Who built St. Basil's Cathedral. History of the Intercession Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral)
One of the most striking, majestic and mysterious architectural monuments of the capital is St. Basil's. Back in the 16th century, wanderers and visiting people visiting this cathedral remained forever fascinated by its stateliness and beauty. But there are still several legends in the world about who built St. Basil's Cathedral.
History of St. Basil's Cathedral
Construction of the cathedral, and this is what people call it, began in 1555. And in just 6 years, the builders erected a stone palace of unprecedented beauty. The order to found the temple came from the Tsar of All Rus', Ivan the Terrible, in honor of the victory that Russian troops won over the Kazan Khan. This event happened on one of the Orthodox holidays - the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, therefore this cathedral is often called the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God.
The history of St. Basil's Cathedral is still mysterious and unclear.
Legend one
The temple was built by an architect whose real name is Postnik Yakovlev. He received this nickname because he fasted carefully and for a long time. He was one of the most skilled craftsmen in Pskov. Later he was sent to Kazan to supervise the construction of the stone city. An interesting parable tells about collecting money for the construction of a parish. St. Basil the Blessed lived and begged in Moscow. He threw the collected coins over his right shoulder into one place, and no one dared to take even one. Over time, when there was enough money, Vasily gave it to Ivan the Terrible.
But the facts suggest that this is just a beautiful fairy tale, since the holy fool died even before it was decided to build the cathedral. Nevertheless, it was at the site where the building was built that St. Basil the Blessed was buried.
Legend two
Two masters worked on the construction of the cathedral at once - Postnik and Barma. Legend has it that as soon as Ivan the Terrible saw the completed building, he was struck by its unusualness and ensemble. So that architects could no longer repeat such beauty, the king ordered the architects' eyes to be gouged out. But this version is not confirmed, since the name of Faster appears in later chronicles. It turns out that the master could have been engaged in the construction of other buildings.
Legend three
The most realistic version is considered to be the following: the temple was erected under the guidance of an architect who came from Western Europe. An unusual style in which patterns of Russian and Western European architecture are intertwined is considered proof of this fact. But this version has not been officially confirmed anywhere.
Throughout its long history, the temple could have been destroyed or destroyed. But some miracle always saved this pride of Russia.
In the 18th century, during a fire in Moscow, the building was engulfed in flames, but courageous Muscovites saved the temple as best they could. As a result, the building was damaged, but survived. Later it was recreated in almost the same form as before the fire.
In the 19th century, when Napoleon entered the Russian capital, barns for horses were built in the cathedral. Later, when leaving Moscow, the emperor, in a rage, ordered not to leave a single stone in this cathedral. The wonderful structure had to be blown up. And again the heroic Muscovites and the Lord God helped defend the temple. When the French soldiers began to light the wicks that went to the barrels of gunpowder, people began to put out the fire at the cost of their lives. And then the rain came to their aid. The rain poured with such crushing force that it extinguished all the sparks.
Already in the 20th century, Kaganovich, showing a model of the renovation and reconstruction of Red Square to Joseph Stalin, removed the figure of the temple, deciding to demolish it forever. But the Supreme Commander-in-Chief said menacingly: “Lazarus, put him in his place!”
In 1936, during the construction of highways, it was decided to destroy the temple, as it interfered with traffic. But the Moscow restorer Baranovsky came to his defense. The Kremlin received a telegram from him: “If you decide to blow up the temple, blow it up with me!”
In appearance, this picturesque structure is an ensemble of churches. In the very center stands the Church of the Intercession, the highest among all. There are 8 more chapels around it. Each temple is crowned with a dome. If you look at the cathedral from a bird's eye view, this building looks like a five-pointed star. This is a symbol of heavenly Jerusalem.
Each church is inherently unique and inimitable. They received their names from the names of the holidays on which the decisive battles for Kazan fell.
- In honor of the holiday of Trinity.
- Nicholas the Wonderworker (in honor of the Velikoretsky image).
- Palm Sunday, or the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.
- Martyrs Cyprian and Ustina. In the future, Adriana and Natalia.
- Saints Paul, Alexander and John of Constantinople - until the 18th century, then John the Merciful.
- Alexander Svirsky.
- Varlaam Khutynsky;
- Gregory of Armenia.
Later, another chapel was added in honor of the holy fool St. Basil.
Each dome has its own various decorations - kokoshniks, cornices, windows and niches. All temples are connected by ceilings and vaults.
A special place is given to paintings that depict portraits of eminent persons and colorful landscape sketches. Everyone can feel the atmosphere of the times of Ivan the Terrible if they carefully study the church utensils of that time.
At the very bottom there is a basement that forms the base of the cathedral. It consists of separate rooms in which the treasury used to be hidden, and rich townspeople brought their acquired property here.
It is impossible to talk about the beauty of this temple. In order to fall in love with this place forever, you must visit it. Then pride will appear in the heart of any person that this unique and mysterious cathedral is located here in Russia. And it doesn’t matter who built St. Basil’s Cathedral, this fantastic and stunningly beautiful symbol of our Motherland.
How, from what, for how much and who did it cost?
- What are you doing? - the stranger addressed the masters.
“I’m cutting a stone for him,” said the first.
“Don’t you see, I’m shoveling clay,” muttered the second one.
“I’m building Chartres Cathedral,” responded the third.
Old parable
The construction of Gothic cathedrals was extremely expensive, both in terms of finances and in terms of the use of labor. Modern wisdom says: “If you are planning to do repairs and are drawing up an estimate, then be prepared for the fact that by the end of the work the amount of expenses will at least double.”
Zbigniew Herbert in the essay" Stone from the cathedral" writes: " No archival materials allow us to conclude that before the start of these colossal works, any cost calculations were made and estimates were drawn up. In medieval accounting, the romantic principle of measuring efforts in accordance with the plan was in effect."
Below I will give some of the most important and, as it seems to me, interesting quotes from this essay, illustrating them with my own selection. I provide quotes without quotation marks. Sometimes I insert my own clarifications or additions, but delicately and carefully so as not to disturb Herbert’s good style.
Construction costs exceeded the means that one person, even a sovereign, could have at his disposal. Wanting to ensure a constant flow of funds, the popes in the 13th century demanded that a quarter of the income of each church be earmarked for construction. But this requirement was not fulfilled very meticulously. And so King John of Bohemia transfers the proceeds from the royal silver mines to the construction of churches. Urban communes were not far behind. In Orvieto, in 1292, a census of the inhabitants was carried out and, in accordance with their condition, a tax was assigned for the construction of II Duomo.
Duomo in Orvieto
A very interesting register of donors for the construction of the Milan Cathedral has also been preserved., including all professions and social groups, including courtesans. Very often donations were made in kind; Thus, the Queen of Cyprus donated a magnificent cloth embroidered with gold to one of the Italian cathedrals. The donation fever sometimes leads to family conflicts. For example, one Italian asks for the return of gold buttons that his wife brought as a gift for construction. Large shops open next to churches where you can buy everything that believers donate, from jewelry to poultry.
Milan Cathedral
In construction reports one often reads a melancholic statement: “Nothing is being done. No money".
Another major problem for cathedral builders was the transportation of materials. The means of transport remained the same as in ancient times, that is, waterways and carts drawn by horses or mules. If the quarry was located at a distance of more than ten kilometers from the construction site, as was the case, for example, in Chartres, then one team delivered one and a half thousand kilograms of stone per day, that is, about one cubic meter.
What was the cost of transportation? If the material was delivered from a place several tens of kilometers away or more, its price tripled, or even quintupled.
It is impossible not to mention one original vehicle that has never been seen anywhere except the Middle Ages, namely the backs of believers, who voluntarily provided them for the delivery of building materials. Before the pilgrims reached the famous Cathedral of Sant'Iago (St. James) in Compostello, each of them in the town of Tricastela received a portion of limestone, which he had to carry to Castaneda, where the kilns were located. An oft-quoted letter from Abbot Emon of Chartres (1145) describes a crowd of women and men of all classes (which critical commentators consider an exaggeration) pulling carts “with wine, wheat, stone, wood and everything else needed for the building of the church and food " Thousands of people walk in complete silence. Having reached their goal, they sing hymns of thanksgiving and confess their sins.
However, one must take a critical look at these beautiful stories, which very likely truly reflect the mood, social background and atmosphere of wonder surrounding the construction of great cathedrals.Workers carried stones and mortar up on their shoulders or lifted them using simple mechanisms based on a system of blocks. The large wooden scaffolds that were used in ancient times, resting on the ground and rising with the growth of the building, could not be used here due to the dense buildings around the cathedrals. The scaffolding did not start from the foundation of the building and resembled swallow's nests suspended at a dizzying height. On the erected walls one can see the so-called “cranes”, that is, crane beams in the form of logs, and primitive winches. The rope, to which the stone was attached, was wound onto a drum below, exactly as it is now in village wells. Large wheels with steps were also used, which were driven by the feet of workers stepping on them.
This is what it looks like in the picture Francois Fouquet:
Finance and transport - lenta convectiocolumnarum (slow delivery of columns) - are the weak points of the construction of Gothic cathedrals. Therefore, many of them turned into real long-term construction projects.
Chartres Cathedral under construction 50 years:
The same temple in the painting by Camille Corot:
Amiens Cathedral under construction - 60 years:
Reims - 90 years:
The construction of the cathedral in Milan was completed at the beginning of the 19th century:
Cathedrals were objects of pride, as well as signs of power visible from afar. And also a place for completely mundane activities. A medieval man felt at home in the cathedral. He often ate, slept, and talked there without lowering his voice. Since there were no benches, people walked freely around the church and often took refuge in it from bad weather. Prohibitions by church authorities on secular gatherings in churches prove that this was most likely a widespread phenomenon. This is confirmed by another fact: in many cities where there was a cathedral or a large church, they did not build a town hall.
Constant concern for the appearance of the cathedral and its construction in England, Germany and France lay with the abbots and bishops, and in Italy with the city communes. Abbot Suger is an example and symbol of those who devoted all their strength, time and talent to the cathedral. One can easily imagine how he argues with gilders and painters, establishes the iconography of stained glass windows, climbs the forests, and leads an expedition of woodcutters into the surrounding area in search of sufficiently tall and strong trees. Thanks to him, the construction of Saint-Denis lasted only three years and three months, which became a record for the speed of construction that has not been broken for several centuries.
Basilica of Saint Denis:
Let's take a closer look at the people working in construction. They form a small hierarchical community. At the very bottom of this social ladder we see workers. They were recruited mostly from runaway peasants, people from large village families who flocked to the cities in search of bread and freedom. They had no qualifications, and most often they performed the most difficult jobs. However, they, especially the young, enterprising ones, had the hope that one fine day someone else would take over the heavy stretcher from them, and they, up there, would lay stone in the walls. And the economic factor played a very significant role here. A stone bearer and a digger received seven deniers a day, while a mason received twenty-two. The quantitative ratio of unskilled workers to skilled workers was three to one - four to one, and sometimes more.
If you look from the outside, you might get the impression that there was a gap between workers and craftsmen, but in reality this was not the case. For Gothic cathedrals, those great improvisations, required the presence of something like organic connections between all those involved in their construction. Immediately behind the master mason are his assistants or apprentices, called valets, compagnons, serviteurs. They simply had to learn a craft out of necessity. At least something as simple as preparing a solution.
The highest group consists of masons and all other craftsmen who work in wood, stone, lead and iron. In essence, they are constructors.
One of the secrets of Gothic architecture and a thing completely incomprehensible to us is that sculptors were not perceived as artists and disappeared into the mass of anonymous masons. The architect and theologian kept their individuality in check.
Often workers arrived from afar, lived right at the construction site, ate right there... Just like our “earners” in other countries now. That's why:
Walter from Cheriford, the manager of the works in the Royal Valley, came up with the idea of \u200b\u200bbuilding a shed-like building for the masons. He clearly did not imagine that this barn, called “lodge” in French, would make a brilliant political career. At first everything was very prosaic and had a purely practical meaning. Those who cut the stone and prepared the sculptural elements had to be provided with a room where they could eat, as well as shelter from the heat and cold. This was not housing. But it is absolutely certain that the masons' lodge (it is known that the first one was built from one thousand four hundred boards, that is, it was small in size and equipped extremely primitively inside) also became a place for professional discussions.
We will see such a change house-box in Van Eyck’s painting"Saint Barbara", she was and is the patroness of builders:
How much did you earn? The question is difficult, because we know very well how easy it is to use misleading indices, with the help of which we can prove in black and white that our life is great, or that it was better before, or that somewhere else is better than here. The problem is further complicated by the fact that a very distant era is being considered. The cost of living is a very relative thing. Following the French researcher Pierre du Colombier, whom no one would suspect of bias, we repeat (leaving this statement to his responsibility) that the material conditions of workers in the Middle Ages were better than in the 19th century. It should only be added that this most likely applies to skilled workers, and not to those who cut through dark adits in quarries. Bessel, after detailed research, reports that in the 14th century a mason had to work twelve days to buy three hundred and sixty kilograms of wheat, in 1500 - twenty, and in 1882 - twenty-two.
