Moscow Kremlin: Patriarchal Assumption Cathedral. Churches, temples and cathedrals of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
address: Kremlin
built: 1479
reopened: 1989
Information:
The first Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin was built in 1326-27. It was the first stone temple in Moscow. It was founded with the own hands of Metropolitan Peter, under whom the metropolitan residence was transferred to Moscow; in the temple the saint prepared a tomb for himself.
The temple was small. erected from white stone, single-headed, with four pillars, it stood on a high plinth, and relatively large stone stairs led to its portals.
In February 1326, the body of Prince Yuri Danilovich, who was killed in the Horde by Prince Tverskoy, was transferred to Moscow, and the prince was buried in the new cathedral. Soon the metropolitan himself was buried in a prepared tomb.
In 1329, a small stone church was added to the cathedral from the north, near the tomb of Peter the Miropolitan, in the name of the Fall of St. Verig. Apostle Peter. There is an opinion that the temple was built on the same occasion as the first church of John of the Ladder. This temple stood for over a hundred years.
In 1470, after a fire, the aisle of Peter Verig collapsed. The Assumption Cathedral itself was already completely dilapidated, its vaults were propped up with logs. Metropolitan Philip began to collect the treasury for new building. From the 1470s Grand Duke Ivan III began large-scale construction in the Kremlin. The new Assumption Cathedral became the firstborn of construction activity.
The temple was conceived "great and high", similar to the Cathedral of Vladimir. In 1472, architects Ivan Krivtsov and Myshkin began construction. When the building was built to the height of a man, the old metropolitan tombs were solemnly transferred from the old cathedral to the places prepared in the new cathedral. For the relics of Metropolitan Peter, a special kiot was arranged in the same place where the saint had prepared a tomb for himself, and a temporary wooden temple was placed over it. In this temple, the marriage of Ivan III with Princess Sophia Palaiologos took place.
In 1474, after a light earthquake, the cathedral, built to vaults, collapsed. Experienced experts - Pskov craftsmen - were invited to establish the causes of the disaster. main reason it was not so much an earthquake as "the complete failure of the then building art throughout the Moscow region." The old way of masonry was forgotten, which existed at that time was not suitable for the construction of large buildings. There were also purely constructive miscalculations - for example, a staircase arranged in the northern wall weakened the structure. Also Pskovians found lime "liquid and non-glueous". Fortunately, there were no casualties. The Pskovites, having given their opinion on the causes of the disaster, refused the offer to complete the work.
A master from Italy, Aristotle Fioravanti, was invited to build the cathedral.
The master arrived from Venice and settled in the Kremlin. He confirmed the conclusion of the Pskov masters and added on his own behalf that white stone was not suitable for construction, but the building should be made of brick. Aristotle was sent to Vladimir to study the Vladimir Cathedral.
In 1475, all the holy tombs were moved again, now to the church of John of the Ladder, and the master began to break the walls with the help of an ingenious device made of logs, which was even described by the chronicler. Behind the Andronikov Monastery, in the village of Kalitnikovo, a brick kiln was built. A deep foundation was dug, and oak piles were driven into it. "On the first summer, he brought the building out of the ground ... on the next summer of 1476, he brought the walls of the temple up to the icon cases ... on the third summer, he reached the underground part of the building." The chronicler recorded devices for lifting weights upward ("a wheel with small wheels") and other mechanisms.
In August 1479, the finished cathedral was solemnly consecrated.
The cathedral was built of specially made bricks and faced on the outside with blocks of white stone. Oak piles are driven under the foundation. Iron ties are used in the walls.
The plan of the cathedral is not quite common for Russian cross-domed churches. The pillars divide the temple into 12 identical squares. The cathedral is crowned with five domes, shifted to the east, and from the outside the temple has a traditional appearance. But near the central dome, instead of semi-cylinders, there are cross vaults.
