"THE FORGOTTEN CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS THE WONDERWORKER"
120 years ago , the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker , the patron saint of all travelers , was built on the railway square of the city of Samarkand , which still stands at 1 BERUNI Street .
If you look at the facade of the building more closely , in the brickwork of the walls you can see the remains of downed crosses that once decorated the Church and indicate its religious affiliation .
There is a sign on the facade stating that the Church is under state protection as an object of cultural heritage .
The appearance of the Church changed greatly on September 3 , 1924 , when the dome with the cross was removed from it and the bell tower was dismantled .
The history of St. Nicholas Church is inextricably linked with the history of the appearance of the railway and railway station in Samarkand. The construction of the Transcaspian Railway was completed on May 15 , 1888 , when the last links of 1101 versts were laid at the SAMARKAND station .
A document has been preserved in the archives, which says that in December 1895, at a meeting of the Committee of Ministers in St. Petersburg, a note by the Minister of War P. S. Vannovsky was heard , in which a proposal was made for the free allocation of land near the SAMARKAND railway station for the construction of a Church.
All Ministers supported this proposal.
A place was allocated on the railway square for the construction of the Church . In May 1897, the first priest, Vladimir Krupsky, was appointed to the SAMARKAND station, who consecrated the foundation stone of the future Church on August 19.
In March 1899, the construction of the Church was completed. It was the first Church in Samarkand built of burnt bricks. The interior of the Church was richly decorated with decorative columns and arches with alabaster stucco. The church was consecrated and began to function
After 1918, the political situation in Samarkand changed. The Soviet government interfered with the Church and tried to remove the objects of worship from view , deploying systematic work to eliminate them . On September 3, 1924, the Soviet government violated the Orthodox shrine.
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to the events that took place soon after , it becomes clear why the Church of St. Nicholas was so hastily closed . The fact is that on September 19 , 1924 , a solemn meeting of workers was organized on the square on the occasion of the installation of a monument to the leader of the proletariat . Then a sculpture in was installed on the pedestal . I. Lenin is a symbol of the new government .
The Church of St. Nicholas was used for various needs during the following years . In the post - war years , it was empty , and they decided to make a cinema out of it .After the independence of Uzbekistan, the Church building was repeatedly leased.
In 2009, a large part of the roof burned down in a fire. The Church housed a snack bar , and there was a sign on the door saying that the premises were for rent . In 2014, a gas cylinder exploded in the diner , after which the diner was immediately closed. Subsequent attempts to lease the Church also did not lead to anything good .
In 2016, the Church was leased once again and construction work began on it. But all the work was carried out unprofessionally and without taking into account the fact that the building has its own special , historical appearance .
In 2017, someone managed to put a public toilet a meter from the altar of the Church.
Attempts to return the Church back to the faithful began back in 1944 , when the community of believers began to strenuously ask the city authorities for this . But then they were refused .
In 2018, attempts to return the Church resumed again. Repeated appeals to various departments in Samarkand and Tashkent with petitions for the return of the Church to the faithful have not yet had a positive result.
From autumn 2018 to the present, on Thursdays at 13:00, believers gather near the altar of St. Nicholas Church.

They gather for prayer.
Having passed through many earthly instances, they turn their prayers to God , without losing hope that they will be heard by the authorities of Uzbekistan, on whom the future fate of the Orthodox Shrine depends.