Annunciation Cathedral, Solvychegodsk

The Annunciation Cathedral in Solvychegodsk (Arkhangelsk Oblast of Russia) is a major masonry church built in the Russian North during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Commissioned by Anikey Stroganov, it was the first large brick structure in the city, standing in stark contrast to the surrounding log buildings. Construction began in 1560 and finished in the early 1570s, with formal consecration taking place in 1584. Although traditionally referred to as a "cathedral", just like the Solvychegodsk's other major religious building, the Presentation Cathedral, it never functioned as an actual seat of a bishop. The structure was originally built as a private church for the Stroganovs, later operated as a parish church, and has served as a museum since 1919. The building reflects a Russian Baroque variation frequently called the Stroganov style that was widespread in an area stretching from Solvychegodsk to Nizhnii Novgorod to Perm where the Stroganovs has commercial presence. The grounds to the northwest of the cathedral served as the Stroganovs' burial place. There are a total of 28 gravestones dating from the 16th to the 17th century, and a small mausoleum built in the 1820s.

The cathedral's architecture uses two interior piers ("") instead of the typical four, which gives the exterior a truncated appearance. he five cupolas were standard on major sixteenth-century churches. The unknown Stroganov master builders, who may have come from Rostov, placed the main dome directly over the two massive piers, while the four flanking domes are supported by vaulted arches. A large apsidal structure for the altar serves as a buttress for the east wall, where the load stress is most significant. In later centuries, the curved spaces between the cathedral's semicircular gables were bricked in to support a simpler sloped roof, a common modification that made maintenance easier but detracted from the building's original picturesque form. The thick lower parts of the brick walls housed secure storage space for valuable goods such as fur pelts and precious church objects.

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