Built in 1509 on the site of a wooden church, which was originally erected in 1370 by St. Sergius of Radonezh and his nephew Theodore, Bishop of Rostov, as the temple of a small monastery. In 1380, the monk of this monastery was the Monk Kirill Belozersky. Until 1917, there was a memorial stone at the supposed site of his cell. In 1998, a memorial cross was restored at this site. Near the wooden temple there were burial places of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 - the monks of the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra Alexander Peresvet and Andrei Oslyabi, who died in single combat with the Tatars. Their tombs were then built in a new temple (the description of the tombs has been known since 1660).
In the 17th century the monastery was abolished, the church became a parish church. In 1703, in the northeast of the temple, a separate warm wooden refectory with the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built (rebuilt in 1734). In 1785-87. a new stone refectory and bell tower were built (rebuilt in 1849-55). In 1870, a cast-iron tombstone of Peresvet and Oslyabi was installed in the chapel of St. Sergius of Radonezh. In 1894, the main temple was painted. The main altar is the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the chapels are St. Kirill of Belozersky (in the right altar part, known since 1792), the blessed Prince Dimitri Donskoy, in the refectory - St. Sergius of Radonezh (northern), St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (south). The temple was built in the Russian-Byzantine style. Quadrangular, pillarless, single-domed with a bulbous head.
In 1927 the church was closed. In the 1930s beheaded. The tombstone of the heroes of Peresvet and Oslyabi was sent for scrap. Windows and doors were broken in the walls. The building housed the compressor station of the Dynamo plant. In 1932 the bell tower was demolished. In the 1980s The church was transferred to the Historical Museum. Since 1980 it was restored by volunteers, and by 1988 it was fenced off from the plant. In 1989 it was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1991 A stone belfry was built next to the temple.
Shrines: the especially revered Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God (located in the Historical Museum), the carved Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God, the holy relics of St. Alexander Peresvet and Andrei Oslyabi (under cover).
On the territory of the temple there is a marble monument to Saints Peresvet and Oslyabi by sculptor V. M. Klykov, which was previously located in the refectory. The author of the tombstone is Moscow sculptor Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Klykov. On the back side of the black obelisk there is attached a large bronze plaque with the words from “Zadonshchina”: “You laid down your heads for the holy churches, for the Russian land and for the Christian faith.”
The belfry next to the church was built in 1991.
There is a Sunday school at the church and a parish Starosimonovskaya library. On the church grounds there is a chapel in the name of St. Kirill Belozersky, a memorial stone in honor of the significant event of 1397 (the appearance of the Virgin Mary to Kirill), as well as the symbolic grave of the composer Alexander Alyabyev. The actual burial place of Alyabyev is located near the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, under the building of the ZIL Palace of Culture. Therefore, they decided to install a memorial cross here, near the walls of one of the oldest Moscow churches, where the famous Moscow necropolis was located. On the path leading to the temple, along a concrete fence, fragments of gravestones are displayed, from simply ancient ones to white stone ancient Russian ones. The fragments of those broken in the 1930s are embedded in the wall of the church. bells The bell tower, recreated in 2006, houses the Peresvet bell, a gift from the Bryansk region.
The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, conceived and founded in the Novo-Simonovsky Monastery, due to the difficult circumstances of that time, could not be built quickly; it took 26 years to build. Founded in 1379, it was completed and consecrated in 1404. All the time while it was being built, the monks who moved to live in a new place could not interrupt their communication with the former Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and constantly had to go to Divine services in this temple. After the construction of the Assumption Church was completed, the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary became a monastery, monastic services huddled around it, and several small cells of those few elders who did not want to leave their original place of solitude.
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Old Simonov Church (East Street, house number 6).
The temple is part of the original Simonov Monastery that once existed on this site. There was a monastery cemetery around the temple. In the northwestern part of the refectory, the ashes of the holy monks Alexander Peresvet and Andrei (Rodion) Oslyabi, who, with the blessing of St. Sergius of Radonezh, participated in the Battle of Kulikovo, were buried under cover. According to local legend, the remains of 32 princes and governors - associates of the Holy Blessed Prince Dimitry Donskoy, who fell on the Kulikovo Field - were buried in two graves at the altar. In memory of all those buried near the temple, a wooden cross has now been erected.