Medieval tradition traced the origin of cathedral builders to the builders of Solomon's temple. The genealogy is quite respectable and at the same time mystical. The figure of the architect was surrounded by an aura of mystery, just like in modern novels about medieval cathedral builders. This is half magician, half alchemist, astronomer of the cross vaults, a mysterious man coming from afar, who has an esoteric knowledge of perfect proportions and a strictly guarded secret of design. In fact, the beginnings of this profession were much more modest, and the architect disappeared into the nameless crowd of masters.
Most often it was a mason, and he did physical labor in the same way as the rest of his brothers. Often the role of the architect was played by the guardian of the construction, an abbot or bishop, an educated and experienced person who had visited many countries.
The role of the architect is being clarified, his importance is growing simultaneously, one might say, with the growth of Gothic cathedrals. The position and significance of this profession were finally determined by the middle of the 13th century. But here we are reading a text from approximately the same period and throwing up our hands in bewilderment. The moralist and preacher Nicola de Biar indignantly says: “On large construction projects, a custom has been established that there is a master who gives orders verbally, but very rarely, or even never, puts his hands to the work; Meanwhile, he receives more pay than others.” Further, not without contempt, it is told how the master, putting on gloves and holding a ruler in his hands, orders others: “Cut this stone in such and such a way,” but he himself does not work. Just like many current prelates, adds Nicola de Biar, to fully express his indignation.
Architecture was not listed among the liberal arts. Undoubtedly, this offended the architects, and they tried to compensate for this injustice by arbitrarily assigning to themselves the university titles magister cementariorium (master of cement affairs), magister lapidorum (master of stone affairs). It is known that this caused protests from Parisian lawyers who did not want to be on the same footing as the masons.
However, the pinnacle was the inscription on the tombstone of Pierre de Montreuil, the architect of Saint Louis and creator of the Sainte-Chapelle. In it, he is not only called the perfect flower of good morals, but is also honored with the title of docteur es pierres (doctor of stone affairs), which is not found anywhere else. However, this is the apogee of a personal career, and it should not overshadow the humble beginnings of this profession.
Who is an architect for us? This is the one who draws up the project. Have the designs of medieval cathedrals survived? Only from the middle of the 13th century. The priceless album of Villars de Honnecourt dates back to this period.
This is the first and only medieval textbook known to us, a small encyclopedia of construction, and at the same time a notebook for notes, drawings, practical advice and inventions. Unfortunately, the thirty-three surviving parchment sheets make up only half of the album.Villars, born in a small Picardy village, was distinguished by an insatiable curiosity. He traveled a lot, saw Gothic cathedrals in Meaux, Laon, Chartres, Reims, was also in Germany and Switzerland, even got to Hungary - and everywhere he noted and sketched everything that interested him: the plan of the choir, a grasshopper, a rosette, a lion, a human face , appearing in the pattern of a plant leaf, a nude, the descent from the cross, figures in motion.
A few pages from Villar's album:
At first, the architect was one of the artisans, received a daily wage, worked physically like a mason, and even, which surprises us immensely, back in the 16th century in Rouen he was paid less than a mason, but was given an annual bonus. However, over time, the material benefits of this profession become more and more obvious, evidence of which is the fact that the architect received a daily wage regardless of whether he was on construction or not. To this is added another reward in kind - clothing. At first it was considered as a kind of livery, that is, it determined that the wearer was a servant of the guardian of the construction. But when we learn that in 1255 the architect John Gloucester received a fur coat, which was usually worn by nobles, we understand: this is already a clear sign of elevation to the dignity of nobility. The construction managers, wanting to bind the architect, gave him a horse and a house; he also received the privilege of eating at the abbot's table. In Italy and especially in England, the financial situation of the construction manager was much better than in France. The master's annual salary on the island was eighteen pounds, while income from land in the amount of twenty pounds gave the right to receive the nobility. In the 13th century, the court architect of Charles of Anjou had the title of proto-master, an equestrian retinue and was ranked among the knights.
Finally, we should deal with the legend of the anonymity of cathedral builders. Dozens of their names have reached our time not only thanks to the records of chroniclers or registers of payments. Medieval builders happily and proudly signed, so to speak, their works.
In Chartres Cathedral, on the floor there is the only surviving pattern, which for a long time did not attract the attention of researchers. This is a labyrinth in the shape of a circle with a diameter of eighteen meters, through which believers made a pilgrimage on their knees.
Labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral:
This is a labyrinth in the shape of a circle with a diameter of eighteen meters, through which believers made a pilgrimage on their knees. It was like a shortened version of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. So, in the central part of this labyrinth, which is a distant echo of the Cretan civilization, there was a memorial slab. Unfortunately, none of the originals has survived to this day, but there is a description and we know the contents of the two inscriptions. And this is not a verse from the Gospel - as one might assume - and not a fragment of a liturgical text. The inscription in Amiens Cathedral sounds completely unexpected for supporters of the thesis about the anonymity of medieval builders. Here she is:
“In the year of the Lord’s grace 1220, the construction of this temple began. The bishop then was Ervart, King Louis of France, son of Philip. The one who was the master was called Robert of Luzarches, after him came the master Thomas of Cormon, and after him his son Renault, who placed this inscription in the year of the Nativity of the Lord 1288.”
The Hundred Years' War dealt a mortal blow to the art of cathedral building. But the symptoms of the crisis appeared already at the end of the 13th century. There was a wave of persecution of thought across Europe: in 1292 Roger Bacon died in prison, freedom of expression in universities was significantly curtailed. Striving for centralization, especially in France, royal power deprives urban communes of many rights and subordinates them to its own goals. The young bourgeoisie, generous until then, stops donating to the construction of towers over which the clouds of war are gathering. The trial of the Templars becomes a symbol of the end of an era.
The sons of those who sculpted the angel's smile are turning cannonballs.
MOSCOW, June 18 – RIA Novosti. Scientists from the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences completed excavations on the territory of the temple complex in Bogolyubovo and found strong evidence in favor of the fact that the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and many other churches of Vladimir Rus' were built by masters from Northern Italy, the press service of the institute reports.
“Parts of the cathedral discovered during excavations in 2018 provided new material for conclusions both about the plan of the cathedral and about the origin of Vladimir-Suzdal architecture in general. Now we understand that, most likely, craftsmen from Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna participated in the construction of this temple ", says Vladimir Sedov, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
A group of Russian archaeologists under the leadership of Sedov has been conducting excavations for three years at the walls of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Bogolyubovo, the residence of the Grand Duke of Vladimir Andrei Bogolyubsky. According to legend, it was founded in 1158, when the prince, traveling from Vladimir to Rostov, dreamed of the Mother of God at the site of the future Bogolyubov.
She told him to leave the main shrine of the modern Russian Orthodox Church, the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God, in Vladimir-on-Klyazma and not return it to the monastery near Kiev, which many historians consider a symbolic act in the process of shifting the center of power in Rus' from the south to the north. In memory of this event, Prince Andrei built the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which was destroyed in 1722 and on the site of which a new cathedral was built.
Scientists found traces of the existence of this temple by conducting excavations in that part of the territory of the modern cathedral, where the western wall of the Church of Andrei Bogolyubsky was once located. A study of the walls of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary showed that Western craftsmen from the time of Frederick Barbarossa, who arrived in the territory of Vladimir Rus' from Italy, which was then part of the Holy Roman Empire, participated in its construction.
© Photo: Institute of Archeology RAS
Subsequent excavations and the discovery of new elements of the temple helped archaeologists find out exactly where these masters lived. The first hint of their origin were the corner columns of the temple, placed diagonally.
As archaeologists note, similar architectural elements are present in the cathedrals of Northern Italy: for example, in the Cathedral of Modena and the Cathedral of Ferrara, built in the Emilia-Romagna region around the same era as the church in Bogolyubovo.
Other architectural details, for example, the semi-columns on the walls of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, surrounded on the sides by small columns, are very similar to similar forms decorating cathedrals in other parts of Northern Italy. For example, they can be found in the Basilica of San Michele in Pavia.
All this, as Sedov and colleagues note, indicates that the temple was built by several groups of craftsmen who arrived in the northeast of Rus' from two regions of Italy - Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. In addition to them, the carvers of Prince Yuri Dolgoruky, who built the Transfiguration Cathedral in Pereslavl-Zalessky and the Golden Gate in Vladimir, took part in the construction.
In addition, scientists were able to find other elements of the temple complex, which helped them reveal its general appearance and understand what the area surrounding it looked like, covered with white stone.
Scientists hope that in the near future the remains of the temple they found will be completely opened and turned into a museum. This, according to Sedov, will not only help Russians become more familiar with history, but will also prevent further destruction of the temple walls. For this, as the archaeologist concludes, financial and administrative support from the authorities will be required.
Predecessors of the cathedral
The first mention of the Assumption Cathedral in the chronicles is associated with the funeral of Yuri Danilovich, who fell in the Horde at the hands of the Tver prince Dmitry, who avenged the death of his father Mikhail. Yuri’s body was transferred from the Horde in a wooden coffin and “put it in the Church of the Holy Mother of God of the Honorable Dormition, in the chapel of St. Demetrius” (Skvortsov N.A. Archeology and topography of Moscow. During the restoration in 1913, when opening the floor in the altar part, a crypt was discovered, which was considered to be the tomb of Yuri Danilovich. Excavations in and around the modern Assumption Cathedral revealed a large number of graves, both rich and poor, the earliest of which date back to the 12th century. The richest graves are located under the central part of the modern cathedral, so it is quite possible that in the 12th century a wooden cathedral already stood on this site.
The idea of building a new cathedral was presented to Yuri's brother Ivan Kalita by Metropolitan Peter. The cathedral was solemnly founded on August 4, 1326. In the northern part of the cathedral, Peter built his own tomb. It did not remain empty for long; the saint did not live to see the consecration of the cathedral. Peter's successor, Theognost, in 1329 founded a chapel in his memory - an extension to the northeast with a throne dedicated to the holiday of worship of the chains of the Apostle Peter (Petroverigsky chapel). These chains miraculously fell from the apostle imprisoned when an angel freed him. The Apostle Peter was the patron saint of Metropolitan Peter. Another chapel - the Praise of the Mother of God - was built in 1459 by Metropolitan Jonah in gratitude for the help of the Mother of God during the battle of young Ivan III with the Tatar khan Sedi-Akhmat. The Assumption Cathedral of Kalita stood on the highest point of the Kremlin hill and received the nickname “what is in Makovets”.
Having stood for about 150 years, the white stone Kalita Cathedral has fallen into disrepair. Because of the fires, the white stone burned and crumbled, the walls became fragile. After another fire in the summer of 1470, the cathedral practically collapsed and it was decided to build a new one. This cathedral was founded by Metropolitan Philip in the spring of 1472. Masters Krivtsov and Myshkin were invited to build the cathedral, about whom nothing but their last names is known. Philip ordered the construction of a new cathedral on the model of the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral, but larger. The craftsmen quite accurately repeated the shape of the Vladimir Cathedral; it was supposed to have five naves, five domes and choirs. The length of the cathedral with the required increase of 1.5 fathoms was approximately 40 m, width - 34 m and height - about 35 m. When the walls of the new cathedral rose to the height of human growth, niches were made in them and the relics of Moscow saints - Peter - were placed there , Cyprian, Photius and Jonah. Near the tomb of Peter, in the altar of the building under construction, a temporary wooden Assumption Church was erected so as not to stop services. It was in this temporary church on November 12, 1473 that the wedding of the Moscow Grand Duke Ivan III with the Byzantine princess Sophia Paleologus took place. In the spring of 1474, the walls were ready and the craftsmen began laying out the vaults when the entire northwestern part of the cathedral collapsed. The cause of the collapse of the chronicle is called a “coward” - an earthquake. Ivan III invited Pskov craftsmen as experts, who named “non-adhesive” lime as the cause of the destruction. During excavations in the second half of the 20th century, smudges were discovered on the surface of the masonry pillars, which confirms the liquid consistency of the lime mortar used by Krivtsov and Myshkin.
Excavations in 1968 uncovered the remains of several stone buildings predating the modern cathedral. Fedorov V.I. and Shelyapin, who carried out the excavations, attributed them to three buildings - the Krivtsov and Myshkin Cathedral, the Kalita Cathedral and a church presumably from the end of the 13th century. (See Fedorov V.I. Assumption Cathedral: research and problems of preserving the monument.) Others (See Vygolov V.P. About the Assumption Cathedral of 1326-1327 in the Moscow Kremlin. // Old Russian art. Problems of attribution M. 1993) - only to three buildings, combining fragments attributed by Fedorov to the cathedrals of Kalita and Myshkin with Krivtsov and attributing them to the cathedral of 1472-1474. and, therefore, fragments attributed to the early church - to the Kalita Cathedral.
Random nature photos 
Construction of the cathedral by Aristotle Fioravanti
At first, Ivan III offered to build the temple to the Pskov craftsmen, who investigated the cause of the collapse of the cathedral, but they refused. Then the Russian embassy of Semyon Tolbuzin was instructed to find and invite an architect to Italy. Italian craftsmen were extremely popular in Europe at that time - they built in Paris, Warsaw, Vienna and Amsterdam. Semyon Tolbuzin, for a decent sum for that time of 10 rubles a month, persuaded the Bolognese master Aristotle Fioravanti to come to Moscow.