On the sides of the central altar there were aisles - Dmitry of Thessalonica and Praise of the Virgin in the southeastern apses and Peter and Paul - in northeastern(it was composed by the former church of Peter Verig).
All divisions of the cathedral, both outside and inside, are equal or coordinated with each other.
The main southern façade is vertically divided into equal divisions by shoulder blades carrying smooth, identical semicircles of zakomar, completed by pediments. The eastern shoulder blades are reinforced with protrusions-buttresses, which counterbalance the mighty golden five domes shifted to the east and at the same time hide the apses (there are five of them).
The masonry of blocks of white stone gave great monumentality to the forms of the cathedral. Flowing stairs lead to wide portals, over which a columnar belt runs in the middle of the wall. Perspective portals, together with the main dome, highlight the main vertical axis of the building. A porch with a hanging weight adjoins the western facade of the cathedral.
The interior of the cathedral is spacious and bright. Four round pillars with capitals, evenly spaced, the absence of a choir, the leveling of the central dome space - all this enhances the impression of the spaciousness of the interior.
The original paintings were made by Dionysius in 1514. The cathedral had a three-tiered iconostasis.
In 1624-26. stonework apprentice Bazhen Ogurtsov and ward master John Thaler strengthened the vaults of the cathedral and built girth arches under them.
In the middle of the XVI century. paintings were made above the southern portal and on the eastern wall outside. In 1642-43. they were shot down and replaced by new ones that have come down to the present day. The murals were made according to the old "drawings" (copies), previously taken from the dilapidated walls.
In 1652 the iconostasis was radically altered, and in 1654 the royal gates were made.
In the second half of the XVII century. the altar part of the cathedral was changed. During the construction of the sacristy, the chapel of the Praise of the Virgin was transferred from the apse to the drum of the head; his place was taken by the chapel of Dmitry Solunsky. An arch was laid between the central and southern apses, a vault was made at a low height, windows were pierced in the southern and eastern walls for lighting, and a sacristy was made over the Dmitrovsky chapel.
In 1680, the sacristy was decorated with floral ornaments (master Vasily Romanov).
The frescoes have been renovated many times.
In 1773, the frescoes were "recorded" with oil paint, with a deviation from the original drawing. The original painting was considered lost.
In 1819, a part of the wall of the Petroverigsky chapel was broken for the construction of the tomb of Peter Miropolit.
In 1890, during the repair of the iconostasis, frescoes from the 1480s were discovered on the altar barrier. In 1895, it turned out that the frescoes in the aisles also survived. In 1914, the compositions "Adoration of the Magi", "Praise of the Virgin", "Nativity of John the Baptist" were cleared in the southeastern vestry.
Samples of ancient Russian painting from the 11th century were kept in the Assumption Cathedral. according to the 17th century (Currently, the Tretyakov Gallery stores "Our Lady of Vladimir", "Deesis", "Ustyug Annunciation"). "Archangel Michael", "Our Lady of Iberia". "Savior of the Golden Vlasy" dates back to the XII-XIII centuries. "Savior the Fiery Eye" was written for the Assumption Cathedral in the middle. 14th century Many other works of applied art are concentrated in the Assumption Cathedral. ancient art. The tombs of patriarchs and metropolitans have been preserved.
Until 1917, the coronation of Russian sovereigns was held in the Assumption Cathedral.
The cathedral was closed in 1918. The last service was the Easter service in 1918.
The Kremlin was closed to the public until the mid-1950s. Systematic restoration work was carried out in the cathedral.
At the end of 1989, in the Assumption Patriarchal Cathedral, His Holiness Patriarch Pimen resumed divine services, which are celebrated on the days of great holidays, on the Days of Remembrance of St. Moscow and, with the blessing of the patriarch, on the days of other celebrations. According to a special schedule agreed with the Moscow Patriarchate, the temple is used for a guided tour.
