# Church of the Resurrection on the Debre, Kostroma > The Church of the Resurrection on the Debre is a working Orthodox church from the mid-1600s on the Volga in Kostroma: red brick, white-stone beasts on its Holy Gates and frescoes painted around 1650 inside. Entry is **free** and **30 minutes** is enough. It opens daily, roughly 8:30–19:00 (from 6:30 on Sundays), and it is a 25–30-minute walk from Susanin Square. Web page: https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/resurrection-church-on-debre - City: [Kostroma](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma), Russia - YesGo score: 43/100 (Yes, if nearby) - Time on site: 30 min - With kids: Fine with kids - Entry: Free — it is a working parish church - Hours: Daily ≈ 8:30–19:00, Sundays from 6:30 - Closed: No day off; during services you can stay, quietly, at the back - Photos inside: Ask at the candle shop; never during a service - Dress code: Women: headscarf and a skirt below the knee; men: no hat, no shorts - Payment: Foreign Visa and Mastercard cards do not work in Russia — carry roubles for candles - Address: Ulitsa Nizhnyaya Debrya 37, by the road bridge over the Volga - Coordinates: 57.75556, 40.94861 - Facts checked: 30.10.2026 ## Key facts - **1645–1652** — built; an inscription gives the year 7160 of the old calendar, i.e. 1652 (English Wikipedia says 1645–1651) (source: Russian and English Wikipedia; I. V. Bazhenov, The Resurrection Church on the Debre) - **Kirill Isakov** — the merchant who paid for it — legend says with gold found in a barrel of English paint (source: Russian Wikipedia; I. V. Bazhenov; BaikalNature) - **1650–1652** — the main frescoes, probably by the workshop of Vasily Zapokrovsky (source: Russian and English Wikipedia) - **Lion, unicorn, pelican, alkonost** — the white-stone creatures carved on the Holy Gates (source: Advantour; BaikalNature; I. V. Bazhenov (lions with flowering tails)) - **5 domes** — cross-in-square plan on four pillars with three apses, raised on a basement and wrapped in galleries (source: Russian and English Wikipedia) - **Gury Nikitin** — the master believed to have painted the Three Hierarchs chapel (1670 by Russian Wikipedia) (source: Russian and English Wikipedia; BaikalNature) - **1930–1946** — closed by the Soviets and used as a granary, with a military store below (source: Russian and English Wikipedia) - **From 1964** — the cathedral of the Kostroma diocese for over 25 years (source: Russian and English Wikipedia) - **Until 1991** — home to the Feodorovskaya icon, Kostroma's most revered icon (source: Russian and English Wikipedia) - **1993** — a convent of the Sign was founded next door (source: Russian and English Wikipedia) ## Opening hours and entry Entry is **free** — there are no tickets, no ticket desk and no audio guide; you simply walk in through the open doors. Directory listings give the hours as roughly **8:30–19:00 every day**, opening at 6:30 on Sundays for the early liturgy. We could not find an official parish timetable, so treat the hours as a guide. For a calm look at the frescoes, come on a weekday between midday and 17:00, after the morning service and before the evening one. Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings are busy with worshippers, and wandering around with a camera then is not welcome. Candles and donations are handled at the small shop by the entrance. Foreign Visa and Mastercard cards have not worked in Russia since March 2022, so keep a few hundred roubles in cash. > **What to wear** Women should cover their hair with a **headscarf** and wear a **skirt below the knee** with shoulders covered; spare scarves and wrap skirts are often left at the door, but do not count on it. Men take off hats and should not come in shorts or vests. A light scarf in your bag solves most of it in summer. ## What is the Church of the Resurrection on the Debre? It is one of the finest surviving examples of the ornate Russian brick style of the mid-seventeenth century: five domes, carved white stone, covered galleries, tent-roofed porches and, inside, frescoes that have hardly been repainted. After the [Ipatiev Monastery](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/ipatiev-monastery), it is the most important pre-Petrine building in Kostroma. The church sits on a raised basement, so you climb porches and walk a covered passage to reach the door. The main space is a cross-in-square on four pillars with three apses. Two side chapels flank the altar: St Catherine on the south and the Three Hierarchs on the north — the latter is small, single-domed and keeps the most complete interior. **Debre** (debrya) is an old Russian word for a wooded hollow by a river. This stretch of the Volga bank was once wild land outside town, and the name stuck to the streets and the church. ## History and the legend of the gold Tradition credits Prince Vasily Yaroslavich, a younger brother of Alexander Nevsky, with a first wooden church here; a wooden tent-roofed church is on record by 1628. The stone church went up in 1645–1652, paid for by the merchant **Kirill Isakov** and built by masons from Yaroslavl and Veliky Ustyug. The story every Kostroma guide tells: among barrels of paint shipped to Isakov from England, one turned out to be full of gold. The English merchant wrote back that it should go to a godly cause, so Isakov built a church. The nineteenth-century historian Ivan Bazhenov thought the legend grew out of the lions on the gates, which people took for the English royal arms. The Soviets shut the church in **1930** and used it as a granary, with a military store in the basement. It reopened in 1946 with no floors, windows or icons left. From 1964 it served as the diocesan cathedral for over a quarter of a century and held the Feodorovskaya icon until 1991. The gates were restored in the late 1960s, and in 1993 a convent was founded beside it. ## What to see: the gates, the carvings and the frescoes - **The Holy Gates** on the street — brick, with a wide arch for carts and a narrow one for people. Look for the carved **lion** (strength), **unicorn** (chastity), **pelican** (resurrection) and **alkonost**, a bird of paradise with a woman's face. - **Lions with flowering tails** — each tail ends in a sprig of blossoms. It is the church's signature motif. - **Chequered walls and patterned window frames** — from outside the church looks like a tiled stove, best in the afternoon sun. - **The galleries and covered walkway** from the gates to the west porch, added in the eighteenth century. - **Narthex frescoes**: the Apocalypse with the seven-headed dragon on the west wall, the Creation and the patriarchs on the south wall. Give your eyes a minute in the half-light. - **The Three Hierarchs chapel** — small, with the most complete paintwork, attributed to Gury Nikitin's workshop. - **The courtyard and old lime trees** — the quiet spot where you can take in all five domes at once. ## How to get to the Church of the Resurrection on the Debre 1. Start at [Susanin Square](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/susanin-square) by the [Fire Tower](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/kostroma-fire-tower): buses, trolleybuses and minibuses from the railway and bus stations stop at Susaninskaya Ploshchad in about 15 minutes. 2. Walk down past the [Trading Rows](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/kostroma-trading-rows) to the Volga and turn left (east) onto Ulitsa Nizhnyaya Debrya. 3. Follow the street along the river for about 1.5 km, heading towards the road bridge over the Volga. The whole walk from the square is 25–30 minutes, about 2 km. 4. Prefer to ride? Take a bus or minibus to the Khram Voskreseniya (Church of the Resurrection) or Ulitsa Nizhnyaya Debrya stop and walk 3–5 minutes. Yandex Maps has live Kostroma transit; Google transit data in Russia is patchy. 5. A taxi from the centre takes 5–10 minutes; parking by the church is tight. 6. Go in through the Holy Gates on the street and follow the covered walkway to the church. ## Is it worth visiting? Yes, if you care about old Russian architecture or church painting: nothing else in central Kostroma looks like this, and it costs nothing. Thirty minutes covers the gates, the courtyard and the interior; give it 45 if the frescoes grab you. It sits a little away from the centre, so pair it with the [Snow Maiden's Terem](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/snow-maiden-terem), five minutes' walk away, and walk back along the Volga. With only one day in Kostroma, put the Ipatiev Monastery first and keep this church for an afternoon riverside stroll. Skip a special trip if you will not go inside: the gates and domes take five minutes from the street, and the real reward is the painted interior. There are no English signs, so read up before you go. ## Before you go: checklist - [ ] Headscarf and a skirt (or a scarf for shoulders) in my bag - [ ] Men: no cap, no shorts - [ ] Not arriving in the middle of Sunday liturgy - [ ] Some roubles in cash — foreign cards won't work - [ ] I'll look for the lion and the unicorn on the gates - [ ] Allowed 30–45 minutes plus the walk along the Volga ## Resurrection Church vs Ipatiev Monastery vs Epiphany Convent | | Resurrection on the Debre | Ipatiev Monastery | Epiphany-Anastasia Convent | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | What it is | 17th-century parish church with frescoes | Monastery-museum tied to the Romanovs | Working convent in the centre | | Entry | Free | Paid museum, services free | Working convent | | Time needed | 30–45 min | About two hours | ≈ 30 min | | Where | On the Volga by the bridge | 3 km out, across the Kostroma River | Five minutes from Susanin Square | Short on time: Ipatiev is the headline, the Debre church has the best frescoes without a ticket, and the Epiphany Convent is the one to pop into without leaving the centre. ## Kostroma churches and monasteries compared Every church and monastery in Kostroma rated by YesGo. - [Epiphany-Anastasia Convent](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/epiphany-anastasia-convent) — YesGo score 48/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 40 min · Free, cathedral only - [Church of the Resurrection on the Debre](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/resurrection-church-on-debre) — YesGo score 43/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · Free - [Ipatiev Monastery](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/ipatiev-monastery) — YesGo score 36/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 2 h · ≈ 350–400 ₽, services free ## Kostroma's Volga bank in half a day The Snow Maiden's Terem, the Debre church, a riverside walk to the Trading Rows and Susanin Square with the Fire Tower — all on foot. Add them to your route — YesGo fits in the timing and walks. 