In 1509, the stone church building that still exists today was erected. In the middle of the 17th century, the Old Simonov Monastery was abolished, and the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary became a parish church. At the end of the 18th century, a refectory was added to it, which was built in 1849-1855. replaced by a new, more extensive one, with the left side chapel of St. Sergius of Radonezh. At the same time, a bell tower was erected. At the end of the 19th century. During the restoration, the temple was re-painted, the previously walled up windows were again broken through, and the external stone decor was restored. In 1870, a canopy was erected over the graves of Peresvet and Oslyabi - a masterpiece of Kasli cast iron - covered with gold and crowned with three crosses symbolizing the Holy Trinity. Stone slabs describing the monks' feats were replaced with cast iron ones.
In 1929, the temple was closed, the church dome was destroyed, the bell tower was dismantled, and the tombstones of the monastery cemetery were sawn into curbstones. In 1989, the temple was returned to the community of believers. On September 16, 1989, the chapels of St. Sergius of Radonezh and St. Nicholas were consecrated, and a stone belfry was built. Artist O.B. Pavlov painted on the northern and southern walls using the thermophosphate painting technique - the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the image of the Mother of God “Oranta”. The paintings and interior decoration were restored. In the left aisle of St. Sergius of Radonezh, over the grave of the holy monks Peresvet and Oslyabi, a tombstone made by the sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov was installed. The Historical Museum returned the miraculous Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God to the temple. On June 3, 1993, the main altar was consecrated in honor of the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The chapel of St. Kirill of Belozersky has now also been restored in the altar.
Attached to this church is a chapel in the name of the icon of the Mother of God “Inexhaustible Chalice” at the Center for the Treatment and Social Rehabilitation of Drug Abuse Patients.
Mikhail Vostryshev "Orthodox Moscow. All churches and chapels."
Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on Stary Simonovo.
In 1370, according to the wishes of Grand Duke Dimitri Donskoy, a monastery was founded here. Ownership of land in this area was previously associated with the names of Simon Golovin and Grigory Khovrin. The first abbot was St. Fedor, nephew of the Rev. Sergius. When in 1379 the monastery was moved to its current location, a small monastery was left at the former church, dependent on the main one and called “Rozhdestvenskaya, on the Fox Pond.” The church became a parish church around 1646, when the salary money was paid by white priests, and not by the monastery.
Instead of a wooden one, a stone church was built in 1509, constituting the main part of the existing temple. Its style is purely Russian, it resembles the Vladimir churches, as well as the early Moscow ones, with a belt of stone carvings around the entire temple and with the same entrance arches as in the Church of the Deposition of the Robe in the Kremlin (1486). A special feature is the absence of pillars, a blank closed dome, the absence of overhead windows, and wooden connections of the vaults in the altar. In the southern altar there is a chapel in the name of St. Kirill Belozersky, which was originally a special wooden church. The mural painting was renewed several times and did not retain its ancient appearance.
The refectory and Nikolsky chapel, instead of the previous ones, were built wooden in 1734. In 1660, stone tents are mentioned above the tombs of Peresvet and Oslebyat, heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo buried here. The current western part of the entire temple, containing the refectory with these two tombs, the bell tower and the chapels: the new one - St. Sergius and the old one - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, erected in 1849-55.
The current cast-iron tombstones over Peresvet and Oslebyateya were built in 1870. Wonderful ancient icons of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Lord Pantocrator, and others have been preserved.
Alexandrovsky M.I. "Index of ancient churches in the area of Ivanovo forty." Moscow, “Russian Printing House”, Bolshaya Sadovaya, building 14, 1917
HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION
Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, on Butyrki, in Moscow.
The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which is on Butyrki, Trinity Deanery of the North-Eastern Vicariate of the diocese of the city of Moscow, is located five kilometers north of the Kremlin, behind the Savelovsky station, at the beginning of Butyrskaya Street, built during the reign of Peter and John Alekseevich and consecrated by Patriarch Joachim in 1684 . In terms of architectural style, it belongs to the best buildings of the 17th century, and in size it occupied almost the first place among the parish churches of that time. This was the first regimental church in Russia, built at the expense of a regular regiment and became its spiritual center, therefore the size of the temple was such that it could accommodate an entire regiment. But the years of God-fighting hard times fell like a merciless squall on this wondrous temple.
Early 20th century. View from Butyrskaya street.
And now on Butyrskaya Street, of the entire church ensemble, you can only see the restored bell tower.
