Under Tsarist Russia, and later the U.S.S.R, religious services were banned, though it remained a popular tourist attraction. Evidence of Russian control remains on the outer walls a la Russian language graffiti. I found dates as far back as 1887 carved into the stone. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the locals dismantled a cable car that once ferried lazy day-trippers to the church, deeming the contraption a sacrilegious emblem of oppression. I wondered how they felt about the military helicopter filled with what appeared to be tourists that landed nearby. Somebody knew somebody important… heathens….
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