The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Putinki stands at the very beginning of Malaya Dmitrovka. Magnificent, as if made of snow-white lace, it was built in 1649-1652 - one of the most beautiful and oldest churches consecrated in honor of this holiday, preserved in Moscow. In ancient times, the Putinki tract was located here: here, at the Tverskaya Gate of the White City, two paths diverged - to the cities of Dmitrov and Tver. Here was then the Traveling Yard for ambassadors and messengers, to which paths led - Moscow-style crooked streets and alleys. Another version explains the name Putinki from the word “web” - small streets and alleys with small Moscow houses scattered on them, lying in the parish of this church, represented a “web” that surrounded the church on all sides.

Originally, there was a three-roofed wooden church built here in 1625. In 1648, it burned down, and the parishioners of the temple, through the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who was staying in Moscow at that time, asked the tsar to allocate money for the construction of a stone church. For the first time in Rus', its chapel was consecrated in honor of the icon of the Mother of God of the Burning Bush, which protects from fires and is therefore so significant for Muscovites. This church is the last building of hipped-roof architecture in Moscow before the famous decree of Patriarch Nikon. Then he banned the construction of tented churches and demanded a widespread transition to the construction of cross-domed churches. This decree would be canceled in the second half of the 17th century after the expulsion of Nikon.

In the same 17th century in Moscow, behind Zemlyanoy Gorod, near Zubovskaya Square, a church with a main altar was erected, consecrated in honor of the icon of the Burning Bush, which gave the name to the lane - Neopalimovsky. The name of the icon comes from Moses' vision of a burning thorn bush - a bush - engulfed in flames and not burned, symbolizing ever-virginity Holy Mother of God. Therefore, the Mother of God is depicted on the icon surrounded by flames.

And although, according to legend, the construction of this church was not connected with the main disaster of the old wooden city - numerous Moscow fires, they prayed at the miraculous icon and sought salvation precisely from the fire that more than once raged in Moscow and left the townspeople as fire victims.

And that's the legend. The list of the Burning Bush icon was in the Kremlin Chamber of Facets. Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich's groom Dmitry Koloshin prayed earnestly in front of her, and when he innocently fell into disgrace with the tsar, he began to ask for help and protection. Then the Queen of Heaven appeared to the king in a dream and revealed to him that this man was innocent. The groom was released from trial by the sovereign and, in gratitude, built a temple in honor of the Burning Bush icon in Novaya Konyushennaya Sloboda, begging the king for a miraculous list. Since then, when there were fires in Moscow, this icon was carried around the houses of church parishioners, and they survived the fire. Muscovites even noticed that in the Neopalimovsky parish fires occurred extremely rarely and were very insignificant, although the entire area remote from the city center was built up with numerous wooden houses. (Neopalimovskaya Church was demolished during Soviet times.)

The little-known, but remarkable for its history, house church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the house of Prince Golitsyn (Volkhonka, 14, behind the building of the Museum of Private Collections) is now destroyed and does not function.

This temple entered the history of Moscow mainly because Pushkin was going to marry Natalya Goncharova here, but was refused by Metropolitan Philaret. Why this happened still remains a mystery to historians. Only the wedding then took place in the parish church of the bride, in the Great Ascension at the Nikitsky Gate.

The Nativity Church itself was a house church and was located on the second floor in the right wing of the existing building. It was directly related to the history of this house and the homeowners, as well as the events that took place here.

The history of the Golitsyn house dates back to the 30s of the 18th century, when they acquired a plot of land behind the Kolymazhny yard for ownership. The project of the house was executed by the St. Petersburg architect S. Chevakinsky, the author of the famous St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral in the northern capital, from whom Vasily Bazhenov studied. In the work on the construction of the Golitsyn house in 1756-1761. he was helped by the young architect I.P. Zherebtsov, the future builder of the beautiful bell tower of the Moscow Novospassky Monastery. In 1766, a church in the name of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was built and consecrated in the right wing of the house. And soon Catherine the Great herself settled in the house.

The Golitsyn house was passed down from generation to generation. When M.M. Golitsyn-son became the owner, Catherine II turned to him with a request to find her a good and comfortable house in Moscow. The Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty has just been concluded in Russian-Turkish war, and the empress was going to Moscow for festivities on this occasion. She did not like to stay in the Kremlin, considering it poorly suited for her. Golitsyn immediately offered the empress his own house.