The temple itself, or rather what was left of it, turned out to be behind the industrial building of the former Znamya plant (now a business center), built in the 70s of the twentieth century. Now, to see the temple itself, you need to go to Bolshaya Novodmitrovskaya Street, which runs parallel to Butyrskaya on its eastern side.
We will see a quadrangle disfigured beyond recognition with a demolished domed part and ugly buildings attached to the right and left, with ridiculous windows broken into the walls, with pipes protruding from the walls, behind a large stone fence until recently surrounded by barbed wire.
And at the beginning of the 20th century it was a beautiful ensemble, consisting of a quadrangle of the temple, a large refectory adjacent to it with two chapels in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. Sergius of Radonezh and a free-standing hipped bell tower, which had wings attached to the right and left, in which the chapel and utility rooms, as well as a parochial school and an almshouse. Near the territory of the temple on Butyrskaya Street there was a beautiful building of the Altai Spiritual Mission.
On the outer walls of the quadrangle of the temple on four sides there were magnificent icons painted on a golden background: the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the Annunciation, the Savior with the Mother of God and John the Baptist standing before Him, the Blessing of the Queen of Heaven.
Icon of the Blessing of the Queen of Heaven. (Northern wall of the temple).
Their location on the temple was not accidental: the architects chose these particular icons and arranged them on four sides in such an order that they represented a troparion to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in images: each icon corresponded to a specific phrase of the troparion to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Thy Nativity, O Virgin Mother of God ( icon of the Nativity of the Mother of God), the joy of proclaiming to the whole universe (icon of the Annunciation), from You the Sun of Truth has risen, Christ our God (icon of Deisis - the Savior with the coming Mother of God and John the Baptist) and destroy the oath to give blessing and abolish death, granting us eternal life (icon Blessings of the Queen of Heaven).”
Adjacent to the quadrangle of the temple was a long refectory with a gable roof and a large porch on the western side, above which was located the icon of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The northern and eastern porches were smaller and led to the quadrangle of the temple.
There was a separate tall tented bell tower, in which there were forty small decorative windows - rumors. Such bell towers appeared after the decree of Patriarch Nikon banning the construction of tent-roofed churches. The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on Butyrki became one of the churches in which this ban was bypassed - not the church building itself, but only the bell tower, became a tent roof. In Moscow, there are still churches with similar hipped bell towers, but not standing separately, but adjacent to the temple. The bell tower consisted of three levels, harmoniously combined with each other.
The lower tier was a passageway to the church territory; on the second tier, between two large windows, there was a full-length icon of the Savior with an open Gospel and Varlaam of Khutynsky and Sergius of Radonezh fallen at His feet (exactly the same icon was on the Spassky Gate of the Kremlin). Under the cornice of the second tier there were beautiful glazed tiles (kahels), on which vases with flowers were depicted in relief; the same tiles, but depicting birds of paradise, were at the entrance to the temple.
The second tier was intended for storing church utensils. The third tier of the bell tower was octagonal with spanning arches; there was a belfry, topped with a cone-shaped octagonal tent with dormer windows.
By 1917, this bell tower and almost the same bell tower of the Church of St. Nicholas the Appeared on Arbat (demolished in 1931) were recognized as the most elegant and sophisticated in Moscow. Currently, the bell tower and belfry have been completely restored to their historical form.
“In 1810, the walls of the main temple and the dome were painted in the style of Italian painting by the famous Moscow painter Kolmykov, and in 1874 the refectory with the altar chapels was decorated with paintings by the artist N. A. Stozharov. But whether the Church was painted before this, we know nothing about this.” Although externally the church is from the 17th century. until the mid-30s. XX century practically unchanged, but the interior painting was re-done at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, while the old images in the new iconostasis of the 19th century remained.
At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. On the territory of the temple, buildings for a parochial school and an almshouse were built.
After the October Revolution of 1917, the temple suffered the fate of most churches in Russia: despite the fact that in 1918 the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Butyrskaya Sloboda, by Lenin’s decree, was ranked among the architectural monuments of the peoples of Russia and placed under state protection, all the main property of the temple was plundered under the guise seizures “in favor of the working people” or burned right in front of the bell tower gates. According to the memoirs of the grandchildren of Archpriest Christopher Maksimov, who served in the church until it was closed in 1935 and died in 1938, Nikolai and Pavel Maksimov, parishioners snatched icons from the fire and took them home (one of these icons, returned to the church in 2006, is located now in the altar of the temple).
