"Svyatitiel' Nikolay Chudotvoretc" – the Tsarist Russian steamship - church

Under the leadership of Bishop of Astrakhan and Enotaev Georgy, at the end of 1908, at a meeting of the Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood and the Missionary Committee, it was decided, that it would be expedient to purchase a steamer and install a portable church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on it. The commission examined almost 30 ships and chose the steamship "Pirat". By that time, the ship had been working on the Volga for almost half a century. Back in 1958, the Steamship Company "Po Volgie" ("On the Volga") ordered from the shipyard "Rovenhil-Calkend" in London a paddle steamer - a tugboat for work in the lower Volga. The steamer was dismantled and delivered to Simbirsk, where it was reassembled in the company's workshops. In the Northern Caspian, on the way to Astrakhan, there was a so-called 12-foot raid, in which passengers and cargo were transferred from seagoing ships, the draft of which did not allow them to sail directly to Astrakhan, to river vessels of small draft. This procedure was supported by the entire flotilla and numerous officials, the total number of people, employed in this work, exceeded 3,000. For a long time, these sailors and officials of the 12-foot raid had nowhere to satisfy their spiritual needs. The community bought the steamer for 7,500 rubles in 1910, the repair of the ship and the building of the church on it cost another 12,000 rubles. The architect of the building, O. Koryagin, designed the drawings of the sanctuary and made sketches of the exterior and interior. The volume of the hold and superstructures in the forward part of the ship was occupied by the church. At one time over 200 believers could pray in it. In the stern, cabins, a dining room for believers and a paramedic's cabin with three cots for providing first aid to the sick were equipped. On the night of April 16-17, 1910, the ship set off on its first voyage to a 12-foot raid. At 5 o'clock in the evening, the ship arrived at the raid, the ship - church made its first voyage under the leadership of Archpriest P. Gorokhov. The navigation of 1915 became the last in the life of the floating sanctuary. The ship's hull and mechanisms wore out over a long period of service and required significant repair costs. All the church buildings on the steamer were dismantled and the ship itself continued to be used as a guardhouse in the Volga Delta.

A small and compact model of a small ship - perfectly designed, also perfectly detailed, intended for modelers of any experience. Even novice modelers with some experience, working under the supervision of a more experienced colleague, will easily assemble it into a beautiful and competitive model. There is a considerable supply of colors, text instructions in Russian, Polish, English and German - just a few words and an explanation of conventional designations. Not bad, informative and easy-to-read graphic instructions. A couple of details are printed double-side.