Fioravanti's biography can be traced with great completeness from documents. He came from a family of Bolognese architects, was born around 1420 and was known in his homeland more as an engineer than as an architect. In his youth, he raised bells to towers, and in 1455 he successfully carried out the relocation of the Magione tower in Bologna and the straightening of the bell tower at the church of San Biagio in Cento. He repaired and straightened city walls, built shipping and irrigation canals, traveled to Hungary to build fortifications on the southern border (with Turkey), and probably built a floating bridge over the Danube. However, in February 1473, he was arrested in Rome on charges of minting counterfeit coins or distributing them, and then relieved of his post as architect of the Bolognese commune. If you believe the reports of the chronicles, then Fioravanti, before accepting the invitation to Russia, received a similar invitation from the Turkish Sultan. It seems that Aristotle persistently sought an opportunity to leave his homeland, which had become too restless for him.
Fioravanti arrived in Moscow in April 1475 and immediately got down to business upon arrival. The remains of the walls of the Krivtsov and Myshkin Cathedral were dismantled in just a week. He lined the walls with brushwood, set it on fire and then smashed the limestone, which had lost its strength after firing, with a ram. As a result, the church “was built every three years, and collapsed in less than a week” (I quote from Busevaya-Davydova). After dismantling the walls, Aristotle, like Krivtsov and Myshkin earlier, visited Vladimir to get acquainted with the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral.
It must be said that a very detailed description of the construction of the Assumption Cathedral has been preserved in Russian chronicles. In addition to descriptions of the ceremonies of the consecration of cathedrals, the transfer of the relics of Moscow saints, etc., there are also many technical details.
Thus, it is reported that the Italian master ordered to “re-dig the ditches”, deeper than the Russian masters, and drove oak piles into them. Mention is made of the construction of a new kiln for firing bricks (“behind the Ondronov Monastery in Kalitnikov”), the method of preparation and the quality of the solution (after it “dries, a knife is not powerful enough to rozkolupati”). Under 1476, the use of iron rods is noted “for the sake of oak beams in our churches” (it is interesting to compare the techniques of the Italian and Russian masters in the chronicle). Also interesting is the message that he “built the vaults into one brick” and that “whenever it rains, it never drips.” (See article by Kloss and Nazarov). In the chronicles there is also a mention that Aristotle used “wheels” (blocks) in the construction, as a result of which “the stone was not carried up, but clinging and dragging like a snake, and small wheels clinging to the top, which the carpenters call the hedgehog, the hedgehog for their huts.” dragging the earth, and it’s strange to see” (ibid.).
The Assumption Cathedral was completed in 1479. “That church was wonderful with its majesty and height, lightness and ringing and space, the same had never been seen in Rus' before, unlike the Vladimir Church, for it was seen by a little retreat, like a single stone” (I quote from Kloss and Nazarov).
Architectural features
The architecture of the Assumption Cathedral is quite unusual for Russian architecture. In plan it is a six-pillar, five-domed cathedral. The strict measured rhythm of the placement of the pillars was reflected in the entire compositional structure of the building, imbued with a mathematical structure unparalleled in Russian architecture. Instead of the usual cross-domed system, when the central divisions of the temple are covered with vaults that form a cross in plan, and usually they (the central divisions) are wider than the side ones, here the identical square cells of the plan are covered with the same cross vaults (in the plan, the ribs of such a vault form a cross) . The four pillars of the cathedral are round, the two eastern pillars are square. Square pillars and the altar barrier adjacent to them mark off the eastern part of the cathedral inside. The division into unequal eastern and western parts is emphasized by the fact that two additional massive pillars were added to the altar, placed in the middle of the spans of arches thrown towards the eastern wall. The introduction of an additional southern pillar is to a certain extent justified, since it is connected with the design of the vaulted ceilings of the Pokhvalsky aisle and the sacristy located above it. The north pillar is added purely for the sake of symmetry and lacks any structural significance at all. Fiorovanti's task was further complicated by the need to build apses, without which the Orthodox church could not do. As a result, the architect got out of the situation by making the apses deep, like pencil cases, and as if pushed into the eastern part of the building. In addition, small walls (protrusions of angular blades) cover them from the sides from the outside. There are five apses themselves. The arrangement of double narrow apses at the side naves is due to the need to place in the altar part, in addition to the main altar, an altar and chapels (Adoration of the chains of the Apostle Peter, Praise of the Virgin Mary and Demetrius of Thessalonica), which existed in the temple of its predecessor. (Some researchers, for example K.K. Romanov, believed that the Dmitrievsky chapel appeared later.) To no lesser extent, the problem of contradicting the unity of the evenly divided space of the temple was represented by the need to repeat the five-domed cathedral taken as a model in Vladimir. This five-domed structure in the Assumption Cathedral is shifted to the east in accordance with the tradition in which the main light drum was placed above the pulpit. Both the middle and corner drums in the cathedral are located above cells of the same size and placed at the same height, with the eastern ones separated by the iconostasis. As a result, the centricity of the composition is present only in the external composition of the building, at its completion, where the middle drum dominates in size over the corner ones. The technique is taken from the composition of the cross-domed church. But there it is natural, since the middle divisions are wider than the angular ones. Here Fioravanti had to resort to some trickery. If you look inside the building, you can see that the holes in the dome are equal. The diameter of the central drum is approximately one meter greater than the diameter of the hole on which the head rises. Aristotle cleverly used the “extra” space created in the chapter as a hiding place: in case of danger, the church treasury could be carried there through the roof. Despite all the problems, the building was built in such a way that there is a prevailing feeling of the integrity of the internal space, not partitioned off, but only architecturally dissected by widely spaced slender round pillars. This feeling was well conveyed by the words of the chronicler: “That church was wonderful in majesty, and height, and lightness, and ringing and space, such as had never been seen in Russia before, except for the Vladimir Church” (PSRL, vol. VIII, p. 201 - I quote from S.S. Podyapolsky. On the question of the originality of the architecture of the Moscow Assumption Cathedral).
The appearance of the temple is more traditional. The facades are divided by blades into equal parts: northern and southern - into four, western and eastern - into three. Each of the divisions of the facades ends with a semicircle of a zakomara. The architectural decor is very modest. The surface of the walls is cut through by a wide arched-columnar belt with slit-like windows (undoubtedly dating back to the belt of the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral). The top row of windows is strongly raised and partially covers the mosquito field. Perspective portals, together with the central dome, highlight the main vertical axis of the building. The apses of equal height are slightly lower in relation to the main volume. A covered porch is attached to the cathedral from the west. Researchers have different opinions about when it was built.
Technical features
The foundations of the cathedral are an anti-seismic structure. (Perhaps due to the “coward” - an earthquake mentioned in the chronicles as the cause of the destruction of the Krivtsov and Myshkin Cathedral.) When opening the underground space, which was carried out during the study of the cathedral in the 60-70s. XX century it turned out that the design was as follows. Before laying the foundations, oak piles were driven (stakes 100-130 long). The foundation was laid 4.0 m below the level of the modern floor; its base was oval in cross-section. By the 17th century, due to rotting of the piles and over-compaction of the soil under the weight of the building, uneven settlement of the foundation occurred, which caused deformation of the supporting and enclosing structures of the cathedral. The north-eastern corner, which was “separated” from the cathedral building, was especially damaged. It was these deformations that required new forged connections and other emergency measures.
The walls of the cathedral were erected from white stone, well-hewn blocks on lime with backfilling inside the masonry. The “black” floor is made of brick (not always solid to save money), and the “clean” floor is made of diamond-shaped white stone slabs 17 cm thick. The most important elements of the building - girth arches, vaults and drums - are made of brick (white stone cornices). Size of Fioravanti brick (28x16x7 cm) Internal round pillars are made of brick, lined with white stone blocks 30 cm thick. Brick was also used for the altar barrier, resting on special brick arches, which, in turn, rested on pylons and external walls, which ensured the stability of the barrier when the building settled. Low brick walls divide the northern part of the altar space into the altar and the Petroverigsky chapel. Forged metal ties held the girth arches and vaults together at their base. The use of brick along with white stone in the most complex structural elements (arches, vaults, drums, pillars) speeded up construction work and made the structures more reliable. The walls and vaults above the western porch are made of another, larger brick (30x14.5x8 cm, and also 22x11x5 cm). Perhaps they were folded later. (See Fedorov's article)
Photos of modern Moscow
The mixed technique (of white stone and brick) used to build the cathedral suggests that the cathedral was whitewashed from the very beginning. However, in 1894-1895, during the restoration, the walls of the cathedral were cleaned mechanically, and the seams either weathered or collapsed during cleaning, after which they were forced to be caulked with cement, which was then in fashion. Now the opinions of researchers about whether the cathedral was originally whitewashed differ.
The lower light of the Assumption Cathedral now consists of ten quadrangle windows and seven altar semicircle windows. In the central part of the western façade, Aristotle installed another - the eighteenth - lower light window. Subsequently, this window, together with a fragment of the arched-columnar belt in which it was enclosed, ended up under the roof of the western porch. This is the only one of the lower light windows that was not subsequently (during the great renovation of 1683) chipped. The original appearance of the windows was restored by K.M. Bykovsky during the restoration of 1894-1895. But if the correspondence of the appearance to the original one of the windows of the main quadrangle is beyond doubt, then the appearance of the apse windows is controversial (see article by V.V. Kavelmacher.)
The vaults of the Assumption Cathedral are of particular interest - twelve equal parts were covered: five with drums, seven with cross vaults. In the architecture of grand-ducal Moscow, cross vaults were used by Aristotle, apparently for the first time, although pre-Mongol Rus' knew them. V.V. Kavelmacher suggests that, according to Fioravanti's original plan, until the 17th century, the cathedral vaults did not have supporting arches at all, flowing freely from one part to another. As evidence, he cites the fact that during the restoration work to clear the paintings, it was noticeable that most of the now existing arches had moved away from the vaults and gesso covered with paintings was visible through the resulting cracks. The elements of the pictorial composition discernible in this case clearly indicate that the painting of the vault at some period of time had no boundaries and that the vault, in architectural and pictorial terms, was understood as a single unit and was painted like a ceiling. During renovations in the 17th century, the vaults were strengthened with girder arches and additional braces were inserted into them.
Currently, the Assumption Cathedral, together with the domes and altar semicircles, is covered with copper roofs on a metal frame made of strip iron made by forge. The type of covering is close to that of the roof, however, all cathedral roofs have an artificial rise towards the center for better water drainage. Under the roofs there are extensive attics. These roofs, with the exception of the copper covering itself, which was changed several times, date back to 1683.
History of the monument. Late 15th century - 16th century
The first frescoes appeared in the cathedral two years after the construction of the temple, in 1481, when the altar barrier, the Petroverigsky and Pokhvalsky chapels were painted. In 1513-1515 The temple was completely decorated with paintings. ("and the signature was completed before the month of August on the 27th day"). Some of the paintings from 1481 have survived to this day, while the frescoes of the early 16th century were completely rewritten in 1642-1643. However, the content of the frescoes did not change: according to the royal decree, the original subjects of the frescoes, taken “as samples,” were repeated.
The Assumption Cathedral, being a cathedral, from the very beginning played a prominent role in the ideological and political life of Moscow and the entire Russian state. Soon after its construction, it became the site of the coronation of Russian sovereigns. Here, in 1498, Ivan III crowned his grandson Dmitry (the son of Ivan Ivanovich the Young and Elena Voloshanka) Grand Duke, bypassing his eldest son Vasily from Sophia Paleolog. Although later, at the very beginning of the 16th century, Ivan III removed Dmitry from political life, leaning in favor of Vasily, the magnificent coronation ritual, developed in 1498 according to the Byzantine model, continued to exist, and later formed the basis for the coronation of Ivan IV in 1547 g. royal crown.
The ordination of metropolitans also took place in the Assumption Cathedral. The earliest surviving documentary source - the act of installing Metropolitan Joasaph - is dated 1539. In 1589, in the Assumption Cathedral, Patriarch Jeremiah of Constantinople installed the first patriarch in Russia, Job. Metropolitans and patriarchs are buried in the Assumption Cathedral, with the exception of those subjected to exile, deprived of the metropolitan (later patriarchal) throne, or those who left it without permission.
Most of the cathedral's income came from donations, which were made mainly to commemorate one's soul. The earliest surviving record is placed under 7029 (1520), when “the servant of God Fyodor Vepr Vasilyev, son of Antonov, passed away,” ordering on the eve of his death to give Archpriest Athanasius “and his brothers” 100 rubles to the Assumption Cathedral. The commemoration in the Assumption Cathedral was honorable; a number of people tried to get into the Synodik of the Assumption Cathedral by circumventing the existing rules. So in the Synodic of the 17th century, a note was made in the margins about the family of Andrei Stefanov - “nothing was given for these parents, but they have been commemorated for free since the year 121 (1613), and were recorded for a promise (that is, for a bribe).” Changes in the Synodik were also made at the direction of the sovereign. The clergy of the Assumption Cathedral, to please Ivan IV, even falsified the line of succession to the throne, removing from it the “memory” of Ivan III’s eldest son from Elena Voloshanka, Grand Duke Ivan Ivanovich and Dmitry, his grandson. This was done by erasing Ivan Ivanovich’s patronymic in the “eternal memory” of him: “To the blessed, Christ-loving Grand Duke John Ioannovich” and the inscription after the erased one - “Vasilievich”.
