Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Nicholas

The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Nicholas is a late historicist cathedral in Vienna’s 3rd district, Jaurèsgasse 2. It is the center of Vienna’s Russian Orthodox community and has been an eparchy since 1962.

It was designed as an embassy church by the Italo-Austrian architect Luigi Giacomelli and completed between 1893 and 1899.A substantial portion of the building cost (400,000 rubles) was funded by a contribution from Tsar Alexander III.On April 4 (17), 1899, the Cathedral was dedicated to St. Nicholas.

With the outbreak of the First World War, the chapel was shuttered and handed over to neutral Spain.

The chapel building was linked to the Soviet Embassy beginning in 1924, the year the Soviet Union and Austria established diplomatic ties, however it first operated solely as a storage room during the Stalinist era.

During World War II, the church was given to the Reich Music Academy in Vienna for usage.

With the backing of the Soviet military leadership, the cathedral was reopened to the faithful in 1945, and the Red Army gave a new main bell in 1947.Since 1962, the church has served as the seat of the Bishop of the Eparchy of Vienna and Austria, which is a diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The church is a five-domed structure built in the typical Russian sacral architecture style.The interior is separated into two churches: the top church is patronized by Saint Nicholas, while the lower church is patronized by Saint Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky.

The cathedral was significantly refurbished from 2003 to 2008; instead of the scheduled re-inauguration ceremony, a memorial service for the late Patriarch Alexius II was held on December 21, 2008.The church’s formerly stark interior was rebuilt in 2006-2008 with murals in the classic Byzantine style by prominent Moscow icon painter Archimandrite Zinon and a few associates.Zinon is also responsible for the new iconostasis.

The Russian Embassy is directly across the street from the Cathedral.

The church features 10 bells that are solely struck in the Russian manner.The biggest bell is used to sound the hour.It is Austria’s largest Russian Orthodox bell.