Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin is the visiting card of Khmelnitsky, one of the three religious buildings of the city. It is the oldest stone building of the city, the history of which began in the distant XVII century.
On the place where now stands the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, in 1670s there was the first wooden church of the city, built by the parishioners. In the XVIII century it was rebuilt several times, but it remained wooden. The church had a throne in the name of the Most Holy Mother of God and a bell tower.
The oldest building of the city was completely burnt down in the fire of 1822, which hit the city. After this fire the history of the modern appearance of the cathedral began. It was decided to build a temple on the place of the church, but there were not enough funds, then the money for the construction of the cathedral was allocated by the center, which at that time was Kamyanets-Podilskyi.
The name of the architect who built the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin is unknown, but the atypical for that period of temple construction form of the cathedral indicates that its project was not created by a local master. The temple began to be erected in 1835, and it was consecrated on May 15, 1837. The temple was surrounded by a brick fence about 200 meters long, there was a bell tower with four bells, the largest of them weighed about 320 kg.
It is known that in the 1850s in the temple was collected a rich fund of church literature, the oldest edition was printed in Kiev «Chapel» 1729. But more than literature, many parishioners were interested in another church treasure, rumors about which spread far beyond Khmelnitsky — the ancient miracle-working icon of the Mother of God. Even in those days this image was already considered ancient, it was preserved during the fire of 1822. The icon was adorned with a silver crown, and 8 silver pendants were evidence of healing people from diseases — these pendants were «sacrifices» of worshipers to the miraculous icon.
It is also known that before the Soviet «upheavals» the church had a gift from Tsar Alexander Alexandrovich himself (son of Alexander II) — a personalized silver casket. Alexander gave it to the cathedral on the day of the death of his brother Nikolai Alexandrovich on April 12, 1865. Then he allocated 6 thousand rubles for the decoration of Orthodox churches.
Unfortunately, neither the tsar’s gift, nor the miraculous icon have not reached our time — in the 1930s they disappeared, their fate is unknown. But now the church has a copy of the icon, which in 1845 was ordered for the church by patrons of the arts. Not so long ago it was brought to the church by an Armenian citizen — his mother was among the parishioners.
Like many other attractions of Khmelnitsky, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin suffered a lot during the Soviet times. In 1932 the famous bells were sent to the needs of industrialization, in 1937 the church was closed and used as a warehouse, then as an archive. In the 60’s the temple wanted to destroy, but it did not happen for unknown reasons.
As a result, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary — the oldest existing building in Khmelnytsky — survived almost in pristine condition. In 1990 the doors of the temple were reopened for parishioners and tourists. And now the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God, which has survived so many shocks, again shines with golden domes, reminding everyone about eternal values.