I was hunting for a Church.
Not just any Church. This was Saint Clements Catholic cathedral. I had heard that it was still standing. I was curious...but there were other reasons.
Saint Clements was the Church that my grandmother and her Dad (my great-grandfather) had attended in the summer of 1925. They were both in Saratov to pick up my grandmother's passport...the document that would allow her to leave Russia and join my grandfather in Canada.
While in Saratov, they had both attended Mass in the cathedral.
We were staying at an old hotel, the Hotel Volga, located on Kirov Avenue. The street had become a pedestrian walkway, and there was talk about changing it's name back to the original, "German Street".
I set out on my quest...it really didn't take long...it was just a few short blocks from where we were staying.
But there it was.
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| The facade had been changed...the twin bell towers had been taken down, but the front had remained. |
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| Examining the side of the building, you could make out the actual original architecture of the Church. |
You can even make out where the original stain-glass windows once were, now bricked up.
It was moving to go inside the former Church. The lobby filled with theater vending machines. Knowing that my grandmother and great-grandfather once stood where I stood.
"Stalins Vandalism" they call it. Efforts to declare the building a historical site and examine the possibility of restoring the Church have been ongoing. It is felt that the building cannot be restored to its former glory. But it stands as a testimony to the past...and man's attempt to erase that past.
I am so glad I took the time to complete my quest.