And then the architect Matvey Kazakov was invited to rebuild the Golitsyn mansion into the Prechistensky Palace. The construction was ready for the New Year, in December 1774. The walls of the modest estate remember the brilliant retinue of Catherine the Great - the empress came to Moscow with her court and son Paul I.

However, she was dissatisfied with the housing: it was cramped and the stoves did not heat the room well. The neighborhood with the Kolymazhny yard and stables was not created in the most fresh air, people were freezing mercilessly, and the corridors were very confusing. “Two hours passed before I found out the way to my office,” Catherine complained in one of her letters, calling her palace “a triumph of confusion.” After wooden buildings of this palace were moved to Vorobyovy Gory and burned there.

According to legend, two icons were kept in the Nativity Church of the Golitsyn house, donated (or left here) by Catherine II in memory of her marriage to Prince Potemkin, apparently wedding icons. It is likely that this legend remained in Moscow’s memory associated with Catherine’s own stay in the Golitsyn palace. Or they thought that she left the owners a royal gift for their hospitality.

In 1779, the Golitsyns returned to their mansion on Volkhonka. When S.M. Golitsyn, trustee of the Moscow educational district, became the owner, he opened an aristocratic salon here. Pushkin visited it and once in the early summer of 1830 he danced here at a ball. Pushkin at that time was already engaged to Natalya Goncharova, and there is evidence that he was going to marry her here. Firstly, historians say, in the house church the payment was less, which was beneficial for Pushkin, who was strapped for funds. Secondly, the attention of high society to the wedding would not be so close.

And yet, permission to marry in the Golitsyn home church was not given. There is a version that it was simply forbidden for people who had nothing to do with them, “from the street,” to get married in house churches, as in ordinary parish churches. And the wedding took place in the bride's parish church.

In the second half of the 19th century, another S.M. lived here. Golitsyn, owner of an art gallery, an ancient library and a collection of antiquities. All this was collected by his father, who dreamed of opening his own museum, but did not have time to fulfill his desire before his death.

In memory of his father, on the first floor of his mansion in 1865, Golitsyn opened a museum, which was called the “Moscow Hermitage”. Here were presented such rarities as vases from ivory, belonged to Marie Antoinette, books from the library of the Marquise of Pompadour, paintings by Raphael, Rubens, Poussin, marble candelabra from Pompeii. And visitors were greeted by a doorman in the uniform of a life hussar.

The museum was open to the public, but curious evidence of how the inspection took place has been preserved. At the owner’s request, only those who came to Sunday services at his home Nativity Church could admire his collection. At the end, everyone went to the princely dining room for Sunday tea, which was attended by the owner, and from there to the museum.

However, just twenty years after the opening of the museum, Golitsyn, who had lost interest in its maintenance, sold his collection at auction. Most of it was bought by the St. Petersburg Hermitage for 800 thousand rubles. It is noteworthy that all the treasures of the Golitsyn Museum remained in their homeland.

In 1877, Golitsyn rented out the first floor of his house for apartments. The museum halls were rebuilt into furnished rooms for rent, and after the reconstruction of the left wing in 1892, they received the name “Princely Court”. A comfortable Moscow hotel has opened in the Golitsyn mansion.

In October 1877, A.N. settled in this house. Ostrovsky, who spent time here recent years of your life. When the writer was drawing up a rental agreement, the caretaker of the house seriously began to explain to his wife that before renting out an apartment, he always collects certificates about the moral qualities of the future tenant. Ostrovsky jokingly decided to tell him “some of my virtues - that I’m not a drunkard, I’m not a brawler, I won’t start an apartment gambling or dance class."

In this house, “Dowry,” “Talents and Admirers,” and “Heart is not a Stone” came from Ostrovsky’s pen. Friends often came to visit him - I.S. Turgenev, D.V. Grigorovich, P.I. Tchaikovsky. M.I. lived in the same house on Volkhonka. Tchaikovsky, V.I. Surikov, B.N. Chicherin, I.S. Aksakov, who died here.

In 1902, the Nativity Church was renovated. One of the best Moscow architects of that time, K.M. Bykovsky finished her off gothic style, and the iconostasis is semi-classical.

This year became the last year in the history of the Nativity Church being the Golitsyns' home church. The following year, 1903, the house was purchased by the Moscow Art Society and then began to belong to various institutions. It is enough to mention the Moscow City People's University named after. A.L. Shanyavsky, who worked here in 1909-1911. before moving to our own building on Miusskaya Square.