1. [Snow Maiden's Terem](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/snow-maiden-terem) — YesGo score 36/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · from 490 RUB, full visit 890 RUB 2. [Church of the Resurrection on the Debre](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/resurrection-church-on-debre) — YesGo score 43/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · Free 3. [Kostroma Trading Rows](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/kostroma-trading-rows) — YesGo score 47/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 40 min · Free 4. [Susanin Square](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/susanin-square) — YesGo score 47/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · Free 5. [Kostroma Fire Tower](https://yesgo.io/russia/kostroma/kostroma-fire-tower) — YesGo score 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 40 min · Free to see outside; no climb ## Good to know Russia has many Resurrection churches — Kadashi in Moscow and several in Yaroslavl among them. This page is about the one in Kostroma, on Ulitsa Nizhnyaya Debrya. On signs and maps look for Tserkov Voskreseniya na Debre. The half-ruined church next door is the Church of the Sign, part of the convent. ## Tips - The brick glows warmest in the afternoon, when the sun comes off the river. - Walk right up to the gates — the lion and unicorn are small and easy to miss from the road. - Inside, wait a minute in the dim light; the frescoes come out slowly. - Pair it with the Snow Maiden's Terem, five minutes away. - Walk back to the centre along the Volga — it is the nicest way in. - There are hardly any cafés right by the church, so eat in the centre. ## Questions ### What are the opening hours of the Church of the Resurrection in Kostroma? It opens daily, roughly 8:30–19:00 and from 6:30 on Sundays, according to directory listings. There is no official online timetable, and holiday hours can differ. ### Is there an entrance fee? No. It is a working church and entry is free; candles and donations are optional. ### Where is it? At Ulitsa Nizhnyaya Debrya 37, on the Volga by the road bridge, about 2 km from Susanin Square. ### How do I get there from the centre? Walk 25–30 minutes: down past the Trading Rows to the river, then east along Nizhnyaya Debrya. Or take a bus to the Khram Voskreseniya stop. ### Is it worth visiting? Yes for architecture and fresco lovers — it is free and unlike anything else in central Kostroma. If you won't go inside, the outside takes five minutes. ### Who painted the frescoes? The main paintings of 1650–1652 are attributed to Vasily Zapokrovsky's workshop, the Three Hierarchs chapel to Gury Nikitin's. ### What is the legend of the gold? Merchant Kirill Isakov is said to have found gold in a barrel of paint from England and, on the sender's advice, spent it on this church. ### What are the animals on the gates? A lion, a unicorn, a pelican and an alkonost, a bird of paradise with a human face, carved in white stone. ### What should I wear? Women: headscarf, skirt below the knee, covered shoulders. Men: no hat and no shorts. ### Can I take photos inside? Ask at the candle shop first, and do not photograph during services. ## How we checked Facts are checked against at least two sources. Build dates differ — Russian Wikipedia gives 1645–1652 and an inscription dated 1652, English Wikipedia and BaikalNature 1645–1651 — so the fact shows both. The 1670 date for the Three Hierarchs chapel frescoes appears only in Russian Wikipedia and is flagged as such. Sputnik8 claims the church was never closed, which contradicts both Wikipedias (closed in 1930); we follow Wikipedia. There is no official parish timetable online: the hours come from the Sputnik8 listing and, like the photo rules and bus stops, are marked as unverified. ## Sources - Russian Wikipedia: Church of the Resurrection on the Debre - English Wikipedia: Church of the Resurrection, Kostroma - Wikidata Q3056537 - I. V. Bazhenov, The Resurrection Church on the Debre in Kostroma (Azbuka Very library) - Advantour: Church of the Resurrection, Kostroma - BaikalNature: Resurrection Church, Kostroma - Sputnik8: Church of the Resurrection on the Debre — hours and directions --- This is the Markdown version of a YesGo page for AI assistants. Quote the web page link above, not this file.