The Assumption Cathedral quickly became a fairly large landowner. The first land contributions to the Assumption Cathedral date back to the end of the 15th century, when its lands began to be separated from the lands of the metropolitan see. In 1486, on the eve of his death, the Vereysky prince Mikhail Andreevich gave “to the Most Pure Cathedral Church in Moscow, to the archpriest and priest, in the Yeroslavl district, his village of Tatarenki in Zaechkovo with everything that his soul, after his stomach, had drawn to that village from ancient times. That’s what they deserve for an annual commemoration.” It is interesting that this contribution was conditional - it was stipulated that if the Grand Duke needed this village, he could take it for himself, giving the archpriest and priests of the Assumption Cathedral 60 rubles for it. Subsequently, this village was not mentioned in the list of possessions of the Assumption Cathedral; it either passed to the prince or became deserted.
In addition to direct land contributions, money was also donated to the cathedral, with the condition of purchasing land with it. Whenever possible, these conditions were met. So Archpriest Evstafiy “bought the village of Ondreyanovskoye with its villages from Ivan Agarev, and gave two hundred rubles on it: one hundred rubles for the state, and the other hundred rubles for Myasoedov.” The clerk Konstanin Semenovich Myasoed-Visloy gave these hundred rubles to the Assumption Cathedral in 1569 or 1570. By the 17th century, the conditions for purchasing land with deposits disappeared. In all likelihood, due to the law of January 15, 1580, which prohibited monasteries and churches from acquiring real estate.
The walls of the Assumption Cathedral witnessed turbulent events. During the famous Moscow uprising of 1547, the hated temporary worker, the Tsar’s uncle, Prince Yu. V. Glinsky, tried to hide in the Assumption Cathedral. The rebellious townspeople, according to Ivan IV in his First Epistle to Kurbsky, “having taken him away from the territory of the great martyr Dmitry Selunsky, dragged him into the cathedral and apostolic church of the Most Pure Mother of God against the metropolitan seat, inhumanly killed him and filled the church with blood and, having dragged him out, died in the front doors of the church, and laid him in the market place, like a condemned man." There is a similar version in the postscript to the Facial Vault, dedicated to these events.
The cathedral often suffered from fires. Trying to free the tops of the building as much as possible from unnecessary loads, Aristotle took such a risky step as installing wooden roofs on the cathedral, followed by soldering them with tin. The roofs were laid under roofs and were constantly getting thinner. Already in 1493, the cathedral was lit up by lightning twice. The fire of 1547 was disastrous. The western porch of the cathedral was damaged and the columnar frieze above it was burned.
History of the monument. 17th century
At the beginning of the 17th century, the growth of the estates of the Assumption Cathedral continued and in the 1630s the size reached its maximum. At this time, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich granted the cathedral of the Entry into the Vladimir district: the villages of Ovchukhi and Chokovo with the village of Vasilyevka. If in the second half of the 20s of the 17th century there were only 53 households in the possessions of the Assumption Cathedral, then after the grants of Mikhail Fedorovich, as well as the acquisition of the village of Rusavino in the Moscow district in the second half of the 40s, there were already 160 households in the estates. By the 70s, the Assumption estates managed to fully recover from the devastation and the number of households in them reached 253 (949 males).
The cathedral's land holdings were granted significant benefits. The first charter was given back in 1575 by Ivan the Terrible. Boris Godunov gave a new charter in 1598. In 1605, False Dmitry I gave a similar letter. According to the letter of Mikhail Fedorovich from 1625, the peasants of the Assumption Cathedral had to pay a postal tax, give bread for the maintenance of the Streltsy infantry and take part in the construction and repair of various fortifications; they were exempt from other duties. On February 19, 1654, Tsarevich Alexei, the son of Alexei Mikhailovich, was baptized in the Assumption Cathedral. On this occasion, Tsar Alexei gave the cathedral a new charter, which freed the peasants from all taxes and until the 18th century, the Assumption peasants did not give anything to the state. They only knew the archpriest “with the brethren.”
The peasants were also removed from the jurisdiction of the general court and on all issues (both civil and criminal) were subject to trial by the archpriest “with the brethren.” In the event of a claim being brought against the archpriest himself or his clerks, the court had to be administered by the sovereign himself. In religious matters, both the clergy themselves and their peasants were judged by the patriarch.
Part of the property was divided by the clergy household, the other part was jointly owned (income was divided). At the same time, the archpriest received twice as much as the priest, and the priest - twice as much as the deacon. The protodeacon received the same amount as the priest, and the cleric, apparently, was 1.5 times more than the priest.
The Assumption Cathedral sometimes had to defend its possessions. Thus, the Duma clerk Averky Kirillov took possession of the Gavshino wasteland, located in the Moscow district. He apparently planned to make his own estate near Moscow out of this wasteland, erected various residential and outbuildings there and planted an orchard. But the clerk’s dreams were not allowed to come true: according to the petition of Archpriest Mikhail “with the brethren,” the process began and in September 1684 the mentioned wasteland with all the buildings and the orchard was returned to the Assumption Cathedral.
Since the 17th century, the composition of the cathedral's clergy has been precisely known. So in 1627, the clergy consisted of: archpriest, archdeacon, two clerics, 5 priests, 5 deacons and 2 sextons. (For comparison: the clergy of the Archangel Cathedral consisted of 14 priests, the Annunciation Cathedral - of 11). The priests and clergy of the three chapels (Pokhvalsky, Dmitrievsky and Peter and Paul) stood apart and were called chapels, in contrast to the cathedral ones - the actual priests of the Assumption Cathedral. The clergy of the Dmitrievsky chapel included a priest, a deacon, a sexton and a sexton; the Petropavlovsky and Pokhvalsky chapel included a priest, a deacon and a sexton, but already in 1681 the books noted that in the Pokhvalsky chapel there was neither a priest nor a deacon.
The responsibilities of the keykeepers included the storage of the cathedral property (they accepted things and books donated to the cathedral), they were caretakers of the cathedral building, monitored its integrity and reported on noticed defects. The keykeepers also monitored the bell ringers so that they rang on time and “in order” and the watchmen who ensured the safety, cleanliness and order in the building. The clergyman was also in charge of preparing for the services (for example, they installed a “cave” for the “cave action”). In addition, in the 17th century, the clerics of the Assumption Cathedral were in charge of issuing peace to various churches and collecting money for it (the money went to the patriarchal treasury). In the 17th century, the cathedral had 16 guards. Until about the middle of the 17th century, the watchman received 1 rub. per year, and after this amount was increased to 1 ruble 9 altyn 1 money per year. In addition, once a year the watchman was given money for mittens, once every three years - 1 ruble for a fur coat, and once every few years - 5 arshins of cloth.
If the estates served as the basis for the clergy’s well-being, then all repairs, renovations in the cathedral, as well as consumables for services in the 17th century were paid from two sources - the Patriarchal (until 1589 Metropolitan) treasury and the Sovereign treasury. Incense was issued from the Sovereign's state order in the amount of two poods per year (since 1617 - one pood per year). Candles and church wine were issued from the patriarchal government order. Moreover, until 1675, candle cinders went to the clergy, but after that they began to be given back to the patriarchal government order, where they were melted into candles. Over the course of a year, a fair amount of cinders accumulated (out of 26 pounds of cinders in 1682, 19.5 pounds of cinders were poured into wax). Until 1661, prosphoras were baked by a special malt mill at the cathedral itself, and only on Easter and Trinity Sunday prosphoras were issued from the Bread Palace. After 1661, prosphora was baked in the Chudov Monastery. The flowers and fragrant herbs with which the cross was decorated were supplied from the royal pharmacy.
By the 17th century, it had already become clear that the Great Assumption Cathedral of Aristotle Fioravanti, conceived and built using the techniques of Western European construction art, freed from supports and multi-tiered openings, covered with vaults of the lightest construction, did not stand the test of time. The thin one-and-a-half meter walls of the cathedral, lined with white stone squares, cracked and began to diverge in their upper tiers. The situation was not saved by the forged intra-wall and opening iron connections prudently laid by Aristotle at the level of the heels of the vaults (their cross-section turned out to be insufficient), nor by the unprecedented (only one brick) thinness of the cross vaults, which amazed contemporaries, covering the largest for its time - 6x6 m - cathedral compartments. In 1624, the vaults, which were threatening to fall, were dismantled “down to a single brick” and rebuilt, taking into account the deformations that had formed in the upper tier, according to a changed pattern (“flattened” configuration), with their reinforcement with cohesive iron and with the introduction of additional girth arches.
Repeatedly in the 17th century, renovations of the paintings were carried out. In 1642-1643, extensive work was carried out to restore the wall writing. The work was carried out by a group of royal and “city” icon painters under the leadership of Ivan Pasein. The frescoes, according to the royal decree, repeated the picturesque scenes of 1513-1515. In addition, the cathedral had mica doors with copper bars. Upon completion of the work, most of the people who took part in them received generous gifts from the tsar in cloth, sables, silver cups and ladles. In the 1660s, the painting of the external walls was renewed: above the altars, above the northern and western doors. In 1673, under the leadership of Simon Ushakov, the images of the Savior Not Made by Hands and the Most Pure Mother of God with saints were painted again above the southern doors. In 1653, extensive work was undertaken to completely repair the iconostasis. Painting was resumed, silver frames for icons and silver candlesticks were made.
Repair work in the 1620s failed to completely correct the situation. Due to the uneven settlement of the foundations throughout the 17th century, the western wall of the cathedral was in disrepair. In 1683, after another big fire (by this time the white stone decoration of the drums had already completely perished in the flames, the cornices of the drums had almost completely crumbled), the cathedral was once again completely renovated. In it, the arrows of the vaults are “made” again, and the drums are strengthened with connections “firmly” and repaired. At the same time, the original archivolts were removed - they were replaced with small-profile brick archivolts, characteristic of the 17th century. For emergency reasons, the cathedral was connected at the level of the heels of the vaults with additional connections.
The cathedral witnessed many events, especially during the turbulent beginning of the 17th century. In 1605, the rebel Muscovites, who took the side of the impostor, defeated the courts of the Godunovs, many boyars, nobles and clerks, burst into the Assumption Cathedral “with weapons and arrows,” as Patriarch Job later recalled, interrupted the service and “removed him from the altar ,... carrying many disgraces around the church and around the square.” False Dmitry I, having entered Moscow, was crowned king in the Assumption Cathedral on July 21, 1605 by Patriarch Ignatius, who replaced Job, who was sent into exile. In May 1606, the wedding of the impostor to Marina Mnishek took place in the Assumption Cathedral. Marina, who was short in stature, had benches made so that she could relate to the images. The Poles who came with her to Moscow and attended the wedding behaved provocatively. After the election of Vasily Shuisky as tsar on Red Square in 1606 by his supporters, he went to the Assumption Cathedral, where he gave a “kissing record” that under him there would be no violations of feudal legality that were committed under Grozny and Godunov. Shuisky’s “Kissing Record”, given in the solemn atmosphere of the Assumption Cathedral, acquired, in the opinion of L.V. Cherepnin, “the character of obligations allegedly assumed by the supreme ruler to the people.” Another noisy church performance was organized in the Assumption Cathedral in connection with the protracted siege of Kaluga, where Bolotnikov took refuge after retreating from Moscow with the remnants of his army. The outcome of the struggle was still unclear, and in the Assumption Cathedral, in the presence of the Tsar, Patriarch Hermogenes, the royal court and Moscow residents, the former Patriarch Job, specially brought from Staritsa, freed the Muscovites from their previous oaths, including to “Tsar Dmitry,” under whose slogan the uprising developed. He suffered. cathedral and during the destruction of Moscow by Polish troops and a large detachment of German mercenaries in 1611-1612. Silver objects from it were used to make money to pay the army. The loss of the golden lid of the shrine of Metropolitan Peter also dates back to this time.
In the 17th century (and probably earlier), the courtyards of the Assumption Cathedrals were located in the Kremlin near the Tainitsky Gate. The land on which the courtyards of the Theotokos clergy were located belonged to the Assumption Cathedral, but the buildings themselves, the courtyards, were private property and belonged to those who lived there. If any clergyman of the Assumption Cathedral died, or for some reason had to leave his clergy, then the deputy of the deceased or departed purchased his house for the price set by the archpriest and the brethren. Since 1654, the courtyards of the Assumption Cathedrals were “whitewashed” (exempt from taxes), but at the beginning of the 18th century, Peter I, despite his charter, collected “bath” money from the courtyards in the amount of 1 ruble. from every bathhouse.