The temple was finally closed in 1935. Until this time, under the atheistic government, divine services and services were performed in it, although irregularly, and for some time (according to the memoirs of N.K. and P.K. Maximovs) either His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon or one of the bishops lived at the temple Russian Orthodox Church.
After the destruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Butyrskaya Sloboda was also considered among the contenders for the Cathedral, since it was one of the five largest churches in Moscow.
Despite the fact that the temple was considered an architectural monument, already in 1926 the Board of Industrial and Manufacturing Enterprises "Promvozdukh" organized mechanical workshops No. 4 on the territory of the temple, on the basis of which a branch of the Red Army Air Force Plant No. 1 was created in 1931, and in 1933 the branch received the status of an independent plant No. 132 of the GUAP Narkomtyazhprom, and in 1935, signed by the director of plant No. 132 of the Main Directorate of the Aviation Industry, comrade. Freiman, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee received a request to transfer the church building for use by the plant, although according to a letter from the Committee for the Protection of Monuments under the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the building could only be used “for cultural needs” and “provided that the external architecture (domes, windows, window frames, portals, etc.) and main internal structures.” But the atheistic authorities and the management of the plant did not strive to preserve such historical monuments and “already in the late 30s, the heads of the church were removed and covered with a hipped iron roof. The bell tower stood inactive until the start of the Great Patriotic War. That’s when they considered it best to break down the tent and the figure of eight, so that they would not be a noticeable landmark for enemy aircraft...” The buildings of the almshouse and the parochial school were demolished almost before the war. If not for the confrontation of a group of historians and art critics, the remains of the temple and bell tower would have been demolished.
In 1960, on August 30, the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR issued Resolution No. 1327 “On further improvement of the protection of cultural monuments in the RSFSR”, according to which “The Church of the Nativity in Butyrskaya Streltsy Sloboda, 1682-1684. , Butyrskaya st. 56, is on the list of monuments of national significance under No. 232 (Appendix No. 1, Oktyabrsky district of Moscow according to the territorial division of 1960) and is in need of speedy restoration. And the same Council of Ministers of the RSFSR in 1968 gave permission to the Znamya plant, during the construction of a production building, to partially dismantle the refectory of an architectural monument of the 17th century b. Church of the Nativity in Butyrskaya Streltsy Sloboda. At the same time, the Ministry of Aviation Industry and the plant management undertake the following obligations:
1) open access to the monument from Bolshaya Novodmitrovskaya Street.
2) completely free from extensions and production workshops.
3) change the nature of use of the temple building.
4) carry out repair and restoration work, restore the appearance of the temple.
However, no one was going to fulfill these obligations and, even moreover, in 1970 most of the refectory and the wings of the bell tower were demolished. They wanted to demolish the remaining two tiers of the bell tower, but they failed. An industrial building was built between the temple and the remaining two tiers of the bell tower, which gave Butyrskaya Street an unsightly appearance and covered the quadrangle of the temple. Now it became impossible for an ignorant person to guess that there was a beautiful church ensemble in this place.
In order to completely protect the remains of the temple from the gaze of passers-by, two more industrial buildings were built on the north and south of the temple. The temple was closed on all sides.
During the time the temple building was used by the factory, it was disfigured to such an extent that it is impossible to imagine that this was done by our compatriots: knocked out bricks, huge ugly extensions on the north and south sides, windows and huge holes for pipes were cut in the walls of the temple, bricks The ancient masonry collapsed due to unnatural use of the building, cracks appeared, from which trees that had grown during this time protruded. The entrance was made through the altar.
An even more terrible picture was the internal state of the temple: the entire space was divided into three floors, in the altar part of the temple there was a staircase connecting the three floors and a toilet, the frescoes were mostly completely destroyed, and the remaining ones were covered with 6 layers of oil paint. The premises housed electroplating workshops and a foundry. According to eyewitnesses, when the walls (during casting) heated up, frescoes with the faces of saints appeared from under the whitewash. As the air cooled, the images gradually disappeared.
In 1996, by decree of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, a clergyman of the churches of St. Mitrofan of Voronezh and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Petrovsky Park by priest Alexy Talyzov. Weekly prayer services begin to be held in the bell tower of the temple (Butyrskaya, 56), the bell tower is being repaired and reconstructed into a temple (with an area of 16 m2). In 1993, an initiative group for the revival of the temple and church services was created, and the charter of the temple community was registered.