In Soviet times, the former Golitsyn estate was occupied by the Communist Academy under the leadership of historian M.N. Pokrovsky. Then the Nativity Church was closed, and its iconostasis was dismantled and transferred to the church in the village of Alekseevskoye.

Currently, there is a scientific institution here - the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences.

In Moscow there is also the Nativity Monastery, which was founded in 1386 by Princess Maria Keistutovna, the mother of the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo, Prince Vladimir Serpukhovsky. The magnificent Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in 1501-1505 - this is one of the oldest churches in Moscow. The slender bell tower was erected in 1835 by the architect N.I. Kozlovsky - one wealthy Muscovite donated her funds to it in memory of her beloved son who died early.

In this monastery in 1525, Solomonia Saburova, the wife of Grand Duke Vasily III, was forcibly tonsured a nun. They lived for 20 years, but their marriage turned out to be childless, and the prince wanted to have an heir to the throne. He decided to marry again - divorce was prohibited then, and Solomonia was persuaded to voluntarily enter a monastery, but she resisted. Then she was tonsured by force at the Nativity Monastery. According to an old Moscow legend, this was preceded by Grand Duke Vasily’s vision of a bird’s nest in a tree, when he burst into tears about his childlessness. “Sovereign! - the boyars told him: “They cut down a barren fig tree and remove it from the grapes.” When he turned to the Greek patriarchs for a blessing for divorce, the primate of Jerusalem, Mark, warned him: “If you marry a second time, you will have an evil child: your kingdom will be filled with horror and sadness, blood will flow like a river, the heads of nobles will fall, the cities will burn.” The Russians decided to do without the help of foreigners and invited Solomonia to voluntarily take monastic vows into a monastery. When she refused, she was forcibly tonsured. Then, according to legend, she cursed the future marriage of the Grand Duke and predicted: “God sees and will take revenge on my persecutor!” From the new marriage of Vasily III and Elena Glinskaya, the future Tsar Ivan the Terrible was born. According to legend, at the minute of his birth, August 25, 1530, at 7 pm, three peals of thunder followed one after another with a blinding flash of lightning.

Solomonia, tonsured under the name of Sophia, remained a nun for more than 17 years and died in 1542. There is a terrible legend that the Grand Duke’s supposedly just tonsured wife turned out to be pregnant by him “to the horror and repentance” of her ex-husband. She gave birth to a son, named him George and raised him with a dream of revenge: “In due time he will appear in power and glory.” All the legends about the famous robber Kudeyar, who led the way to Moscow, are associated with his name Crimean Khan during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, it was as if, on the contrary, he was saving the life of his royal brother.

This monastery was not plundered during the Napoleonic invasion, although the French entered it. According to legend, they wanted to tear off the rich frame from the miraculous Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. One of the soldiers rushed to the image, but was immediately seriously injured and could no longer budge. Amazed by this, the rest of the invaders ran out of the monastery.

Corner of a brick monastery wall on the boulevard by artist V.G. Perov portrayed in the film “Troika”.

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 survived several historical eras unchanged.

Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Putinki

Temple foundation

Behind the Tverskaya Gate of the White City of Moscow in early XVII century, a wooden church dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary appeared. 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:

1. 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.
2. Behind the gates began roads leading to different northern cities of Rus', that is, the church was located at a crossroads.
3. 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 the house of God 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 a model scientific restoration, which made it possible to preserve the ancient unique building in its original form.

Interesting: the church, today considered an architectural monument of federal significance, in Soviet years wanted to destroy. 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 Orthodox Church in 1990. He received the status 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 patterns, distinctive feature 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 with outside 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. The temple holds Orthodox rituals, there is a Sunday school, and Orthodox doctors are visiting. 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

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 church 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, in the chapel St. Sergius Radonezhsky erected a cast iron tombstone of Peresvet and Oslyabi. 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. Historical Museum returned the miraculous one to the temple Tikhvin icon Mother of God. 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 arose 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, making up main part the existing temple. Its style is purely Russian, it is reminiscent of 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

The first known wooden temple on this site was built in his domain by the boyar Nikita Romanov, the last representative of the non-royal branch of the Romanovs. A church in the name of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was erected in the village of Butyrki on the Dmitrovsky tract, after which the village began to be called Rozhdestvensky. In 1646, the village went to the treasury, and in 1682, soldiers of the 2nd Moscow elective regiment of soldiers were installed in it. It was the oldest regular regiment in Russia, formed in 1642 by order of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. Based on the name of the settlement, the regiment received the name Butyrsky.