The watchmen and bell ringers of the Assumption Cathedral lived together in the White City on Rozhdestvenskaya Street, in the parish near the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Bozhedomsky, which received the nickname “in the Bell Ringers”. In 1659 there were 14 courtyards, in 1703 - 16 courtyards. The land on which the courtyard stood also belonged to the cathedral, and the courtyard had to be acquired by its successor, whether the price was forced or
History of the monument. XVIII century
At the beginning of the 17th century, a reform was carried out in the management of the Russian church. After the death of Patriarch Adrian at the end of 1700, no one was appointed as his successor. Stefan Yavorsky, Metropolitan of Ryazan and Murom, was entrusted with the duties of patriarch, with the title of locum tenens of the patriarchal throne. And in 1721, instead of a single patriarch, a college of spiritual dignitaries was installed at the head of the Russian church.
With the destruction of the patriarchate, the Assumption Cathedral lost an important source of its content; after this he had only one source of material support left - the state treasury. This continued until 1764. In addition, under the patriarch, the archpriest and his brethren stood aside from all the work being done; they only had to declare where necessary that certain work needed to be done. At the beginning of the 18th century, the hiring of workers and supervision over them was left to the Assumption clergy. Carrying out any work was now associated with quite a lot of bureaucratic red tape.
In the 30s, in order to carry out repairs, the key ministers had to contact the Moscow Synodal Office, this latter sent “information” to the Moscow Senate Office. Having received “conduct”, the Senate Office sent the decree to the College of Economy of the Synodal Board. In addition, before contacting the Senate Office, the Synodal Office sent a report to the Synod about the need to make various amendments to the Assumption Cathedral, and in response to this report, the Synod sent a decree that ordered certain work to be done. But, for example, in 1740 these amendments were not made and in 1741 the key ministers submitted a new report to the synodal office, and the whole circle repeated itself.
After the destruction of the patriarchate, the clergy of the Assumption Cathedral submitted for some time to the locum tenens of the partisan throne. Since 1711, the Senate was involved in participation in church governance. This order of government continued until 1721, when the Synod was established. From that time on, the priests and clergy of the Assumption Cathedral became completely dependent on St. Synod. From him came orders about church services and ceremonies performed in the Assumption Cathedral; they appointed and dismissed clerks and clergy of this cathedral.
The immediate management of the Assumption Cathedral and its clergy belonged to the Moscow Synodal Office, the beginning of which, as an independent institution, was laid by the decree of Peter I of January 19, 1722. However, sometimes St. The Synod entrusted the immediate supervision of the Assumption clergy to certain bishops: for example, Krutitsky. On September 1, 1742, the Moscow diocese was established, and on March 18, 1743, by the Highest Decree, the Assumption Cathedral was removed from the diocesan department and subordinated directly to St. Synod; at the same time, the archpriest of the cathedral, Nikifor Ioannov, was appointed assessor to the Moscow Synodal Office.
Usually, when any vacancy opened up in the Assumption Cathedral, the Moscow Synodal Office (or office) and the Spiritual Dynasty selected a worthy candidate from among the Moscow clergy and sent their choice to the saint for approval. Synod. Sometimes there were appointments by order of the Highest. On May 24, 1721, the Synod issued a decree to ordain students of the Moscow “Slavo-Latin dialect schools” as priests and deacons “in Moscow to the cathedral and noble parish churches.” But this rule was not always observed.
From a clergyman who wanted to become a protodeacon of the Assumption Cathedral, “loudness” was also required. In order to elect a completely worthy archdeacon, distinguished by his “loudness,” sometimes a competition was held between several candidates in the Church of the Twelve Apostles.
Since 1764, a new period has begun in the way of maintaining the Assumption Cathedral. Spiritual states were introduced this year. A complete secularization of spiritual property was carried out. The Assumption Cathedral also had its possessions and estates taken away. Instead of the selected estates, the clergy were given a salary. According to the articles of 1764, the salary was as follows. The archpriest was entitled to 300 rubles, two clerics 250 rubles each, four priests 200 rubles each, an archdeacon - 200 rubles, four deacons 100 rubles each, two psalm-readers and two sextons 20 rubles each. In the autumn of the same 1764, the Assumption Cathedral (as well as the Annunciation Cathedral) was granted an increase of 700 rubles from a special royal blessing, of which 49 rubles 14 k. were allocated to watchmen and bell ringers, and the remainder was divided among the members of the church in the same proportion, from 5 rub. 70 kopecks sextons and psalm-readers, up to 86 rubles. 50 kopecks to the archpriest.
In addition to the salaries of the clergy and clergy, a certain amount was assigned for the maintenance of the cathedral itself. Until 1764, many items and materials (for example, incense candles, red wine, etc.) were given to the Assumption Cathedral in kind and the Bogoroditsky Cathedral workers did not have to maintain church households. Since 1764, the situation has changed and payments in kind have ceased. According to the states in 1764, 300 rubles were assigned for various “church needs” of the Assumption Cathedral. annually. Subsequently, this amount turned out to be insufficient and was doubled.
Since the regular amount was not enough to satisfy all the needs of the cathedral, new sources of income appeared in the Assumption Cathedral. First of all, the sale of candles is introduced. Then “mug” money appears: this is the name of the money that poured out of three mugs placed at the shrines of St. Metropolitans Peter, Jonah and Philip. So in 1798, 24 rubles were poured out of three mugs. 63 k., and in 1797 - 55 rub. 98 k. Since the end of the 18th century, the cleric of the Assumption Cathedral annually submitted a report to the Moscow Synodal Office on the receipt and expenditure of circle money.
Most likely, until the 18th century, the houses of the Mother of God clergy (next to the Tainitsky Gate of the Kremlin) were wooden, but at the beginning of the 18th century, stone houses were built for them at public expense, in which they lived until 1770. In 1737 there was a severe fire in Moscow , from which the houses of the servants of the Assumption Cathedral also suffered. The cathedral workers had to carry out repairs at their own expense. Apparently the repairs made were not enough, because a few years later these houses again required repairs. In 1754, according to the estimate of the architect Michurin, 76,503 rubles were needed for the repair of old buildings and the construction of new ones. 52 and 1/2 kopecks. This large sum probably frightened the treasury and the houses of the Assumption clergy were left without repair, and in 1770, by order of the Expedition for the construction of a new palace, they were completely destroyed. In March 1772, the cathedral members moved to the Krutitsky and Kirillovsky farmsteads, but due to their dilapidation and the danger of falling (already in May 1772, the outer wall of the Krutitsky courtyard fell, as a result of which the Senate ordered that the courtyard be dismantled as soon as possible) they had to move. For them it was rented for 1200 rubles. the house of the merchant Chiryeva on Varvarka, near Gostiny Dvor in the parish of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, in Bulgakov. But even there the cathedral residents lived only 9 months. The house turned out to be uncomfortable, with poor heating due to large windows and high ceilings. The servants were suffering from cold and exhaustion, and it was decided not to look for a new home for them, but to give them rent money so that they could rent their own housing. Since 1773, this money was given 800 rubles. (of which 150 rubles - to the archpriest). At the end of the 18th century, the amount was increased to 1200 rubles.
In 1799, the clerics and priests of the Assumption Cathedral were officially given Greek names - presbyters, protopresbyters and sacellaries.
According to the states of 1764, there were 20 bell ringers in the cathedral, who received a salary of 5 rubles. in year. Until the end of the 18th century, they continued to live in Zvonarsky Lane in the White City, but from the second half of the 18th century, outsiders began to invade this village. Such was, for example, the “court actor” Sila Sandunov. These people acquired the yards of watchmen and bell-ringers either by purchase or by some illegal means. Having established themselves, many began to push their neighbors out of the Assumption Cathedral, trying to take away from them, if not all, then at least part of the land. (The aforementioned Sila Sandunov was particularly adroit and unceremonious). As a result, at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century, only two watchmen and seven bell-ringers (out of a total of 40) lived in the village, while the majority lived in Moscow in different apartments.
History of the monument. 19th century
The Assumption Cathedral, like the whole of Moscow, suffered greatly during the War of 1812. The fire that started in Moscow on September 2, on the very day the French entered Moscow and lasted until September 8, destroyed almost three-quarters of Moscow buildings. The Kremlin survived the fire, although the danger of catching fire was so great that Napoleon, who had gathered there with his guards, had to leave it for a while. But what the fire spared, the enemy did not spare.
Many valuables were taken from Moscow. At the disposal of the administrator of the Moscow Metropolitanate, Rev. Augustine had 300 carts. Along with the patriarchal sacristy, the main shrines of the Assumption Cathedral were also taken away: icons of the Vladimir Mother of God, the robe of the Lord, Korsun crosses and a number of other items. The Vladimir and Iveron icons were sent to Vladimir, and the Patriarchal sacristy - to Vologda. However, there were still many valuables left in the Assumption Cathedral. So, shortly before the start of the war (in 1790), the Moscow merchant Semyon Vasiliev made silver gilded clothes for the throne and several robes for the icons for the cathedral, for a total of 68,623 rubles. 50 kopecks Some of the icons were decorated with precious stones and pearls. In the chandelier, which hung between the patriarchal and royal seats and was made in Venice by order of boyar Morozov in 1660, there was only over 60 pounds of silver. The shrines of Moscow's saints Peter, Jonah and Philip were covered with silver boards. All this was stolen, only the reliquary of St. remained. Metropolitan Jonah and part of the vestments on the icons located on the third tier of the iconostasis on the right side. Based on these remains, the vestments on other icons were subsequently restored.
In addition to looting the cathedral, the French also desecrated it. So they built a forge in the middle of the cathedral, in which they melted the vestments from the icons and burned the sacred brocade vestments. Having removed the expensive chandelier, they hung scales on the hook on which it hung, and weighed the gold and silver bars obtained from the smelting on them. After their departure, an inscription was found on one of the pillars of the cathedral, which stated that in the Assumption Cathedral, only 325 pounds of silver and 18 pounds of gold were melted down by Napoleon’s soldiers.
In addition, horse stalls were installed in the cathedral. In most cases, the icons turned out to be scratched, some with nails driven into them, so that the icon painters subsequently had to restore 375 icons. All the murals of the cathedral, which were produced at the end of the 18th century, were spoiled by soot from the fires, with the help of which the enemy heated the cathedral, which did not yet have stoves, and soot flying from the furnace from the burnt brocade vestments.
The Russian troops that entered the Kremlin (the regiment of Prince Shakhovsky was the first to enter) found in the cathedral heaps of manure and rotting vegetables, the royal gates boarded up with boards, and the faces of the icons scratched and missing eyes. The bodies of Metropolitans Jonah and Peter were thrown out of the cancer.
How great the devastation of the cathedral was can be seen from the fact that 192,135 rubles were spent on its renewal (in the report of St. Augustine it is written: “and other councils,” but other councils are mentioned separately below). 54 kopecks The invaders, however, did not manage to take away all their loot: 52 pounds of silver, recaptured by M.I. Kutuzov and I.F. Campioni went to restore the shrine of Metropolitan Philip. And the current chandelier - a large cathedral lamp weighing 328 kg - is cast from silver beaten by the Cossacks.
On February 2, 1818, new staffs were established for the Assumption Cathedral, according to which priests and church ministers began to receive the following allowance: protopresbyter - 2000 rubles, sacellaries 950 rubles each, four presbyters 850 rubles each, protodeacon 1000 rubles. , 4 diaklnas for 750 rubles. psalm-readers and sextons 150 rubles each. In 1822, Emperor Alexander I granted additional support to some ministers: sacellars “as guardians of the Robe of the Lord and the shrine of the cathedral in general” and two presbyters assigned to the relics of St. Metropolitan Peter 250 rubles each, psalm-readers and sextons 150 rubles each. These states existed for more than 75 years and only at the very end of the 19th century, on May 30, 1894, they were Supremely approved, and from January 1, 1895, new states of the Assumption Cathedral were put into effect, according to which the protopresbyter began to receive 3,000 rubles, the first sacellary 2,000 rubles ., second sacellary 1800 rubles, seven presbyters and protodeacon 1500 rubles each, five deacons 1000 rubles each. and two sextons for 600 rubles.
In 1856, heating was installed in the cathedral. In this regard, the western porch of the cathedral was turned into a closed vestibule, and during preparations for the coronation of Nicholas II in 1896, new metal frames and oak doors were made according to the drawings of the famous architect K.M. Bykovsky. The coronation of Nicholas II on May 14, 1896 was the last coronation in the Assumption Cathedral. In the cathedral, a throne seat upholstered in crimson plush awaited Nicholas and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna; The emperor wished to be crowned on the throne of Mikhail Fedorovich, the founder of the Romanov dynasty, and for his wife he chose a throne lined with bone, which, according to legend, belonged to Ivan III, the builder of the Assumption Cathedral. The crown was handed over to the sovereign by Metropolitan Palladius at the moment when Nicholas placed it on his head, the cannons burst out and the bells rang. The coronation celebrations continued for several days; Unfortunately, they were marked not only by holidays, but also by the Khodynka disaster.
In 1817 - 1819 The annual income of the Assumption Cathedral was approximately 10,000 rubles. (Of these, about half came from the sale of candles. Income from the sale of candles increased from 1,000 rubles in the early 19th century to 5,000 rubles). This amount was more than enough to satisfy the various needs of the cathedral; part of the amount remained and in 1819 part of these balances (14,788 rubles 87 and a half kopecks) was spent with the permission of the Synodal Office on the installation of silver lamps in front of local icons. (Until 1812, 10 silver lamps hung in front of local icons; in 1812, they were stolen by the French and instead of them, 10 silver-plated copper lamps were hung. In 1819, five of these lamps were replaced with silver ones.)