Architect: Aristotle Fioravanti
Built: 1479
Temple address: Moscow, Kremlin, Sobornaya sq. (m. "Borovitskaya", "Alexander Garden").
History: the current Assumption Cathedral was built in 1475 - 1479. (architect Aristotle Fioravanti) in place of the former (1327); painted in 1642 - 1644; The five-tiered iconostasis was made by the masters of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in 1653.
Assumption Cathedral, which became a symbol of united Rus', was cathedral Moscow metropolitans, later - patriarchs, the place of their service and burial; Russian sovereigns were crowned here.
Shrines: Since 1395, the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir was located in the cathedral (now - in the church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi at the State Tretyakov Gallery - TG). Until 1918, a great shrine was kept in the cathedral - a chiton, or the Robe of the Lord, sent by the Persian Shah Abbas with a special embassy to Moscow in the first quarter of the 17th century.
Icon of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica.
On July 10, 1625, the tunic was placed in a specially made precious ark and installed in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. After the termination of services (1918), the tunic, along with other revered relics, was taken away from the cathedral.
They also worship other shrines located in the cathedral: the relics of St. Moscow - Peter, Philip, Jonah, Hermogenes, Job; under wraps - St. Theognost, Photius, Macarius, Cyprian; Metropolitans of Moscow and All Rus' - Philip I, Gerontius, Simon, as well as the last Russian Patriarch of the 17th century. Adriana. In the aisle of the military Demetrius of Thessalonica buried Moscow prince Yuri Danilovich, grandson of Alexander Nevsky, who was killed in 1325 in the Horde.
The shrines of the Assumption Cathedral also include: icons - "Savior the Fiery Eye", "Savior the Golden Hair" (XIII century), the Trinity, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the Nail of the Lord and the staff of St. Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the Liturgy in the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
Day of Remembrance: August 15/28 Divine services are celebrated on the days of great holidays, on the days of memory of the saints of Moscow resting in the cathedral, and, with the special blessing of the patriarch, on the days of other celebrations.
Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in the Kremlin - April 2009.
April 2009
April 2009 In old Moscow, a huge number of churches were built, consecrated in the name of the bright holiday of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos. Since ancient times, Moscow has been considered the "House of the Virgin" - a city dedicated to the Queen of Heaven. And so the main temple of Moscow, founded in the Kremlin in the XIV century, was consecrated in the name of the Assumption of the Virgin.
The Assumption Cathedral was also the first stone church of ancient Moscow, erected in the era of the great construction of Ivan Kalita, and it was founded by the Metropolitan of Moscow, St. Peter himself, on August 4, 1326, a few months before his death, after he transferred his cathedra from Vladimir to Moscow . The saint convinced Grand Duke Ivan Kalita to build in Moscow a cathedral in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos in the image of the Assumption Cathedral in the capital city of Vladimir: “If, son, you listen to me, then you yourself will be glorified more than all princes, and your whole family and this city will be exalted above all Russian cities...” So symbolically Moscow was given the role of the heir to the ancient capital city of the Russian principalities. Just a year after the laying of the cathedral, Ivan Kalita received a label for a great reign, and Moscow became the capital first of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, and then of all of Rus'.
The history of the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral is well known. More historical literature has been written about it than about all other Moscow churches. Here's what's interesting. When the cathedral fell into disrepair by the end of the 15th century, in 1472 the Pskov architects Krivtsov and Myshkin started building a new one. Two years later, the almost erected cathedral suddenly collapsed - then there was the rarest earthquake in Moscow. A commission specially appointed to study the causes of the disaster, with Russian carpenters in its composition, established during the investigation technical errors and shortcomings in the work of the craftsmen that occurred through their fault. However, not only were they not punished for such oversights, but, moreover, the architects took part in the further development of the Cathedral Square and built there by no means secondary buildings, but of the highest status. It was Krivtsov and Myshkin who in 1484-1489 built the magnificent Cathedral of the Annunciation - the home church of the Moscow Grand Dukes, and in the same years - the Rizpolozhenskaya Church next to the Assumption Cathedral, which became the Kremlin home church of Russian metropolitans and patriarchs.
