I thought this architecture was beautiful :
"Its Russian Revival design belongs to Ivan Charushin, a little-known 19th-century architect from Vyatka. The red-brick church is capped with a tent-like roof that rises to a height of 67 metres. It is encircled by several massive chapels with gilded bulbous domes and slender candle-like belfries. The porches have sharply pitched roofs in the manner of the Muscovite churches of the 17th century.
The Izhevsk arms factory owed its rise partly to the involvement of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, whose patron saint was Michael the Archangel. The factory's employees contributed one percent of their wages to a fund set up to finance the construction of a large church to this military saint."
The cathedral was erected between 1897 and 1915, only to be demolished by the Soviets in 1937. It was rebuilt to Charushin's original designs in 2004-2007."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Micha ... _(Izhevsk)
Noticing mention of a "Kalashnikov Museum" in Izhevsk, capital of Udmurtia, I quickly followed up to learn that the arms factory referred to above seems to have evolved into the main factory for production of the AK-47 rifle [ invented in 1947 ]. I am not sure whether the later Kalakov, AK-74 [ similarly, invented in 1974 ] has always been manufactured here.
Here is a summary by the New York Times :
"The nickname of this town, home of the factory that makes Kalashnikov rifles, is the “Armory of Russia.” Over the years, it has armed a good number of other countries, too, as the lathes and presses of the Izhevsk Machine Works clanged around the clock to forge AK-47s and similar guns for insurgents and armies around the world.
But these days, many of Izhevsk’s weapons are headed somewhere else: the United States.
...American hunters and gun enthusiasts are snapping up tens of thousands of Kalashnikov rifles and shotguns. Demand is so brisk that the factory has shifted its focus from military to civilian manufacture over the last two years. United States sales of the civilian versions, sold under the brand name Saiga, rose by 50 percent last year, according to officials at the factory, known as Izhmash.....
[ Worldwide ] Demand for new military guns in the Kalashnikov family has evaporated. Simple, durable and relatively cheap to manufacture, about 100 million have been produced over the decades, or about one for every 70 people on earth. Inventories are overflowing, used AK weapons have flooded the market, and cheap Chinese knockoffs are stealing many of the customers that remain."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/busin ... wners.html
With Izhmash, the Kalashnikov manufacturing plant, now struggling - despite the interest from American enthusiasts - perhaps it's time for it to be partly closed. According to the NYT article cited above,
"The Russian army isn’t planning many new orders until the AK-12, a new model to be introduced this year, is widely available.
"The sales of civilian rifles in the United States are helping to pay for the factory’s retooling for the AK-12, ultimately making it cheaper for the Kremlin."
Regardless of whether the Izhvesk Machine Works can remain in business, its employees and all other locals should instead have their lives revolve around the splendid St Michael's Cathedral ! That is, if no appropriate True Orthodox jurisdiction has a presence there. Time to start some parishes to rescue the potentially laid-off laborers from boredom, drinking and other bad habits. Hopefully with good spiritual direction, they will become motivated to zealously participate in the life of the Church.
After all, the precedent is there. Their forebears at this factory cared enough to contribute 1% of their incomes to build this magnificent Church.