At the beginning of the 19th century, the institution of church elders was introduced in the cathedral. The resolution of the Holy Synod on the introduction of this institution in the cathedral took place at the beginning of 1812, but practical implementation began only five years later. Initially, the elders of the Assumption Cathedral were chosen by the Moscow city magistrate from among the merchants or townspeople. The person elected by the magistrate was approved (“appointed to the position”) by the Moscow Synodal Office, which first inquired whether the protopresbyter and the sacellaries agreed for this person to be the headman. Approval could only take place upon receipt of such consent. The headman of the Assumption Cathedral, like other church wardens, was elected for three years. After this period, he could be left for a second triennium, if only the protopresbyter and the sacellaries found that he was useful for the council. The first headman of the Assumption Cathedral on January 29, 1817 was the Moscow 2nd guild merchant Sergei Fedorovich Boldyrev. After the abolition of the Magistrate in the mid-60s of the 19th century, the right to elect elders passed to the Moscow City Duma. The responsibilities of the elders included managing the church affairs of the cathedral together with the sacellaries under the supreme supervision of the protopresbyter.
At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, the Assumption Cathedral was restored
The work was carried out in two stages. The first of them was carried out in 1894-1896. under the leadership of architect K. M. Bykovsky under the supervision of the Moscow Archaeological Society (MAS). The goal of the work was declared to be the complete restoration of the cathedral. First of all, the idea was to return the heavily chipped windows of the first tier to their previous shape. Traces of former windows were exposed in the lower window openings. Based on them, the previous outlines were restored, fitting into the arcature belt of the cathedral. (On the western wall in the attic of the vestibule, a completely blocked window was found between the columns of the arcature belt). When narrowing the windows, they were concerned about the possible decrease in illumination of the cathedral. The illumination was checked by covering the future laying with wooden shields. To reduce light loss, they decided to restore the size of the windows only on the outer surface of the facades, immediately after the outer frames they began sloping into the interior of the temple. This technique also ensured the preservation of the interior of the temple. New slopes, in order to reduce damage to the wall paintings, were made not of stone, but of alabaster over wire mesh. To increase illumination, solid glass in thin metal frames was inserted into the windows. This technique was given a completely innovative aesthetic justification for those times: thin frames “directly, frankly, truthfully do not represent any attempt to approach the old, which, provided there is sufficient lighting, cannot be restored.” Almost for the first time, the dissimilarity of new elements to the historical prototype, the “truthfulness,” in this sense, of the work carried out, is put forward as an advantage of restoration. But windows in the plane of the facade and mirror glass seriously distorted the image of the cathedral, depriving the walls of their massive thickness, turning them only into enclosing surfaces. The windows of the altar apses were also reduced. But since there was no reliable evidence of their original dimensions, the windows were given a shape corresponding to the divisions of the external facades and the internal outlines of the vaults. Using the found remains, the rollers of the second tier windows were restored, and by analogy, the apse windows. The rollers of the small drum windows were also restored, but here, due to the small thickness of the walls, the masonry was not refaced, but the profile was made only from plaster.
In addition to the windows, the western portal of the cathedral was updated. The stone capitals were so damaged that it was necessary to look for analogues to renovate them. The columns of the Patriarchal seat in the cathedral were taken as a model. The reasons for the choice of an analogue are not explained in the publications.
The question of the cathedral's coverings caused a lot of controversy. Under the existing chapters, dating from the 16th century, a white iron coating was discovered right along the vaults. The locks of the vaults were discovered in the form of large stone slabs with a recess in the middle for installing a cross, and at a distance of about 3 arshins from the top, iron ears for guy wires to it were found in the masonry. From this, many experts concluded that the initial coverage was continuous. Others objected that there must have been wooden cranes, since the chronicles contain references to fires starting from the heads. After debate, it was decided that since the restoration could only be speculative, “it is undesirable to exchange an undoubted 16th-century form for a fake of the 15th century.”
During the restoration, the whitewash of the external walls was removed, the necessary repairs were made, in particular, the seams were caulked with gray cement mortar. Researchers currently have no consensus on whether the walls of the cathedral were originally covered with grout or not. So V.V. Kavelmacher believes that removing the whitewash was a mistake by the restorers, which gave the cathedral excessively dry lines.
The question of the need for new repairs was raised in 1909 by the Moscow Synodal Office. The discussion was mainly about the state of painting and the need to replace the heating system of 1856. In 1910, the highest approved Special Commission for the restoration of the Great Moscow Assumption Cathedral was created, headed by Senator A. A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov. The commission included officials from some departments, many prominent specialists: V.V. Suslov, M.P. Botkin, P.P. Pokryshkin, N.P. Likhachev, R.I. Klein, I.P. Mashkov, A. I. Uspensky, N. V. Pokrovsky. Academician S.U. Solovyov was appointed as the producer of the work, and after his death in 1912, I.P. Mashkov. In parallel with the repair and restoration work, a detailed study of the cathedral and its measurements (entrusted to Pokryshkin) were carried out. The initial work program specifically and in great detail argued for the need to carefully record the existing features of the monument for its competent restoration.
It was possible (according to Mashkov’s design) to lower the Cathedral Square so significantly that there was no need to build a trench along the façade. Simultaneously with the opening of the plinth, the cathedral portals were restored. The southern portal only needed repairs and replacement of the destroyed material, while the lower part of the northern one was lost. When removing the cultural layer, traces of the bases of its columns were discovered. In addition to the shape of the monument, some attention was paid to its texture. The idea came up to remove the rigid jointing of the external cladding. But they were afraid to clear the seams, fearing that the edges of the stones might break off with the cement. Painting the cement jointing was considered useless due to the fragility of the paint. So we left the seams as is. During restoration, it was allowed to replace the original material with a more durable one, if it was not very different in appearance. The northern portal was carved not from Myachkovo stone, but from white Radom sandstone. They tried to make the lower profile of the plinth - the fillet - from gray granite, but the color didn’t suit them and they filled it with wild stone (also instead of Myachkovsky limestone).
The restoration of paintings caused much more controversy. The clearing was carried out very carefully and accurately under the constant supervision of the commission. But two questions arose: about filling in the gaps in the old painting being discovered and about its texture. The very fact of the need for an addition did not raise any questions - temple painting in a functioning church should be a coherent text. The only question arose about who would do this work better, who would come closer to the spirit of 17th-century painting - icon painters or artists of the latest trends. Suslov defended the latter, who were capable of being imbued with the artistic principles of the monument, while icon painters, in his opinion, were artisans accustomed to a certain stencil. To this they objected to him that the artist is inclined to express his own individuality, which has no place in restoration, and the technology of modern painting itself is so different from traditional that a modern artist suddenly cannot master it. In most cases, modern artists cannot make exact copies of ancient samples. For icon painters, the works of the 17th century are the models on which they were brought up. It was decided to entrust the work to icon painters.
The second problem - about the texture of the frescoes - consisted of two questions. One of them has been the subject of much debate. This is a question about painting backgrounds. Originally the backgrounds were gold, but the gilding has not survived. Pokryshkin insisted on leaving ivory-tone gesso as the background. Hem argued that painting has no original power and fresh gilding will kill it. Time has left its mark on the frescoes “not to deteriorate the artistic impression, but on the contrary.” Gesso is "incomprehensibly beautiful." He was supported by Shirinsky-Shikhmatov. But the majority of the commission (including Suslov, Lansere) insisted on gilding for the sake of “complete restoration of historical truth.” Such an argument might seem to be a very formal adherence to iconographic criteria. But to this it was added that “one cannot be guided by modern tastes.”
The second question concerned the methods of fixing the painting. After several experiments, we decided to use a 17th-century remedy - poppy drying oil. Drying oil increased the color intensity and added shine to the painting surface.
Even at the very beginning of the work, in 1912, “Old Years,” while approving the discovery of the architectural profiles of the cathedral, objected to the restoration of the painting. “Are there any means at all to restore that wonderful range of paintings, on which time has imposed its amazing patina... Is it possible and appropriate to restore at least Giotto’s frescoes?” The cathedral's protopresbyter, Lyubimov, pointed out that the cathedral is not a museum, but a house of prayer. You cannot leave icons without hands and heads, you cannot neglect the usual views - icons have always been decorated with gold. Another thing is that small losses could not be corrected, large ones could be neutrally tinted, however, restoring the faces. Lyubimov’s idea was developed by Mashkov. There are two types of restoration: for science and for temples. Firstly, the priority is conservation. This is how the frescoes of Savior Nereditsa should be restored. This is essentially a museum, since the service occurs only once a year. And the frescoes there are ancient. In Uspensky, the murals are less valuable historically and artistically, and there are many losses. It was necessary to take into account the liturgical significance of the cathedral.
In August 1917, Grabar informed Chelnokov that the Moscow Arts Council recognized the principles of the 1910 Commission as incorrect, and that it was decided that in the future only clearing would be carried out, without records, gilding and plating. But after consultations with representatives of the Petrograd Council for Arts, it was decided to continue the work as before.
The restoration ended in January 1918, first due to a lack of electricity, then due to the demarche of icon painters who demanded from the Moscow Sov. The department should seal everything and conduct an audit: otherwise, in the conditions of a stoppage of work, “the Commission may commit abuses.”
History of the monument. From the October Revolution to the Great Patriotic War
A new era in the life of the monument began with the revolutionary events in the Kremlin that took place on November 2, 1917. The Assumption Cathedral, like some other Kremlin buildings, was damaged by artillery shelling: the central, southwestern and southeastern chapters were damaged. “The impacts of these fragments were so strong that they pushed whole bricks inside the cathedral, and from these shifts the plaster with paintings in several places fell off and peeled off... there is an oval hole in the dome drum, the southwestern sail under the drum of the Praise Chapel is causing concern. Large fragments of stone, brick, limestone and brick dust cover the image above the “treasury” in a thick layer, the tiers of scaffolding, the salt and the floor near the salt... this dust covers both the icons of the iconostasis and all surrounding objects,” according to the inspection report of the cathedral, drawn up on 10 November P.P. Pokryshkin and E.O. Visilem. Nevertheless, the commission’s conclusions were optimistic: “In general, we can assume that the cathedral can be put in order and restored without difficulty, like all more or less damaged architectural monuments in the Kremlin.” On November 20, 1918, the cathedral was examined by the architect of the Moscow Palace Administration, academician I.V. Rylsky, and estimates for restoration were drawn up by the architect V. Markovnikov. One of the explanatory notes relating to restoration work in the Kremlin reports that “the work of 1917-1918 almost everything was corrected and now it is difficult to understand that the Kremlin was shelled.”
The fact that the damage, fortunately, was insignificant, is also indicated by the fact that already on November 21, on the day of the Entry of the Mother of God, Moscow Metropolitan Tikhon was installed as patriarch in the cathedral. He became the first Russian patriarch after a long period of synodal rule of the church (1724-1917). In 1918, the Assumption Cathedral, like the entire Kremlin, was closed due to the placement of the RSFSR government in the Kremlin. The last service in the church, held on Easter, inspired the artist P.D. Korin to conceive the idea of the painting “Departing Rus'.”
Kremlin monuments, including the Assumption Cathedral, became museums not immediately after the October Revolution, but only six years later. This was preceded by a number of documents that appeared in 1918. These are the decree “On the separation of church and state” of January 3, 1918 and order No. 33 of March 4, 1918 on the abolition of the church clergy, as well as the order of the People's Commissar for Education A.V. Lunacharsky dated January 3, 1918, declaring that all monuments of art and antiquity located in the Kremlin were declared the property of the Republic.
In October 1922, the Assumption Cathedral, along with other churches and monasteries, as well as some of the other ancient monuments of the Kremlin, became part of an independent museum association under the name "Management of Kremlin Cathedral Museums." However, already in 1924, in connection with the transfer of the Grand Kremlin Palace to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, its museum part, previously included, together with the Armory, under the jurisdiction of the museum department of the People's Commissariat for Education, was annexed to the Administration of Cathedral Museums; the latter, reorganized into the Kremlin monuments department, was annexed to the Armory Chamber as its branch.
During the period of the late 10s and early 20s of the 20th century, restorations and openings of many ancient icons were carried out. The restoration plan was outlined at the end of 1917, and in the summer of 1918, a restoration workshop for the preservation and discovery of monuments of ancient Russian painting, located until 1921 in the Kremlin, in the premises of the former Synodal office, began work. Later it was transferred to the former house of the Moscow Archaeological Society on Bersenevskaya Embankment, and since 1924 it was transformed into the Central State Restoration Workshops. During these years, many ancient icons were restored, constituting the pride and glory of domestic and world artistic culture; their list was headed by the famous icon “Our Lady of Vladimir” (the first third of the 12th century, restored by G. O. Chirikov), which became the palladium of the Russian state. After restoration, many of these icons were transferred to the Historical Museum, and in 1930, after the decision was made to organize a department of ancient Russian art in the Tretyakov Gallery, three pre-Mongol icons of the Assumption Cathedral were transferred there from the Historical Museum: “Our Lady of Vladimir”, “The Annunciation of Ustyug” " and "Savior Not Made by Hands." They are still kept in the Gallery to this day. Even earlier (in 1918), the Tretyakov Gallery icon, grandiose in size, “The Church Militant” from the middle of the 16th century was transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery.
