Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral, NiceCathédrale Orthodoxe Saint-Nicolas de Nice. Is a Russian Cathedral located in the French City Nice. It functions as a house of worship of the Moscow Patriarchate, while it is the legal property of the Russian Federation. It is also recognized as a national monument of France. It is the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral in Western Europe. The cathedral was opened in 1912, thanks to the generosity of Tsar Nicholas II. The cathedral, consecrated in December 1912 in memory of Nicholas Alexandrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, who died in Nice and was meant to serve the large Russian community that had settled in Nice and the French Riviera.