“In the Butyrsky Regiment, the number of officers extended to 43, and the lower ranks to 1200. The soldiers settled in Butyrskaya Sloboda in courtyards provided by the treasury, and they were given the right to plant vegetable gardens on the allotted land, engage in various crafts, keep shops and other commercial establishments, not paying trade duties. They received, in addition, a salary and provisions from the treasury, but were obliged to serve, learn the German formation and musket shooting, keep city guards together with the archers and participate in ceremonial meetings and ceremonies.” - this is what is written about the regiment stationed by I.K. Kondratiev in “The Hoary Antiquity of Moscow”.

The regiment existed under various names until 1918, most recently bearing the name of “Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich 13th Life Grenadier Erivan Regiment of His Majesty.”

1. In 1682-84, a large cathedral church was built in the settlement in honor of the end of the difficult war with Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate. Like the previous wooden one, the new church was consecrated in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Inside there is a regimental banner from the 1680s, captured banners of the Swedes, Turks, and Persians.

2. To the two-pillar, five-domed baroque temple, a wide five-pillar refectory was attached to the west, accommodating 2 thousand people. On the red line of the Dmitrovskaya road there was a separate tented bell tower with a passage gate. On the second tier of the bell tower they placed an icon of the Savior ( exact copy icons from the Spasskaya Tower). On the sides of the bell tower at the temple, one-story almshouses were built, on the right for men, on the left for women.

3. The territory of the temple extended over an entire city block. Nearby there was the Missionary Altai and Siberian Compound. At the courtyard there was a store of products from Siberian monasteries, a hospice, an almshouse, a museum, the Church of the Holy Trinity, and a parish school. The elegant two-story building was demolished in the 1970s. Behind it you can see the buildings of the almshouses on the right and left hand from the bell tower, and on the very left side of the picture - wooden house priest

4. By decree of 1918, the entire complex was recognized as an outstanding work of Russian culture, protected by the state and not subject to destruction. Services in the temple continued until 1920. The question of recognizing it as a cathedral instead of Elokhovsky was considered. The Moscow Patriarchs of modern times could be enthroned here. It didn't happen.

5. In 1935, the temple with all the buildings was transferred to plant No. 132 of Glavaviaprom, and in 1942 the Moscow Znamya machine-building plant settled here. The temple was adapted into a workshop, the domes were broken, the interior space was divided into floors, external walls New windows and doors were cut, and the old ones, on the contrary, were bricked up. An extensive extension was made to the temple, and the bell tower was deprived of its hipped roof, cutting it down to the second tier. In 1970, the refectory was demolished, and in its place, between the temple and the bell tower, a tall factory building was built. The main volume of the temple received a new address, on Novodmitrovskaya Street, passing behind the plant. As a result, only the remains of the bell tower, which retained its address on Dmitrovskoe Highway, retained the status of an architectural monument. This was the only thing that saved her from complete destruction, but we will talk about her at the end.

6. This is how the temple has survived to this day. When the plant was corporatized, they managed to privatize the workshop-temple, and only in 2000 the building was handed over to the believers.

7. During all the years of Soviet power, the temple was never repaired. The plaster on the walls had completely fallen off, revealing figured brickwork. The windows visible in the photo were cut in the 1930s. Above the middle window you can see the icon case in which the icon was placed.

8. In 2006, the Orthodox community put several rooms inside the temple in order, after an eighty-year break, services resumed, and restoration of the building began.

9. The windows of the projecting altar apses were decorated with intricate frames. Now, instead of this window, a door has been cut through - the main entrance to the temple.

10. Immediately behind the door there is a staircase upstairs, striking in its appearance.

11. Here and there, the faces of saints, cleaned of whitewash, look out from the walls.

12. Many frescoes were destroyed during the construction of the stairs and ceilings. Only fragments of some images have survived.

13. Restored face of St. Lawrence of Rome, archdeacon of the Christian community of Rome in the 3rd century.

14. The fresco was almost undamaged: only part of the saint’s left foot was chopped off by the ladder. The image was painted on a pillar - one of the supports of the vaulted ceiling. To the right, behind the fresco, a late wooden partition is visible.