But the new Assumption Cathedral was invited to build the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti. The main condition for the master was to build a cathedral exactly according to the patterns of Russian church architecture, and Fioravanti went to Vladimir to study the local Assumption Cathedral, which was approved by the Moscow authorities as a model. Returning, the architect set up a brick factory in the distant Moscow Kalitniki and began to take good clay there for the construction of the main cathedral of Moscow. In 1475 its foundation was laid, and in 1479 the Assumption Cathedral was consecrated by Metropolitan Gerontius.
It became a symbol of the unification of Rus' around Moscow into the centralized State of Russia - the local rank of its iconostasis was made up of icons brought from all the former specific Russian principalities. Already in 1547, the wedding of the first Russian tsar, Ivan the Terrible, took place in the Assumption Cathedral, and since 1721 coronations of Russian emperors have been held here. In the Assumption Cathedral, the rite of "ordaining" the metropolitans and patriarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church- On November 21, 1917, the Metropolitan of Moscow, St. Tikhon (Belavin) was “ordained” as Patriarch here. The last service in the cathedral took place on Easter 1918, and with the special permission of Lenin, according to eyewitnesses, he himself went out in the evening to watch the procession and rejoiced aloud: “Here, remember, they go for the last time!” And the moment of the end of this Paschal Liturgy became the plot of Pavel Korin's unfinished painting "Rus' is Departing". Services in the cathedral really stopped until very recently. And there is a legend that only in the winter of 1941, when the Nazis were already on the threshold of Moscow, Stalin ordered a secret prayer service in the Assumption Cathedral to save the country from the invasion of foreign tribes.
The Assumption Cathedral was returned to the Orthodox Church in 1990, although on ordinary days it still functions as a museum. All this is just milestones in the history of the main cathedral of Moscow. He, of course, is the main Moscow Assumption Church among other city churches consecrated in the name of this holiday. Preserved and destroyed, active and closed - each of them has its own page in the annals of Moscow history. One of the most interesting and unusual Assumption churches, well known to lovers of Moscow antiquity, lurks in the silence of Prechistensky lanes.
The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin "on Mogiltsy" is located in Bolshoi Vlasevsky lane next to Prechistensky - in the very center of the reserved, historical Moscow, in the most aristocratic district of the old city. Such a strange name for the “Moscow Saint-Germain” still causes heated debate among researchers.
The first version: in the old days there was a cemetery here - whether it was an ordinary graveyard at the church, or hastily arranged in the 18th century during a plague epidemic. Or maybe there was a “wretched house” here, where the dead bodies of unidentified, rootless people and suicides were brought from the area. That is why the name "Graves" appeared, and in ancient times the adjacent local lane was also called "Dead" - in Soviet times it was named after Nikolai Ostrovsky, and now it is called Prechistensky. Indeed, in the 1790s, when the current stone building of the Assumption Church was being erected, many graves with mass graves were discovered.
Version two: in this elite district of old Moscow there could be nothing of the kind, and the name "Mogiltsy" came from the area surrounding the church. In the old days, such uneven, “hilly” plots of land were called “graveyards” or “graveyards”, and the ancient name of the church was “that on Mogilitsy”. And the neighboring lane was called "Dead" from the name of the local landlord Mertvago.
One way or another, only this Assumption Church is one of the oldest in Moscow by the time of its foundation. The first wooden temple appeared here, apparently, no later than the 16th century, since under Ivan the Terrible it was first mentioned in the annals in 1560 in connection with a fire, and six years later it was rebuilt, possibly already made of stone. It is usually believed that this church was first built in stone by the pious Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich around 1653.
