X3P4+8J Bulgarians, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia
In the ancient city of Bolgar, the first thing you notice is the Christian church, standing intact and almost untouched among the Muslim ruins. The Assumption Church was built in 1732, the same year the Nikolskaya Church was closed, as the central place of the Assumption Monastery.
The monastery was founded by the order of Peter I in 1722 to "protect" the ruins of the old capital of Bulgaria, and in 1764 the monastery was moved to Cheboksary by the decree of Catherine II due to the monks' barbaric treatment of the historical treasures of Bolgar. The Assumption Church was built in the style of the old Volga province, powerful and monolithic. This monastery church also served as a fortress for the Christian population of Bolgar, living among the Muslim community. In the 19th century, a bell tower was built, and the church became a parish church rather than a monastery one.
Between 1732 and 1734, a stone church dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was erected in the center of the settlement on the site of the presumed khan's palace. The refectory and the chapel in honor of St. Cyril of Belozersk the Miracle Worker were added somewhat later to the main part of the church. In 1763, the monastery was closed, the Monastic settlement was renamed the village of Uspenskoye, and later the village of Bolgar. The Assumption Church became a parish church. After the fall of the Great Minaret in 1841, the church's bell tower cracked, after which it was dismantled and rebuilt in 1862. The church's architecture is in the Baroque style with elements of traditional Russian ornamentation. The Assumption Church was built with funds from the Kazan merchant Ivan Afanasyevich Mikhlyaev, and the bell tower was funded by parishioners. The church has been restored but is not active and is part of the Bolgar Reserve complex, used as a museum of Russian culture.
Sources:
https://tatmitropolia.ru/all_publications/hramy_tatarstana/?id=58667