15. On the other side of the column there is still freight elevator. On the other side there is a room where services are held and a refectory adjacent to it.

16. Thanks to the hospitality of the temple servants, I was able to take a tour of the premises of the former workshop.

17. A foundry was located in a large extension to the temple.

18. When leaving here, the plant took huge boilers for scrap, leaving only piles of sand-lime brick.

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23. Passages were cut through the one and a half meter walls of the cathedral, connecting the annex with the temple. Now everything here is littered with rubbish.

24. But you just have to look up and you see the ancient frescoes cleaned of whitewash.

25. When the walls heated up during the casting of hot metal, the faces appeared through the whitewash, and as they cooled they gradually disappeared. Fantastic, scary sight...

26. Together with the attendant we get out to the roof of the extension.

27. Broken windows are visible in the wall of the temple, and under the surviving niche for the icon there are remains of a window frame.

28. Powerful ventilation of the foundry is installed on the roof.

29. The place of one of the heads of the temple was taken by a hood.

30. View of the temple from the same angle in 1925. The refectory is visible in the foreground.

31. The view of the refectory was so beautifully decorated.

32. Now this piece of workshop sticks out in place of the refectory.

33. On the third floor there was a galvanoplasty workshop. Once upon a time this place was at a great height, under the very arches of the temple.

34. All the paintings were covered with numerous layers of paint, which is now being removed by restorers.

35. Windows were cut into the thick walls.

36. In the center, the frescoes were preserved quite well, but in the far part, where the boilers with electrolyte stood, the paint from the walls was completely stripped down to bare masonry.

37. But mostly the frescoes have been preserved, which is good news.

38. The work is moving forward, and there is every reason to believe that after some time we will be able to see the temple in its original form.

39. In the meantime, you can show photographs of the surviving frescoes.

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47. What about the bell tower? Until the end of the 1960s, it stood surrounded by former almshouses.

48. But in the 1970s, the plant needed to build new buildings to expand, and everything was demolished. Only the first tiers of the bell tower have survived, for a long time former landmarks of the area. There was a janitor's room inside, where brooms, shovels and other tools were stored.

49. The bell tower was returned to the believers in 1998, and they managed to consecrate a separate church in it, in honor of the blessed Prince Dmitry Donskoy. I found the bell tower like this, all in the woods, in May 2012.

50. Her recovery was in full swing. The building material was paid for through personalized bricks.

51. By December, the bell tower was restored to its original condition. Although this is not only a bell tower, but a temple unique to Moscow.

Photos 51 and 52 are taken from the temple website.

52. New domes were raised onto the bell tower. It should be noted that on the large bell there is an image of Emperor Alexander I.

The territory of the former Znamya plant has now turned into the Streletskaya Sloboda business center. On their website they write that “the past and the present organically coexist here, and the restoration of the temple in the courtyard (what impudence!) is in full swing. The work is planned to be completed in the next few years in order to return the temple to the appearance it had in 1682-1684.” They forgot to mention that in order to give the cathedral its original appearance, they would need to fucking demolish their entire “Streltsy Settlement”. But temporary workers from AEON-Development have no other “god” than money.
The lousy buildings of the plant, which cut a monument of Russian history in half, must be destroyed!

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 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.

Our eyes will see a quadrangle disfigured beyond recognition with a demolished dome 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 side 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 those who stood before Him Mother of God and John the Baptist, Blessings 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).”

Adjoining the quadrangle of the temple was a long refectory with gable roof and with a large porch with west side, above which was 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 hipped 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 passage to the church territory, on the second tier between two large windows there was a full-length icon of the Savior with the opened 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 temples 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 in 1931 a branch of the Red Army Air Force Plant No. 1 was created, 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 the plant No. 132 Main Directorate of 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 “subject to the preservation of the external architecture (domes, windows, window casings, 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 tear 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 importance under No. 232 (Appendix No. 1, Oktyabrsky district of Moscow according to the territorial division of 1960) and needs urgent 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 were built from the north and south of the temple industrial buildings. 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 from the northern and south side huge ugly extensions, windows were cut into the walls of the temple and huge holes for pipes, the bricks of the ancient masonry collapsed due to the 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 three floors and a toilet, the frescoes were mostly completely destroyed, and the remaining ones were covered with 6 layers 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 His Holiness Patriarch Alexy is appointed rector of the church by a cleric 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 was created to revive the temple and church services, the charter of the temple community is 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.”