Nearly three hundreed years the Uspensky Cathedral stood out on the bank of a rapid river Kemi. It has become the symbol of a northern town. It has seen a lot for the past ages. In 1710 the predecessor of today’s cathedral, named the Uspensky cathedral too, with two side-chapels - Predtechensky and Zosimo-Savvatievsky, built in the middle of XVII century on the funds of the Solovetsky Monastery, was burnt with a part of the town Kemi. A year later permission for building a new cathedral with two side-chapels on the same place was got. These were: the Zosimo-Savvatievsky Side-chapel (sanctified in 1714) and the Uspensky Cathedral (sanctified in 1711).
The new Cathedral was the copy of the old one in its main features, that was typical for traditional wooden architecture. The cathedral was raised on the island of Lepostrovo, washed by two river Kemi’s branches.
The Uspensky Cathedral consists of the main Uspensky Temple, the Zosimo-Savvatievsky and Nicolsky Side-chapels, a refectory, a hall and a porch. The center of the whole composition is the Uspensky Temple. To the west from the temple a wider square-shaped refectory is situated. From the north and the south two side-chapels are bordered upon it: Zosimo-Savvatievsky and Nicolsky.
The whole building, besides the wire frame hall, represents a single framework made without any iron nail. In the Kemi’s Uspensky Cathedral, unlike the other monuments, there is one interesting detail – the upper part of iconostasis was illuminated from the windows, made right under the ceiling in the west wall. This source of light, invisible to the dedans, standing back to it, produced a very interesting luminescence effect of iconostasis.
Since December 6, 1876 the Kemsky Cathedral was closed because of a decay, but the parish liked it very much and the renewal of the cathedral was fulfilled in 1889. At this time all the parts of the building were repaired. But the main attention was focused on the renewal of the cathedral’s interior.
In 1989 the Uspensky Cathedral’s Parish was formed, where divine services are still taking place.
The architects consider the Uspensky Cathedral to be the pearl and the encyclopedia of the northern wooden art of the beginning of XVIII century.
