Six kilometers from Yalta, near the village of Nikita is one of the sights of Crimea — Nikita Botanical Garden, a kind of museum of wildlife, which contains more than 28000 species of plants from different parts of the country. The garden was founded in 1812 near the village of Nikita. Thanks to the efforts of the director of the garden A.I.Bazarov (1845-1907) in 1883 was prepared and approved the project for the construction of a two-story building, which housed a hospital, a church and a priest’s apartment.
The solemn laying of the building took place on the feast of the Annunciation on March 25, 1884. In the presence of scientists, gardeners, students and workers, His Grace Hermogenes, Bishop of Tauris and Simferopol, celebrated the Divine Liturgy.
Erection of the temple began at a rapid pace, but due to lack of funds, construction continued throughout 1885 and half of 1886, when the finishing work — painting the altar and the facade of the temple.
The temple was consecrated on February 5, 1887, the rector of Livadia churches Archimandrite Epiphanius in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
The built building was a spacious one-nave basilica, with a vestibule adjoining it on the northwest side, inside which there was a staircase leading to the second floor of the church. On the first floor there was a hospital, and the apartment for the priest was attached to the altar wall of the church, in the form of a one-story ledge with a balcony. In general, the plan of the building was an elongated four-pointed cross. Above the front porch leading to the vestibule, a small belfry with a gable roof and a cross crowning the makovka. Above the vestibule, on a drum decorated with kokoshnikami, a small dome with an eight-pointed cross rose. The large arched windows were decorated with stone platbands of wide rays ending on both sides with stone-carved crosses of equal extremity. Between the windows there were shallow niches with patterned cast-iron crosses, one of which was discovered in 1993, when the walls were cleared of ivy overgrowth.
In the walls of the lobby on the second floor cut through the smaller windows, they were decorated with platbands kokoshnikami, and on the first floor — rectangular windows with platbands of alternating brick and white rays. On both sides of the entrance in shallow niches on the frescoes are depicted patterned Byzantine crosses, and above the entrance in a circle — an equal-pointed cross.
In the summer of 1887 two bells were hoisted on the bell tower, which were made at the foundry of N.D.Finlandsky in Moscow.
After the revolutionary events Nikitsky Botanical Garden was transformed into «State Farm Nikitsky Botanical Garden». However, services in the temple continued until 1920. Then the parishioners created the Orthodox Religious Society and appealed to the local authorities with a request to give them the church for free use. According to the agreement they were obliged to maintain, repair, heat the church and preserve the church property. By that time there was no longer a priest in the church, so his duties were performed by the laborer Innokenty Chernyakov.
But already in 1927 the temple was closed. They tried to remake it: destroyed the dome and belfry, dropped the crosses and bells. However, the Face of the Savior above the entrance was removed by someone from the faithful, turned upside down facing the cross, covered with tin and painted to match the color of the wall.
For many years the building was used as a warehouse, store, scientific laboratory, house of culture with a movie theater. Neither internal paintings, nor iconostasis, nor icons have been preserved. A beautiful hall with large windows and good acoustics was turned into a dark room: the windows were covered, the height of the ceiling was reduced with artificial plates, which absorbed all sounds. Outside, the walls were thickly braided with Crimean ivy. When the building began to deteriorate in the 80s, it was turned into a warehouse where all kinds of unnecessary garbage was taken.
In 1991, the residents of Nikita organized the Holy Transfiguration Community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. They signed a lease agreement with the Nikita Botanical Garden for the building of the former hospital and church and began renovations. In just a month, by August 19, 1992, the large hall of the first floor was put in order. On the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the building was consecrated, icons were placed, and prayer services began. On April 7, 1993 the altar was consecrated and the first Divine Liturgy was served. Soon the restoration of the iconostasis began, the belfry was built again, and the bell was raised on it.