According to the decree of February 26, 1922, in April of the same year, the confiscation of church valuables from the Kremlin churches and monasteries, including the Assumption Cathedral, began for transfer to Gokhran and the famine relief fund. According to the General Inventory of valuables seized from the Assumption Cathedral, only in April 1922, 13 boxes containing 67 pounds 2 pounds 31 spools of silver were transferred to Gokhran, to which a little later, on September 9 of the same year, another 9 pounds of scrap silver were added , consisting of 17 lamps, a silver shrine of Hermogenes and a large silver candlestick from the same shrine, made according to a drawing by Vasnetsov. Fortunately, the issue of the golden robe from the icon “Our Lady of Vladimir” was resolved in favor of the museum, while, however, the diamond necklace and all later jewelry of the 18th - 19th centuries were removed. (they were transferred to Gokhran). This is how the dispute that arose back in 1913-1914 was dramatically and at the same time radically resolved about how to exhibit ancient icons in the Assumption Cathedral after they had been opened and what to do with the frames (make them removable or opening like sashes)
However, already in 1922, the team of the Armory and cathedral museums began to fight to change the situation. The Regulations of the Armory Chamber Museum as a “museum of the highest achievements of decorative art” and the Regulations on the Management of the Kremlin Cathedral Museums were developed and approved. On January 10, 1924, on the initiative of N. N. Pomerantsev, head of the Kremlin monuments department, a petition was filed with the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to open the Kremlin churches for viewing and to allocate the necessary funds for this. However, the position of the Assumption Cathedral, like other museums in the Kremlin monuments department, continued to remain very difficult. Due to the absence of such a common income item for other museums as entrance fees, it was necessary to find funds to support the monuments through the sale of “non-museum” property, in particular, candle wax, vestments, etc.
Throughout the 1930-1940s. From the Assumption Cathedral and other Kremlin monuments, primarily abolished, the issuance of objects, mainly from precious and non-ferrous metals, continued to the State Fund, Rudmetalltorg, and Antiques (in 1930 alone, 1,219 objects were donated). The icons “of interest for anti-religious work” (240 in number) were transferred to the Anti-Religious Museum.
The condition of the Kremlin monuments, including the Assumption Cathedral, remained grave. The roof was leaking, and there was no money for repairs; in winter and spring, the walls were covered with thick frost, ice build-up formed on the floor, which is why the cathedral had to be closed to visitors. All this led to a significant deterioration in the condition of monumental and easel painting. In 1934, a Commission was created to inspect buildings of historical and artistic significance, which included I.E. Grabar, architect D.P. Sukhov and artists Chernyshev and Yakovlev. The Secretariat of the Central Election Commission decides to propose to the Civil Department of the Criminal Code of the MK to begin in 1935 the complete restoration of the Kremlin monuments and complete it by 1939, and also recognize the need to preserve the three most significant cathedrals from a historical and artistic point of view - the Assumption, Archangel and Annunciation. However, this decision was not implemented due to lack of funds and personnel. Very soon the work was completely stopped, the employees were fired, and since 1936 the Department of Monuments itself ceased to exist.
History of the Assumption Cathedral in the second half of the 20th century
Information about cathedrals during the war period 1941-1945. more than meager. It is reported that more than 100 icons have been strengthened in the workshops of the Tretyakov Gallery, including those from the Assumption Cathedral. The question of the need to install heating, ventilation and electric lighting in the cathedral was raised again and again. Only in 1946 did systematic work begin to strengthen the icons and frescoes in the cathedral. The painting restoration commission included such outstanding scientists and artists as I.E. Grabar (its chairman), M.V. Alpatov, V.N. Lazarev, G.V. Zhidkov, P.D. Corinne. Plans were drawn up for the restoration paintings of the Assumption Cathedral, which was entrusted to the Central Art and Restoration Workshop of the Committee for Arts under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, organized at the end of 1944. This work was carried out by a specially invited group of Paleshan artists who worked under the direct supervision of P.D. Korin and with scientific consultations from N.E. Mneva and N.A. Demina. It was decided to leave the paintings on the southern and eastern facades, which turned out to be in better preservation, and restore the almost lost paintings above the western portal and on the northern wall based on the surviving graphics and photographs of 1895.
An examination of the murals in the interior of the cathedral showed that the hole in the central drum (1917) was not plastered; some of the paintings were cleared and re-recorded in 1914-1917. (north nave). The chapters and vaults in the southern nave were completed, but the painting on the wall and pillars was only cleared. The scaffolding erected more than forty years ago still stood there. The restoration did not affect the vaults of the central nave and main altar at all. The condition of the painting was deplorable: the paint layer was crumbling, streaks from moisture, mold and emchus were visible. The commission decided to carry out only conservation work, during which the entire surface of the wall painting was strengthened, washed and brought into exposition form. At the same time, the question was raised about the need to restore heating and electric lighting in the cathedral, which was done only in 1949-1950.
Since the mid-50s. the situation in the country is gradually beginning to change for the better, which affects, in particular, the attitude towards Kremlin monuments. In 1954, after a long break, excursions were organized to the newly restored Assumption (tour guide N.V. Gordeev) and Annunciation (tour guide E.I. Sergeeva) cathedrals, and from June 20, 1955, the Kremlin opened for free access to visitors. This important event necessitated the publication of a number of books and guides to the Kremlin monuments. However, the true revival of the Kremlin cathedrals, including the Assumption Cathedral, and their transformation into real museum complexes began only after the transfer of museums to the jurisdiction of the USSR Ministry of Culture in February 1960. Since the 1960s. In the Assumption Cathedral, systematic work on the restoration of monumental and easel painting begins, which continues until the mid-80s. They are carried out by the Central Scientific and Restoration Workshops, transformed in 1967 into the All-Union Production Scientific and Restoration Plant (VPNRK), since 1981 renamed the All-Union Association "Soyuzrestavratsiya". In 1959, the restoration artist GS, who was on the museum staff in 1948 and supervised all painting works, went to work there. Batkhel, whose name is associated with the discovery of many ancient monuments of painting of the Assumption Cathedral.
Simultaneously with the work on the restoration of paintings, a comprehensive architectural and archaeological study of the Assumption Cathedral began in 1962. For the first time, it included a full-scale study of the monument in such a complete manner: from the study of ancient foundations and remains of masonry of buildings of 1326 and 1472-1474. and the proposed construction of the end of the 13th century until the technical condition of its structures, foundations, and metal connections is clarified. The program also included a study, based on written sources and the results of surveys, of the reasons for the salinity of the masonry, which destroyed the surface of the walls and the lower part of the paintings, the reasons for the occurrence of condensation on the vaults, in the drums of the domes and window openings. The goal was to regulate the parameters of the temperature and humidity conditions in the interior of the cathedral, which should have contributed to better preservation of the monuments of painting and applied art in the cathedral and the creation of normal conditions for the exhibition use of the monument. The results of these studies formed the basis of design assignments for the major restoration carried out in the cathedral from 1974 to 1985.
Conducted in the 1960-1970s. architectural and archaeological research of the monument in the underground space, as well as the continuation that began in 1912-1913. archaeologist S.S. Zakatov's survey in the northern part of Cathedral Square provided rich material to clarify the ancient topography of the Moscow settlement of the 12th-14th centuries, with a cult center and a cemetery attached to it, which appeared long before the construction of the Ivan Kalita Cathedral, and to clarify the history of the early stages of the architectural history of the Assumption Cathedral.
In 1962, the Kremlin monuments department was restored, which included five scientific curators, and was headed by O.V. as acting head. Zonova. The first financially responsible custodian of the Assumption Cathedral was N.I. Laptev (Rumyantseva), later at the post, replacing each other, T.B. consistently worked. Ukhova, who later became the head of the department, I.Ya. Kachalova (from 1968 to 1974), T.V. Tolstaya (from 1974 to 1985) and, finally, E.Ya. Ostashenko. Exposition work in the cathedral also continued. Back in 1962, employees began writing methodological developments for guides to cathedrals; the author of the text on the Assumption Cathedral was O.V. Zonov (its second expanded edition was published in 1971). In 1964, they began to create thematic and exhibition plans for the Assumption and Archangel Cathedrals, however, due to the ongoing restoration work in the Assumption Cathedral, which even required its temporary closure in 1966-1968 and 1977-1980. these plans were not destined to come true for many years. All this time, when the cathedral was opened to visitors, only temporary exhibitions were created in it, which were hung on canvas boards that enclosed the scaffolding and walls of the cathedral and moved depending on the transfer of the scaffolding.
The decade from the mid-70s to the mid-80s was marked by a new stage of large-scale restoration and technical reconstruction of the cathedral. They were preceded by a comprehensive study of the monument based on a program approved by the Academic Council of the Kremlin Museums back in September 1964. It included clarification of the technical condition of the building envelope, its foundations, vaults, girth arches and connections, as well as the reasons causing increased humidity and salinity of the masonry, which causes damage and destruction of the murals in the cathedral. A particular problem was finding out the causes of condensation on the vaults and in window openings, which sometimes caused precipitation in the interior of the cathedral and destruction of the coating of window blocks, as well as establishing the necessary and stable parameters of temperature and humidity conditions. During 1974-1976 The foundation was cemented along the perimeter of the building and at the eastern pylons to prevent its settlement. The weakened and sometimes broken ancient metal connections were strengthened with eleven cables made of high-strength steel. At the same time, conservation of the remains of ancient stonework in archaeological pits was carried out. The metal window blocks installed in the early 60s were replaced with duplicated ones with sealed double-glazed windows, and a thermal curtain was installed in the western vestibule, which stopped condensation. The new air conditioning system ensured the maintenance of stable temperature and humidity parameters in the cathedral, necessary to create optimal conditions for the preservation of monuments in its interior. In those same years, the roof of the cathedral was covered with copper sheets, and the domes, covered with durable galvanic gilding at the end of the 19th century, were repaired and left unchanged.
In 1980, the bulk of the repair and restoration work was completed and the cathedral was opened for the duration of the Olympics. However, due to the restoration of the Armory Chamber and the Assumption Chamber that followed the restoration of the cathedrals, the belfry, in which the silver funds and the library were located, these funds were temporarily (for two years) placed in the Assumption Cathedral and the Myrrh Chamber, and the cathedral was closed again. It was only in 1983 that visitor access to the cathedral was resumed, although the restoration of the murals in its altar premises continued in 1984-1986. (main altar) and in 1994-1995. (in the Pokhvalsky chapel), and the cathedral exposition received its final completion only in 1995.
In 1979, the 500th anniversary of the Assumption Cathedral was solemnly celebrated, although the monument itself was still in the forests and inaccessible to visitors. To mark the anniversary, an album was released and a conference was held, based on the materials of which a collection of articles was later published.
Finally, the final page in the history of the Assumption Cathedral in the 20th century, which had gone through a century-long path of restoration, gains and losses, and had survived periods of decline and revival, was the combination of two functions in it - a museum and a temple. Since August 1991, festive services have resumed there, and by agreement reached between the Patriarchate, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Museum, the Assumption Cathedral retains the status of a museum, everything in it remains inviolable, and the museum staff and church ministers jointly make efforts to ensure that the Assumption Cathedral - this true treasury of culture has lived for centuries.
Legendary Thirty, route
Through the mountains to the sea with a light backpack. Route 30 passes through the famous Fisht - this is one of the most grandiose and significant natural monuments of Russia, the highest mountains closest to Moscow. Tourists travel lightly through all the landscape and climatic zones of the country from the foothills to the subtropics, spending the night in shelters.
Golden domes
The construction site at the corner of Yurlovskaya Street and Dezhneva Passage on the border of the Otradnoye and Medvedkovo districts was filled with people from early morning. Women in long skirts and headscarves walked arm in arm with serious, bearded men in leather jackets. Girls in lace headscarves and sunglasses trotted nearby in high heels—some stopping to take selfies. Children from schools in the Otradnoye district carried white balloons in the shape of doves in their hands, and schoolchildren from Medvedkovo carried flowers. Athletic-looking young men unfurled a red banner, on which was written in gold letters: “Your Holiness, the youth of the North-Eastern Administrative District welcomes you!”
Thus, on April 22, 2015, a prayer service began for the consecration of the foundation stone of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Burning Bush”.
A temporary platform was installed in the middle of the foundation piles; Around noon, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' walked up the red carpet. He was accompanied by the Patriarch's adviser on construction issues, curator of the program for the construction of 200 churches and State Duma deputy Vladimir Resin, as well as Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev.