In April 1999, a temple was built in the first tier of the bell tower, consecrated in the name of the blessed Grand Duke Dimitri Donskoy, and regular services began there. In 2012, the bell tower was restored to its original form using public funds.
By order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated April 15, 2000, signed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the MMZ Znamya was ordered to transfer the temple building to believers within one month. The temple was transferred only in 2006. Liberation from factory floors continued until 2010. In the quadrangle of the church, divided by the factory into three floors, repairs were made on the second floor by the church parish and regular services began in 2007.
A. Anserov. Historical description of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on Butyrki.
Quote from the book “Temples of the Northern District of Moscow.”
Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Stoleshniki
Petrovka st., 13, corner of Stoleshnikova lane, 20 - parking lot
“Stoleshnikov Lane was named in the 18th century after the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which stood on the corner with Petrovka, in Stoleshniki. The Stoleshniki tract has been known since the 17th century, when weavers lived here who made “tabletops,” i.e. tablecloths. The former ( XVI-XVII centuries) the name of the lane - Rozhdestvensky - has been known since 1504 and is given after the same church."
“The church was also mentioned in 1620. In 1657 it was shown to be made of stone - perhaps it was altered until 1928. The refectory and chapels were almost rebuilt from scratch in 1836-1841.
In 1841, the eastern apses were rebuilt, alterations were made in the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and in the main temple.
Chapels: St. Nicholas, known since 1690; VMC. Barbarians, consecrated on October 23 at the expense of the guard of Lieutenant N.P. Titov; Paphnutius Borovsky, known since 1722. It was probably built together with the refectory and bell tower in 1699-1702."
"The church was rebuilt with the addition of a chapel in 1836-1841. The bell tower remained from the 17th century. Renovated in 1874."
“In this church, only part of the ancient walls of the main temple and the altar have been preserved; in general, the temple was extensively rebuilt in 1836-1841.”
“In 1925, a partial restoration was carried out, mainly the ancient five-domed structure and the kokoshniks with it were restored.” A photograph of her in a new form, taken by A. Gubarev, has been preserved.
“In the Central State Archive of the October Revolution and Socialist Construction of Moscow, in the fund of the Central State Restoration Workshops (TSRG), the file “Redevelopment of Moscow” is kept. III" (TsGAOR and SS of Moscow, R-1, op. 1, d. 116), which contains documents of correspondence between the People's Commissariat for Education and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Moscow Soviet, other institutions related to the demolition of the Red Gate, the Church of the Nativity in Stoleshniki, part of the church Grebnevskaya Mother of God.
Demolition of these monuments in 1927-1928. was not, as some believe, a complete surprise. Serious damage to the interior and even the exterior was caused in the early 1920s. many monasteries in Moscow, Kremlin monuments, occupied by various institutions and organizations.
The situation unexpectedly escalated at the end of 1926. On November 21, the following information appeared in the Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee: “Due to the excessive traffic congestion on the square at the Red Gate, the Presidium of the Moscow Council ordered the MKH (Moscow Communal Services) to clarify the issue of the possible demolition of these, which have no historical value and gates that have lost their original appearance, having agreed on this issue with the Main Science Department.” It turns out that 2 days before this publication, on November 19, the Presidium of the Moscow City Council decided to instruct the MKH to coordinate the issue with the Main Science of the demolition of the churches of the Grebnevskaya Mother of God, Nativity in Stoleshniki and the Red Gate and to enter the Council of People's Commissars with these proposals (l. 1-2 ). On December 9, a meeting of the management of the MKH and the CGRM was held at the MKH. Seeing no way out of this situation, I. E. Grabar agreed to the possibility of demolishing later extensions - the refectory and bell tower of the Church of the Nativity in Stoleshniki and part of the ancient refectory of the Grebnevskaya Church. However, the workers of the MKH (Knorre, Korabin, Ryumin) insisted on demolishing the entire refectory of the last church. On the issue of demolishing the Red Gate, Grabar took a principled position, and then unexpectedly the MKH proposed demolishing the Church of the Three Saints standing next to it instead of the Red Gate (l. Z).
