A multi-domed Russian Orthodox cathedral will be constructed at Moscow State University for students and staff, the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church announced Tuesday.
The new Saints Cyril and Methodius cathedral, designed by architect Dmitry Pshenichnikov, will be crowned by a 46-meter (150 feet) bell tower surrounded by more than a dozen domes. The structure will be able to accommodate up to 1,000 worshippers, and its two underground floors will house the parish and the university’s spiritual center.
According to the cathedral's website, university staff and students had been asking for a church to be built next to the university's main building since 2000. The project was greenlit in 2015, and the new cathedral will replace a temporary wooden cathedral that was built on Vernadsky Prospekt in 2018.
“I am certain that the Saints Cyril and Methodius Church will be in the hearts of the people of the Moscow university. Our graduate and undergraduate students in need [of spiritual guidance] will have a place here, alongside our staff and other people of the Moscow university,” MSU rector Viktor Sadovnichiy was quoted as saying on the church website.
Though the project is yet to be approved by the Moscow Architecture and Urban Planning Authority, donations toward the construction are already being accepted online.
MSU is one of Russia’s oldest educational institutions, home to approximately 47,000 students and 5,000 academic staff hailing from across Russia and the world.
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