Archangel Michael Cathedral

The Archangel Michael Cathedral stands as one of the most significant religious and architectural landmarks in all of Pridnestrovie — the largest cathedral in both Pridnestrovie and Moldova, capable of accommodating approximately two thousand parishioners simultaneously.

The history of Christian worship on this site stretches back to the 17th century, when an adobe church first served the Rybnitsa community. In 1802, a new stone church dedicated to the Archangel Michael was built with donations from parishioners, replacing this dilapidated original structure. Over the following decades, the church was gradually enriched: a bell tower was added 80 years after construction, the interior was painted four years after that, and in 1896 a new iconostasis and altar were installed and decorated. In the early 1930s, however, worship ceased as the Soviet authorities closed the church.

The path toward revival began in November 1990, when the foundation stone of the new Archangel Michael Cathedral was laid, with architect P.G. Yablonsky as the author of the revived temple’s design. The first service was held in the lower Church of St. Markell, Hegumen of the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones, on November 21, 1991, while the full construction of the cathedral continued for another 15 years, reaching completion in 2006.

The completed cathedral reflects the finest traditions of Russian temple architecture, crowned with five domes that dominate the Rybnitsa skyline. On the third tier of the bell tower hangs the great “Blagovest” bell, surrounded by 10 additional bells ranging down to the smallest, which weighs just 4 kilograms — together creating a resonant peal that can be heard throughout the city. Recognized as an architectural monument and one of the defining symbols of Rybnitsa, the cathedral also holds a remarkable spiritual treasure: the relics of St. Clement, Pope III, kept within its walls — a sacred relic matched only by those held in Rome, Crimea and the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

Address: 77, Kirova str., Rybnitsa
Phone: +373 555 2 10 90