, the church came under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, established in 1931, located in Istanbul, independent of Moscow. The cathedral became the see of the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox Churches in Western Europe. In 2016, the Russian Orthodox church opened a new cathedral in Paris, Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral, which is under the authority of the Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe (Moscow Patriarchate) in Moscow. The cathedral of Alexander Nevsky is independent of Moscow and the Holy Trinity cathedral.

The exterior of the church is a good example, of what its builder, the Russian diplomat to France Joseph Valliliev, called "Byzantine Muscovite". It used the Byzantine form of Greek cross and a semi-circular pediment with a mosaic image of Christ giving a blessing. The distinctly Russian element was the group of five bell towers which symbolised Christ and the four evangelists. The towers are topped with gilded bulblike domes, which symbolise the flames of candles carried by the worshippers, which lift their prayers to heaven. The central tower is topped by a Russian Orthodox cross. The church has a crypt, known as the "Lower Church". dedicated to the Holy Trinity, In 1963 the crypt became the official place of worship of the Russian Orthodox Church in France.

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).