Despite the firm position of the representatives of the People's Commissariat for Education, on December 22, 1926, the Presidium of the Moscow City Council gave instructions “in order to relieve traffic congestion, to allow the MKH to begin demolishing 2 churches ... and the Red Gate” (l. 9). The People's Commissariat for Education, represented by A.V. Lunacharsky, protested this decision of the Moscow Council by appealing to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (l. 17-21). The Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee instructed the People's Commissariat of Justice to look into this conflict. In mid-January 1927, signed by the deputy. People's Commissar of Justice N.V. Krylenko drew up a conclusion in which the NKJ drew the attention of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to “violations committed by the Presidium of the Moscow Soviet of the current procedure for demolishing architectural monuments accepted for registration (SU, 1924, No. 18, Art. 179 and No. 66, Art. 654 Since agreement on the issue was not reached between the Main Science of the People's Commissariat for Education, it is subject to transfer to the highest bodies of the Republic for consideration." The December resolution of the Moscow City Council was suspended.
But, despite this, on March 7, 1927, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee considered the issues “On the demolition of prayer (!) buildings” and “On the demolition of the Red Gate.” Moreover, if the Red Gate was allowed by the Moscow Council to demolish completely, then at the Grebnevskaya Church all the outbuildings and the fence were subject to demolition, and at the Rozhdestvenskaya Church everything except “the main valuable part of the church” was subject to the reservation: “if this is technically possible.” This copy of the extract from minutes No. 96 of the meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was signed by the acting. Secretary of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Yan Poluyan (l. 34). Based on this document, the Presidium of the Moscow City Council on March 23, 1927 decided to demolish the Rozhdestvenskaya Church completely, and to preserve the ancient part at Grebnevskaya. Taking into account the strong protests of scientists and specialists, the MKH proposed to break down the nearby Church of the Three Saints instead of the Red Gate (fol. 35). As the newspaper "Evening Moscow" reported on March 26, 1927, on the site of the Church of the Nativity in Stoleshniki, the MKH proposes to build a public garden and organize an information desk. It is also possible to use this area to arrange taxi parking on it" (l. 36).
On April 18, 1927, at a meeting of the commission on the issue of coordination with the Main Science of the demolition of churches, representatives of the Central State Historical Museum, well-known defenders of monuments P. D. Baranovsky and N. R. Levinson, stated that the building of the Church of the Three Saints “represents a very valuable architectural monument of the 17th century . with a number of exceptional details and representing, in combination with the Red Gate, an interesting architectural group." Levinson proposed to compromise and demolish only the northern extension of the Church of the Three Saints. Restorers also opposed the decision of the Moscow City Council to demolish the entire Church of the Nativity in Stoleshniki. Despite the fact that consent to demolishing the monuments was not received, the responsible employee of the MKH E. Knorre at this meeting proposed to discuss the issue of demolishing the Church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa in Okhotny Ryad, the churches of the Chrysostom Monastery, to which Baranovsky and Levinson categorically objected (fol. 39 -40).
During April-May, the People's Commissariat for Education and the capital's public made efforts to preserve at least the Red Gate. On May 21, the newspaper "Working Moscow" expressed the idea of moving the Red Gate to the territory of Lermontovsky Square. However, the MKH opposed this project and accelerated work to prepare for the demolition of the monument. Now the question of preserving only individual fragments of the gate was raised.
At the beginning of June 1927, the MKH, after removing the statue of “Glory” that stood at the top of the gate, began to dismantle it. From the end of June 1927, the Mossovet services began demolishing the extensions of the 17th-19th centuries, the Grebnevskaya Church, and then the Nativity Church. Since the work on demolishing the churches proceeded at an “accelerating” pace, the restorers were not even able to take full measurements of the destroyed monuments.”
"The temple was destroyed in 1928."
Currently there is a parking lot in its place.
In the historical center of the Russian capital, not far from the famous Lenin Komsomol Theater, there is the beautiful Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is one of the few Moscow churches that have preserved its original appearance to modern times.
History of construction
The history of the temple in Putinki goes back almost four hundred years. Modern walls have survived several historical eras unchanged.
Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Putinki
Temple foundation
At the beginning of the 17th century, a wooden church dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary appeared outside the Tverskaya Gate of the White City of Moscow. In the historical chronicles of this time it is called a church located “in the Ambassadorial yard in Putinki.” Experts give several versions of the appearance of this name:
- The church courtyard was located near the travel guest palace, where European ambassadors and travelers arrived on their way to the capital of the Russian state.
- Behind the gates began roads leading to different northern cities of Rus', that is, the church was located at a crossroads.
- The third version reflects the urban design features of the historical part of the main Russian city, cut through by many streets and alleys that form something like a giant web.
