St. Catherine's Cathedral

St. Catherine's Cathedral is Kherson's most distinctive landmark — a late 18th-century Orthodox church built in a neoclassical style that reflects the ambitions of the city's founders. The white-columned building stands in a small square in the city centre and was built almost simultaneously with the city itself, funded directly by imperial patronage.

The cathedral's connection to Potemkin makes it a place of some historical weight for those interested in the extraordinary story of Russian expansion into the Black Sea region. The interior has been repeatedly altered but retains elements of its original decoration. Access and current condition should be verified before visiting.

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A story
St. Catherine's Cathedral contains the tomb of Grigory Potemkin, Catherine the Great's favourite and the man who masterminded the Russian colonisation of the Black Sea steppe. Potemkin died in 1791 on the road to Iaşi and was buried here — though his remains have been moved several times and his final resting place was long disputed.