Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, Vladivostok

The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary has a tragic history. Initially, the cathedral was built in 1902, becoming the second largest parish church in Vladivostok (after the Assumption Cathedral, destroyed during the Soviet era). The 5-domed cathedral could host 700 people, and 1000 on holidays. It was designed in traditional onion-domed Russian-Byzathine style. Due to the high central dome and a large number of windows, it had a lot of light and air. Right behind the cathedral was the cemetery, the resting place of several generations from Vladivostok and the Primorye Region. When the Soviets came to power, the cathedral began to decay. In 1923, the cemetery was closed, and in 1934, it was turned into a public park; the graves were razed to the ground and the marble plates were reused in various constructions. In 1935 the temple was blown up. With its bricks, the Pedagogical Institute was built. The cathedral was fully reconstructed only in 2004.