And in late XVIII centuries, the dilapidated ancient Assumption Church began to be rebuilt anew - then this Prechistensky beauty-church was erected. The builders of the temple were state councilor Vasily Tutolmin “with well-meaning donors” and the mayor V.Ya. our publication of 27 April this year).
The name of the architect of the new church, the Frenchman Nikolai Legrand, deserves special attention - after all, it is to him that the Assumption Church owes its beauty and originality. At the end of the 18th century, when this temple was being built, Legrand was the chief architect of Moscow. However, he himself lived by no means in the elite Moscow districts, but in the modest Good Slobidka near Pokrovka and Zemlyanoy Val. In the neighborhood, by the way, with another famous Moscow architect N. Lvov, who participated in the construction of the luxurious palace of Count Razumovsky on the Gorokhove field.
In Moscow, Legrand built the building of the Main Krigskomissariat on Kosmodamianovskaya embankment in Zamoskvorechye, the same one where in Soviet years the headquarters of the Moscow military district was located, and Lavrenty Beria was shot in its underground bunker. It is interesting that the place for this building turned out to be appropriate - earlier there was the palace of the sinister Duke Biron. And modern researchers sometimes even see in Legrand the true author of the famous Pashkov House, which, according to generally accepted opinion, was built by Bazhenov. It is possible that Legrand was also the author of the Church of the Holy Spirit at the Lazarevsky cemetery - now scientists see its certain typological similarity with the Prechistensky Assumption Church. Interestingly, even before the revolution, Academician I. Grabar saw the drawings of the cemetery church, signed by Legrand, at the rector of the Assumption Church. However, the scientist did not consider this proof of Legrand's authorship - his signature was required on any such drawing, since the chief architect of Moscow had to personally certify and approve such projects.
The Assumption Church on Mogiltsy became one of his last masterpieces - the master did not live six years before its consecration. Magnificent and extremely unusual for Moscow, the classicist architecture of the Assumption Church is largely due to the nationality of its architect, who was born in Paris. Sometimes it even remotely resembles the image of Notre Dame Cathedral and could be inspired by the author's memories of his homeland. Yes, and the church was built in the most aristocratic district of old Moscow, which was also called “Moscow Saint-Germain” by analogy with Paris. Previously, between the two bell towers there was a large loggia and a semicircular niche, where it was supposed to put a sculptural group, which would make this unusual church even more similar to Western European architecture. And therefore, modern researchers often call the church "the original example of Moscow classicism."
The Assumption Church on Prechistenka was consecrated only in 1806 and had its own shrine - the icon of the Mother of God "Fadeless Color". According to the memoirs, it was one of the most “fashionable” parishes not only in that region, but in Moscow in general, along with “Nikola Yavlenny” on the Arbat and “Great Ascension” at the Nikitsky Gate. This parish, however, was determined not only by its eminent local residents, but also by the excellent choir of serfs, the best in Moscow, which went to listen to this church.
The church is also famous for being on the pages of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace epic: it was here that Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova brought Natasha Rostova to pray from the nearby Chisty Lane, where Akhrosimova's house was located. As you know, this face is real and its prototype was the legendary Anastasia Dmitrievna Ofrosimova, the wife of the Moscow Oberkrieg Commissar, a resolute, direct, wayward and very domineering woman. It was said that she herself stole her good-natured husband from her parents' house, and subsequently did not stand on ceremony with him at all: in Ofrosimova's anger, in front of everyone, she tore off her husband's wig and threw him into the street. She was well known and highly respected in Moscow, and they were afraid in the world - she could tell anyone what she thought, scold someone in the Noble Assembly or publicly reprimand the Moscow police for poor, faulty work. And once, in the Arbat Theater, in the presence of Emperor Alexander I, Ofrosimova exposed one bribe-taking senator: shaking her finger at him, she pointed to the royal box, and said at the top of her voice: “Beware, NN!” Hearing this, the emperor decided to find out what the senator should be afraid of. When everything turned out, he was fired from the service.
