Olga's Chapel

On the high left bank of the Velikaya River stands a small white chapel, placed on an artificial platform above the slope and designed in the forms of an Old Russian church. It keeps in the cityscape the memory of a legend associated with Princess Olga and the fortress promontory on the other bank. Its eastern wall faces the Krom: Olga looks across the river from it, and beside the chapel stands a metal cross repeating the outline of an old wooden model from Trinity Cathedral.

The white chapel appeared here thanks to Nina Osipova, who headed the museum department of manuscripts and rare books. For her, preserving the past was daily work. There was almost nothing left to preserve on this stretch of bank: the stone chapel, known from documents since the beginning of the nineteenth century, was demolished in the nineteen sixties.

In nineteen ninety-one, Osipova re-established the Olga Society and became its permanent secretary. Its members wanted to restore to Pskov sites associated with Princess Olga. That same year, they erected a metal Olga's Cross on the bank. Its outline repeated that of a wooden cross from sixteen twenty-three, kept in Trinity Cathedral on the opposite bank.

The cross marked the lost site, but Osipova pressed for the chapel's return. Three years later, the society held an open design competition. The winner was Pskov architect-restorer Alexei Krasilnikov. They decided not to copy the old structure: after a public discussion, they chose a modern monument in the forms of an Old Russian church. The construction site was moved slightly to align with Paromenskaya Street, and the chapel was placed on an artificial platform above the slope. It was consecrated on July twenty-fourth, two thousand. Osipova lived to see the completion of the work that had begun with a single cross; she died the following spring.

Why the cross and chapel bear Olga's name is explained by a city legend. Princess Olga, a ruler who had embraced Christianity and sought to spread the new faith, is said to have stopped on this left bank of the Velikaya River. Above the rocky promontory opposite, she saw three rays of sunlight converging in one place. Olga interpreted them as a sign of the Trinity, ordered a church built there, and gave money for its construction. Where she herself stood, the princess erected an oak cross.

It is a legend. The story of the rays was recorded several centuries after the supposed event; there is no contemporary testimony confirming this scene or the exact location. Yet the legend had material consequences: the cross, the chapels, and the direction their images and inscriptions face.

On the eastern facade of the present chapel, Olga is depicted facing the Krom, the fortress promontory across the river. The story from the cross of sixteen twenty-three is reproduced on the southern slab. Nearby still stands the metal Olga's Cross with which Nina Osipova and her associates began restoring the chapel to the bank.