The wooden church, topped with three tents, burned down in the great Moscow fire of 1648. A year later, construction of a stone cathedral began in its place, most of the funds for which were allocated from the state treasury. In 1652, construction of the church was completed. It was consecrated in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Tsarist time
The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, located in Putinki, is the last Russian tented religious building. A year after its consecration, Patriarch Nikon banned the construction of church buildings in the tent style. The chapel of Theodore Tiron and the refectory, added at the end of the 17th century, were decorated in the Baroque style. At the same time, a gatehouse was built, from which a passage led to the bell tower.
The west porch, topped by a hipped roof similar in style to the main spiers, was built in 1864. It has not survived in its original form to this day. At the end of the 19th century, the first restoration of the Nativity Church in Putinki was carried out.
Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Putinki, 1881.
Interesting: believers claim that the church building survived all the shocks and fires thanks to the intercession of the Mother of God. The temple was not damaged during the capture of Moscow by the French, although all the estates surrounding it were looted and burned.
After the Bolshevik revolution, the church was not immediately closed. At the end of the 20s, the brethren of the closed Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery settled there. The doors of God's house were closed to parishioners in 1939. Office space was placed in the building, and later it was given over to the rehearsal space for the management of Circus on Stage. Animal rehearsals took place here.
At the end of the 1950s, a second restoration was carried out, which affected only the external appearance of the building. In particular, the 19th-century western porch was dismantled. It was replaced by a tented building, similar in style to the buildings of the 17th century. This work was recognized as an example of scientific restoration, which made it possible to preserve the ancient unique building in its original form.
It’s interesting: the church, today considered an architectural monument of federal significance, was wanted to be destroyed during the Soviet years. According to legend, the explosion was scheduled for June 22, 1941. For obvious reasons, the event was cancelled. So the war prevented the Soviet government from making a fatal mistake.
Modernity
The temple was returned to the Orthodox Church in 1990. It received the status of a patriarchal metochion. The first modern rector of the church was Hegumen Seraphim. After his tragic death, the parish was headed by Archpriest Theodore Batarchukov, who is the rector of the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos in Putinki to this day.
Interior decoration of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Putinki
By the time the building was returned to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, the interior decoration was almost completely lost. The church was restored using charitable funds, the famous actor Alexander Gavriilovich Abdulov provided great assistance in collecting them.
Architecture and interior decoration
To date, the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been completely restored. Its external and internal decoration corresponds to the original design of the 17th century. The unique architectural monument of the 17th century is made in the style of Russian patterning, the distinctive feature of which is the use of many decorative details.
The central part of the temple is a quadrangle stretching from south to north, topped with three tents that perform a decorative function. The northern aisle, dedicated to the Burning Bush icon, the patterned bell tower and the western porch are decorated with the same tents. The walls of the church are decorated on the outside with numerous decorative details. The decoration of later extensions to the building is somewhat different from its main part. It is made in the early Moscow Baroque style.
The interior design of the church was practically not preserved during Soviet times. The only authentic element is the painting of the central column, depicting revered Orthodox saints. The walls of the temple are decorated with new and restored icons and paintings.
Interior of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Putinki
Among the shrines located in the temple, the following images are distinguished:
- the icon of the Mother of God “The Queen of All”, helps cancer patients;
- icon of the Mother of God “Burning Bush”, protecting from fires.
Temple opening hours
The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is located in Moscow at the address: Malaya Dmitrovka Street, possession 4. Its doors are open daily from eight in the morning to eight in the evening. Services are held on weekends and holidays at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Orthodox ceremonies are held in the church, a Sunday school operates, and Orthodox doctors receive consultations. In addition, temple servants provide support to disadvantaged children, orphans and prisoners.
Tip: few people visit the church on weekdays, so the excursion trip should be planned on weekdays. This will allow you to calmly enjoy the interior decoration of the temple and feel its spirituality.
How to get there
The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is located in the historical part of Moscow. You can get to it by ground transport and by metro.
By metro you need to get to the following metro stations:
- Tverskaya (green line);
- Pushkinskaya (blue line);
- Chekhovskaya (gray line).
Having reached the Pushkinsky cinema, you need to turn left. In a few minutes a beautiful white building will appear.
The ground transport stop "Pushkinskaya Square" can be reached by buses No. H1 and A. A two-minute walk from it is the Nativity Church.
The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Putinki is a beautiful monument of Russian architecture, a striking example of the tent style that dominated Russian architecture until the end of the 17th century. It will be of interest not only to true Orthodox believers, but also to lovers of Russian history.