Griboedov presented her in the form of the old woman Khlestova, however, having settled his character on Pokrovka. And Leo Tolstoy left his heroine to live on Prechistenka, and Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova "settled" in the same house where her prototype lived - in Chisty Lane .
The Assumption Church "on Mogiltsy" is also mentioned in another work by Tolstoy - it was in it that Levin and Kitty from the novel "Anna Karenina" got married. And the church itself interesting story. Among her parishioners was the sister of Vladimir Solovyov, who lived next to the church on the corner of Bolshoi Vlasevsky Lane. The philosopher often stayed with her, and perhaps visited this temple himself. She was also familiar to Gogol. In the nearby Denezhny Lane there is a luxurious Art Nouveau mansion built in 1897 by the architect Boitsov for the textile rich Berg - now it is occupied by the Italian embassy, and in the revolutionary years there was the German embassy. This building went down in history on July 6, 1918 - then it was in it that the German ambassador, Count Mirbach, was killed, which was the beginning of the Left SR rebellion. And even earlier there was an old Moscow estate where the writer, director of Moscow theaters, M.N. Zagoskin lived. He collected a rich library, so valuable that Gogol came here to look at it. However, good relations with her owner did not work out, and in the "Inspector General" Zagoskin is maliciously designated as the author of "Yuri Miloslavsky". But Gogol hardly bypassed the local Assumption Church.
After the revolution, the Assumption Church on Mogiltsy did not close for a long time. In the difficult year 1920 for Moscow and Russia, the famous Russian philosopher, professor of Moscow University L.M. Lopatin was buried there. He was chairman of the Psychological Society at Moscow University, taught a university course in philosophy, and also taught Russian literature in the senior classes of the famous Prechistensky Polivanov gymnasium. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Lopatin himself was always late for lectures by no less than a quarter of an hour, but he only gave everyone fives. If the students could not utter a word from the learned lesson, he angrily threatened with a four or what he would ask next time. And in philosophical disputes, his favorite topic was the immortality of the soul. Lopatin was a passionate admirer of Shakespeare and in theatrical performances of the Shakespeare circle he even played the role of Yaga, which he was especially successful at.
Surprisingly warm and touching memories of him were left by the “magnificent Margarita Kirillovna”, the wife of the collector and philanthropist Mikhail Morozov, who after the death of her husband created the Religious-Philosophical Society in her house on Smolensky Boulevard and organized the publishing house “The Way”. Moscow philosophers and lovers of philosophical debate, according to Margarita Kirillovna herself, remained deeply annoyed with Lopatin for disrupting the arrival of the famous French philosopher Henri Bergson in Moscow, citing busyness and fatigue. And then Margarita Kirillovna organized an amateur philosophical circle at her home, where every philosopher, at her request, regardless of country and place of residence, could make a report without obstacles and discuss it in a close circle of like-minded people. Lopatin, on the other hand, presided over a scientific psychological society, where a scientific degree and a whole system of administrative and statutory barriers were required to present a report, and completely different, academic requirements were put forward for the report itself.
By the way, Lopatin lived from early childhood until his death in Steingel's empire-style mansion in Gagarinsky Lane. This textbook famous building is listed in all albums, textbooks, reference books and guides as a classic example of Moscow Empire architecture - the style of the first quarter of the 19th century. (The house was built in 1816 for Baron Steingel, a participant in the war of 1812, who was later sentenced to hard labor for participating in the Decembrist uprising). There, Lev Lopatin died of starvation, shock and pneumonia in March 1920. They buried him in the Assumption Church, since at that time it was still in operation.
It was closed only on July 12, 1932, on Peter's Day - apparently, this is how the authorities reacted to the great Christian holiday. Fortunately, this amazing church was not destroyed - and close contact with the history of the surviving temple always gives a joyful feeling about its happy fate, that Moscow has not lost even this part of its soul.
