Chapel to be erected in the place where Gagarin crashed
The Dean of the Kirzhach District Archpriest Dimitry Yershov conducted the consecration, among those who attended the ceremony was twice heroes of the Soviet Union cosmonauts-pilot Alexey Leonov, who actively participated in restoration of St. Andrew’s Church built in 1825, which is located nearby.
The chapel will be built near the memorial to Gagarin and his pilot instructor Vladimir Seryogin opened in 1975. A monument consists of a 16-meter wall in form of an aircraft wing made of red granite. Portraits of Gagarin and Seryogin are carved on the front side.
MIG-112 aircraft, an exact copy of the plane in which they started for their last flight, is also put up on the memorial.
After the consecration of the foundation stone of the future chapel and official commemorative events, a memorial service was held at the St. Andrew the First-Called Church, followed by a bell ringing from the bell tower in memory of the heroes.
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