Church in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Putinki
The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (also the Church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa in Torg) is a temple ensemble in the city of Staritsa, built in 1740–1825. and combining motifs of late classicism and baroque. One of the city's calling cards.
The complex of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, better known as the Church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, considered the patroness of trade, is located on the left bank of the Volga River next to the ancient old settlement. Once upon a time it was located on Staritsa Torgovaya Square and, together with many shopping arcades of Gostiny Dvor, echoed the ensemble of the Assumption Monastery, located on the other bank of the Volga. Townspeople often call the complex a convent. However, this is not a monastery, it is a magnificent ensemble of a temple built in the 18th–19th centuries. And even today, despite its deplorable condition, the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is one of the attractions and calling cards of the city.
In 1728, by decree of Archbishop Theophylact of Tver, instead of the wooden temple of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, construction began on the stone Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary with a chapel dedicated to the ancient temple. The Pyatnitsky chapel was consecrated in 1740, and the consecration of the main altar took place only 10 years later, in 1750, under priest Vasily Alekseev. Later, two chapels in the form of rotundas in the style of late classicism were added to the white-stone baroque church with a low bell tower on the northern and southern sides. The chapel in the name of Neil Stolbensky was built in 1806, the Holy Martyr Paraskeva Pyatnitsa - in 1825.
The complex but strictly ordered composition of the ensemble of the Mother of God Church from the east was complemented by a white stone colonnade with two chapels and staircases descending from the rotundas to the bank of the Volga. Many domes - different in shape and located at different levels - make the picturesque appearance of the temple very intimate and cozy.
The Clergy Gazette of the Staritsa district of 1828 states that the stone Nativity Church with the chapels of the Great Martyr Paraskeva (not yet consecrated) and St. Nile the Wonderworker (consecrated) was built in 1784. There was no arable and hay land at the church, in 115 parish courtyards (in Staritsa and the villages of Fedurnov and Konkovskaya Sloboda) there were 315 male souls and 385 female souls. The following people served in the church at that time: priest Kosmin Vasily (32 years old, a priest since 1821), deacon Ivanov Ilia (55 years old, a deacon since 1793), sexton Feodorov Peter (25 years old, sexton in the Staritskaya Mother of God Church of the Nativity from 1825), sexton Mikhail Kirillov (68 years old, sexton since 1784).
According to data for 1901, the Nativity of the Mother of God Church in Staritsa, built in 1784, had three altars: the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Nile of Stolobensky (in the warm one), and the martyr Paraskeva Pyatnitsa (in the cold one). The following people served in the church: priest Kazansky Mikhail Antonovich (41 years old, priest since 1883), psalmist Borisoglebsky Pyotr Ivanovich (28 years old, psalmist since 1899). Parishioners in Staritsa and in the villages: Novo-Starkov, Konkovskaya Sloboda, Fedurnov - 159 households (1,006 people - 457 men and 549 women). In 1791, under the altar of the church, a stone chapel was built in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.
In 1914, the following served: priest Mikhail of Kazan (53 years old), psalm-reader Ioann Smirnov (46 years old). Parishioners in the city of Staritsa and the villages of Starkovo, Fedurkovo, Konkovo - 998 people (481 men, 517 women).
In the 1970s The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was restored, but by the early 2000s. it was again in need of restoration.
Architecture
The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary belongs to the “octagonal on quadrangular” type of church characteristic of the 18th century. The temple is single-domed with a heavy semicircular apse adjacent to it from the east. The corners of the quadrangle are decorated with blades, the windows are decorated with baroque frames with kokoshniks. The bell tower, adjacent to the temple from the west, is topped with a high spire. Like a wreath, the temple is surrounded by a ring of buildings from different times. Particularly interesting is the side church, built in 1825 in the style of late classicism and representing a rotunda, the facades are decorated with pediments with a shallow loggia in the risalit. The dome crowning the temple is surrounded by gently sloping domes.
Of the other buildings of the temple complex, a chapel, two elegant towers topped with a dome with a spire, a clergy house and a ceremonial colonnade, which is a gallery with paired columns of the Tuscan order, uniting all the buildings into a single ensemble, have survived to this day. The rotunda towers were once used as shops.
The buildings, in the decoration of which local white stone is widely used, form a very picturesque group. The authors of the complex unusually organically combined buildings from different periods into a single whole, the decor of which combines motifs of late classicism and baroque.