The unique building, which is under state protection as a monument of history and culture, was only heavily rebuilt for new needs, as it housed a construction institution. It was not until 1992 that a congregation was established and the temple was officially returned to the Church.
Another wonderful surviving Assumption Church on Sretenka, in Pechatniki, was built as a parish for the local settlement of the masters of the Sovereign's Printing House. Once, the artist V. Pukirev, who lived nearby, entered it - and at that time a rich old man and a very young girl were getting married in the temple. What he saw in the temple became the plot of the famous painting "Unequal Marriage".
And on Pokrovka, on the corner with Potapovsky lane, until 1929 there was a marvelous Moscow church of the Assumption of the Mother of God. She was called the “eighth wonder of the world”, so beautiful were her domes soaring into the sky, decorated with lace stucco moldings. The Moscow architect Vasily Bazhenov compared its architecture with the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square, and Napoleon was amazed at its beauty and set up a special guard to protect this temple from robberies and fire. The Assumption Church was built in the 17th century by the fortress architect Pyotr Potapov by order of the merchant Sverchkov, a local homeowner who had his own courtyard next to the church. These white-stone chambers of Sverchkov - a masterpiece of civil architecture of medieval Moscow - were preserved in the courtyard of house No. 6 on Sverchkov Lane: according to legend, an underground passage led from them to the temple, and in the basement of the house, Vanka Kain himself seemed to be imprisoned. And in the first half of the 19th century, the Commission for Buildings in Moscow met in these ancient chambers, which was in charge of building, redevelopment and restoration of the city after the fire of 1812.
After the revolution in 1922, Lunacharsky himself proposed to rename Uspensky Lane into Potapovsky - in honor of its serf architect. Only the creation of the architect was not spared: in the late 1920s, the church was ruthlessly demolished.
But recently it has been brought back to life. beautiful church Assumption in Putinki on Malaya Dmitrovka, not far from the amazing Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. A snow-white lace church with "pale gold" crosses, it was built in the 17th century near the Ambassador's Way Yard, where foreign ambassadors and sovereign messengers stayed. This yard was surrounded by a network, a "cobweb", of small crooked streets and alleys, which gave the area the old Moscow name "Putinki".
In the Soviet years, the building of the closed temple was used first for residential (!) Premises, then for factory premises - for a long time a sewing workshop was located here. Only in 1992 the temple was returned to the believers in a terrible state, and services began again in it. And now little students of Moscow Orthodox gymnasiums are brought here to introduce them to Orthodoxy and the history of old Moscow.
When in 1454 Bishop Vassian of Sarai arrived at the Krutitsy Monastery, a stone church in the name of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul already existed in Krutitsy. In 1516, this temple was rebuilt and reconsecrated in the name of the Assumption of the Mother of God, which, unlike the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin, received the name Krutitsy Small Assumption Cathedral. In 1612, when the Kremlin cathedrals were captured by the Poles, the Small Assumption Cathedral was in fact the cathedral church of Moscow Orthodoxy.
Under Metropolitan Paul III, the Metropolitan's Chambers were erected - the palace of the Krutitsy metropolitans. The basement of the former Assumption Cathedral adjoining the Metropolitan's Chamber in 1672-1675 was turned into the front Cross Chamber (the Metropolitan's reception room), while the Nikolsky chapel became the home church of the Krutitsa hierarchs.
In 1665, construction began on a new stone building of the cathedral church with two thrones: Peter and Paul (lower, winter) and the upper - in honor of the Assumption of the Virgin. Construction was completed in 1689, the cathedral was consecrated in 1699, the main Assumption Throne (upper summer church) was completed only in 1700.
In 1895, a chapel was added in the name of Sergius of Radonezh.
in the 20th century
In 1920 the temple was closed, the Metropolitan's tomb was destroyed. The building was rebuilt as a dormitory living quarters, and the wall paintings were painted over.
In 1960-1980, the cathedral was used as a production facility of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments, since 1990 - as a branch of the Krutitsy Compound Historical Museum.
In 1993 services resumed in the lower church. Restoration is currently being completed in the upper temple.
Working hours
The temple is open daily from 10:00 to 19:00, on the days of worship - from 8:30.
Driving directions
Okhotny Ryad metro station.
divine services
Services are held on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On ordinary days, matins and liturgy at 8:30. On Sundays and holidays, the liturgy is at 9:00, on the eve of the all-night vigil at 18:00.
Thrones
1. Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
2. Rev. Sergius of Radonezh;
3. The beheading of John the Baptist;
4. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Patronal feasts
August 28 - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (main altar);
July 18, October 8 - the day of memory of St. Sergius of Radonezh;
September 11 - Memorial Day of the Beheading of John the Baptist;
May 22, December 19 - the days of memory of St. Nicholas, the World of the Lycian Wonderworker.
History
Many Moscow churches that survived during the Soviet era have now been returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, and in the period 1991-1992. most of them were filled with believers. Regular services have resumed. One of these churches is the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Assumption Vrazhek.
Uspensky Vrazhek - an ancient Moscow tract between Tverskaya and Nikitskaya streets, has been mentioned in chronicles since the 16th century. Here were the courts of ambassadors - the Lithuanian court and the "Caesar ambassadors' court", i.e. Roman Empire. The court of Aleviz the New, the famous architect, is also mentioned here.
1601 - the first written mention of the temple.
1629 - the wooden Church of the Assumption burned down in a big fire.
1634 - rebuilt.
1647 - the first stone church was built at the expense of G.I. Gorikhvostov
1707 - a wooden chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on the churchyard.
The history of the temple is closely connected with the owners of the neighboring estate, the Yankovs, who took care of the well-being of the church.
1735 - D. I. Yankov added an aisle church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker to the very building of the Church of the Assumption. The temple became the tomb of the Yankovs.
1781 - Nikolsky chapel church was rebuilt "because of dilapidation".
1812 - the church burned down.
Assumption Church was summer, in winter they served in the warm side-chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
In the mid-50s, the Moscow merchant S. A. Zhivago, who had previously bought the Yankovs' estate for himself, was elected headman of the temple. By order of Zhivago, academician of architecture A.S. Nikitin drew up a project for a vast three-altar church with a bell tower adjoining St. Nicholas Church.
1860 - the construction of the current building of the temple was completed. There are three altars in the new church: the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Beheading of John the Baptist and Sergius of Radonezh, the heavenly patron of the temple builder.
Finishing work continued until the 1890s. Only in 1870, at the expense of elder Joseph Zhivago (brother of S. A. Zhivago), the temple was plastered and painted, the domes were gilded.
1910 - the 50th anniversary of the temple was solemnly celebrated.
1920 - an agreement was concluded between the parish and the Moscow Council of Workers and Red Army Men on the transfer of “liturgical buildings” for unlimited and free use.
1924 - by a resolution of the Presidium of the Moscow City Council, the contract with the community was terminated. The temple was transferred to the State Historical Archive of Moscow. areas. In Soviet times, the domes of the temple and the bell tower, the sculptural decoration of the temple, decor, not to mention the interior decoration and church property, were lost. The chapel Nikolsky temple was dismantled during the construction of the House of Composers.
1979 - an intercity telephone center was opened in the temple.
1992 - Decree of the Government of Moscow on the return of the church to the Russian Orthodox Church.
1996 - the basement was given to the community for use. At the same time, in Fomino Resurrection, the first Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the returned church.
In memory of the lost side-altar church, the throne is dedicated to Nicholas the Wonderworker.
1998 - returned upper temple Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos.
1999 - on the feast of the Giving of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, the throne was consecrated in the name of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos.
shrines
Icon of the Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth with relics of St. mcc. Elizabeth and nun Barbara