Consecration of the foundation stone of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Burning Bush”. Transneft provided funds for the construction of the church. (Photo: Ekaterina Kuzmina / RBC)
“The more dynamically life develops, the more rapidly scientific and technical achievements develop,” Patriarch Kirill’s voice was amplified by the speakers. “The greater the role machines, automatic machines and other soulless systems play in people’s lives, the more important it is for a person to strengthen his spirit so as to never become a slave to external circumstances, to preserve his God-given freedom, and with this freedom the true human dimension of his life.” May the Lord bless the builders, donors, and all those who work to build this temple of God. “I would like to express special gratitude to Nikolai Tokarev, the head of Transneft, who, together with his employees, on behalf of the organization he heads, decided to assist in the construction of this holy temple.”
The temple in Otradnoye for 500 parishioners is being built by the Krost concern, a permanent contractor of the Russian Orthodox Church for more than 20 years, and Transneft is the benefactor.
According to Tokarev, the temple will be built before the end of 2016 and will cost the company 270 million rubles. “The road to this temple was not fast,” Tokarev explained to an RBC correspondent. “But we decided to give money for construction without hesitation.” The company has been interacting with the Russian Orthodox Church for many years, and also helps build mosques in Tatarstan and Bashkiria. “Yes, building a temple is a very expensive undertaking,” admitted Tokarev. “But on this point the interests of the Russian Orthodox Church and Transneft coincide.”
Transneft is one of the many structures with whose money the program for the construction of churches in Moscow is being implemented. RBC figured out how churches are built, which entrepreneurs help the patriarchate in this, and how much it all costs.
Start
A few days after his enthronement, on February 5, 2009, Patriarch Kirill met with the then mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov. The meeting discussed the acute shortage of churches in Moscow; Luzhkov promised to build churches in such a way “that there would be no places where the Temple of God was not within walking distance.” At that time, the total number of churches and chapels in the diocese of the city of Moscow was 837 (as RBC was told in the Moscow Patriarchate, now there are 945). “If we take a conditional figure that corresponds to the statistics of baptisms, then in order for Moscow to reach the average figure for Russia, which is 11,200 people per parish, 591 churches are needed,” the patriarch complained then. The minimum need was estimated at 200 new churches.
Former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov (pictured on the left, Patriarch Kirill on the right) promised to build churches in such a way “that there would be no places where the Temple of God was not within walking distance” (Photo: TASS)
A few months after the conversation between the patriarch and the mayor, a decree of the Moscow government was prepared regulating the allocation of plots for construction. But it was no longer signed by Luzhkov: at the end of September 2010, the mayor was dismissed. Order No. 2367-RP “On ensuring measures for the selection of land plots for the design and construction of Orthodox temple complexes in the city of Moscow” was signed at that time by the acting mayor and the head of the capital’s construction complex, Vladimir Resin. He signed the document on October 20, 2010, the day before the appointment of the new mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
But Sobyanin does not lose sight of the program. “For historical reasons, existing churches are located in the city center,” says the mayor’s response to RBC’s questions. “Take the subway on Sunday morning,” the mayor urges. “You will definitely see people with Orthodox prayer books in their hands who are forced to get up before dawn to get to the temple.” At the same time, the mayor’s office only “helps with the preparation of documents” (for land plots that the prefectures select together with the Moscow Committee for Architecture) and holding public hearings “on the feasibility of constructing churches” when choosing sites for construction. If the consent of citizens is received, the Department of Land Resources approves the layout of the plots on the cadastral map and formalizes the right of the “religious organization to land plots” for free, urgent use.
To collect private donations for the construction of churches under the “200 Temples” program, in January 2010, the Financial and Economic Administration (FHU) of the Russian Orthodox Church established the Fund to Support the Construction of Temples in the City of Moscow. He enters into an agreement with benefactors “On donations for construction” and transfers money.
The chairman of the board of the fund is the head of the Federal Christian Institution of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Mark of Yegoryevsk. The co-chairs of the board of trustees are Patriarch Kirill and Sergei Sobyanin, among the board members are German Gref (Sberbank), Vladimir Potanin (Interros), Vladimir Yakunin (Russian Railways), Alexey Miller (Gazprom). Who fills this fund and how?
Whose money
Archbishop Mark and Vladimir Resin estimate the annual budget for the construction of churches in Moscow at 1 billion rubles. The Fund to Support the Construction of Temples, as stated in its report for 2014 (available to RBC), collected about half of this amount - 533 million (in 2011, fees were four times less - 122 million). 97% of these revenues in 2014 were provided by legal entities, according to the fund’s documents.
In first place is the charitable Foundation for the Revival of the Staritsky Holy Dormition Monastery, which transferred 165.7 million rubles for the construction of churches. The foundation's charter states: its founders “are individuals who have joined forces to achieve the goals of the foundation, on the basis of voluntary property contributions.” The chairman of the fund's board is Viktor Khristenko, former minister of industry and trade, now chairman of the board of the Eurasian Economic Commission. Among the founders is Khristenko’s wife, head of the Accounts Chamber Tatyana Golikova, a representative of the fund told RBC. According to Golikova’s declaration, their family’s total income for 2013 amounted to 16 million rubles. In addition to them, the founders of the fund are the ex-minister’s longtime associates: his former deputy and now investment banker Andrei Dementyev, the ex-head of Oboronprom Andrei Reus, as well as the current chairman of the board of directors of Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant OJSC Sergei Preobrazhensky (data from SPARK).
Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for the Revival of the Staritsky Holy Dormition Monastery, former Minister of Industry and Trade Viktor Khristenko and his wife, Chairman of the Accounts Chamber Tatyana Golikova, one of the founders of the fund, found funds for the construction of a temple on Mozhaisk Highway (Photo: Kommersant)
Patriarch Kirill suggested taking part in the construction of one of the churches under the Khristenko program, according to the response of the press service of the Eurasian Economic Commission to RBC’s request. The ex-minister agreed. By the end of 2014, a temple was built on Mozhaiskoye Highway, which received the status of the patriarchal metochion of the Holy Dormition Staritsky Monastery for 300 parishioners.
Other major donors to the Temple Construction Support Fund include the Yutis Foundation, affiliated with Vasily Anisimov’s Coalco group of companies. Utis donated 108 million rubles. (Anisimov declined to comment for this article.)
In last place in the list of large donors is the Sistema charitable foundation (AFK Sistema) with 16 million rubles. According to the president of the Sistema Charitable Foundation, Tatyana Gvilava, the foundation is financing the construction of a church in honor of St. Hermogenes for 200 parishioners on Osennyaya Street. The first stone was laid in 2012; Over the course of three years, the Sistema Charitable Foundation invested 50 million rubles in the construction of the temple. The chairman of the board of directors of Sistema, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, took part in the ceremony of consecrating the stone.
Donors donate half of the budget directly, asking, in Mark’s words, “for the blessing of the patriarch, but without concluding an agreement with the foundation and working with the parish.”
Money on faith
The list of businessmen-donators is very diverse - from the richest and most famous to mid-level entrepreneurs. According to the memoirs of Vladimir Resin, Vladimir Potanin, who ranks first on the Forbes list in 2015 with a fortune of $15.4 billion, several months ago personally turned to the patriarch “with a request to bless the financing of the construction of churches.” The blessing was received, and Resin recommended Potanin two addresses for construction. The press service of MMC Norilsk Nickel confirmed to RBC that Norilsk Nickel is building a temple complex in honor of the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky (Lobachevsky St.) for 800 parishioners and the Church of All Saints in the Russian Land of the Radiant (the intersection of Novocheremushkinskaya St. and Garibaldi St. ) for 500 parishioners. According to Archbishop Mark of Yegoryevsk, Potanin has already transferred about 70 million rubles for the construction of two churches. One of the program developers, in a conversation with RBC, estimated the total costs at 600 million rubles.
“Potanin is a great guy: just recently he asked for a blessing for the construction of churches, transferred the money and immediately topped the Forbes list. So you see, everything is done not without the help of God,” the archbishop smiles. But Gazprom, although it is part of the board of trustees, has not yet given money for the construction of churches, he complains in a conversation with an RBC correspondent.
Some donors prefer to remain in the shadows. For example, during the construction of the Church of the All-Merciful Savior in Mitino for 500 people, which cost 270 million rubles, 40% of the amount was given directly to the parish by “donors under conditions of the strictest anonymity,” the rector of the temple, Priest Gregory Geronimus, told RBC. According to three RBC sources familiar with the details of the construction of the temple, the founder of Yandex, Arkady Volozh, took part in the project. According to a Yandex representative, “among Volozh’s relatives and friends there are indeed those who were and are parishioners of this temple,” many took part in the fundraising, but Volozh himself was not among the donors.
The foundation of the Mitino temple was laid by Arkady Baskaev, former commander of the Moscow Military District and ex-State Duma deputy from United Russia. The Ratniki Foundation, led by Baskaev, allocated 10 million rubles. According to the ex-deputy, the then deputy prefect of the Northwestern District, Pavel Kozlov, asked him to give money for the temple: “Because a branch of my foundation is located in the Arfa shopping center, the owners of which are my daughters,” he explained. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Raisa Arkadyevna Baskaeva, Natalya Arkadyevna Baskaeva and Olga Arkadyevna Yaremchuk own Alanis LLC, which owns the Arfa shopping complex (with an area of 9.5 thousand sq. m), located on the 73rd km of the Moscow Ring Road.
One of the most generous donors to the 200 Temples program is businessman Mikhail Abramov. The founder and philanthropist of the Museum of Russian Icons, owner of Plaza Development (specializing in business centers of category B+ in industrial zones of Moscow), Abramov, according to him, donated about 700 million rubles for the construction of two churches. He is sure: for a person who cares how our state will develop, participation in the program is a great honor and good luck. He assures that he always wanted to build a temple: now his company “Most-63” is building a temple for 500 parishioners in Brateevo, “more than 300 million rubles have already been invested, the foundation has been laid.” The project was developed by architect Dmitry Barkhin, with whom the businessman built the Vereyskaya Plaza 2 office center. Abramov talks about his new creation with great enthusiasm: “A mega-scale idea, a grandiose cathedral.” Until the temple is completed, residents of Brateevo can visit a small wooden chapel designed by the same Barkhin: “It was conceived as Kizhi, 17th century, the idea was taken from Arkhangelsk,” Abramov describes the chapel. He is sure: the “200 churches” program is a colossal idea of the city authorities, which, unfortunately, is now “not moving as quickly as we would like.”
The problem, Mikhail insists, is that “a huge number of businessmen,” instead of “giving money” to churches, “are leaving the country” for some cozy place in Europe. “I believe that the country will cope with external problems and become a serious, powerful state,” the businessman hopes. Abramov himself sympathizes with the current government, which actively supports the Russian Orthodox Church. “I completely agree with everything that is happening today. I, of course, don’t like what’s happening in the economy at all,” explains Abramov.
Less enterprising entrepreneurs are drawn into the “200 Temples” program by its main driver, Vladimir Resin. To do this, he uses extensive contacts acquired over the years of managing the Moscow construction complex.
"Phenomenal organizer"
79-year-old Resin has not had the status of an official for a long time, but his office is still located in one of the Moscow government buildings on Nikitsky Lane, next door to the vice-mayor for construction Marat Khusnullin. At the end of 2012, Patriarch Kirill invited Resin to become a construction adviser on a voluntary basis under the patriarchate. “The “200 Temples” program, which the former vice-mayor has been overseeing since its launch, clearly has his thoughts: in Resin’s spacious office there was even a place for a model of one of the largest and most significant projects of the program - the Church of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God for 1 thousand parishioners on Michurinsky avenue. Resin willingly shows it to his guests.
The main curator of the program for the construction of 200 churches is State Duma deputy and adviser to the patriarch on construction issues, former first vice-mayor of Moscow Vladimir Resin
This 57 m high temple was built at the request of the residents of the nearby FSB Academy. According to the recollections of the rector of the church, Archpriest Valery Baranov, the initiative came from the leadership and students of the FSB Academy: “From there they also turned to the late Patriarch Alexy, he gave his blessing.” At the stage of collecting documents, the church entered the “200 churches” program, where the document collection scheme is “centralized” and everything happens “in cooperation with the authorities.” Construction is scheduled to be completed in the fall; Now the rector estimates the expenses at 500 million rubles. Of these, 250 million were invested by the general contractor concern Krost (it is building four churches for the program), 110 million rubles. The Monarch construction company provided the rest; the rest was provided by anonymous donors.
The head of Monarch, Sergei Ambartsumyan, was asked for additional investments by both Resin himself and the head of the FSB Academy, Viktor Ostroukhov (the FSB Academy did not respond to RBC’s request). “We were building the building of the FSB Academy, that’s why they asked us. The rector is collecting money, attracting money for construction, we gave it,” explains Ambartsumyan. According to him, he agreed to the allocation of money with pleasure: “I built a temple on Trifonovskaya, built a temple on Poklonnaya Hill. Every big company like ours should do this.”
According to Ambartsumyan, “if it weren’t for the energy of the phenomenal organizer Vladimir Resin,” the program would have moved much more slowly. Alexey Dobashin, general director of the Krost concern, agrees with him: thanks to Resin’s requests, the concern invested about 350 million rubles in the construction of four churches under the program.
At Resin’s call, the program included the company Rechnikov Invest (the construction business of the AEON group of Roman Trotsenko and the Ferro-Stroy company, controlled by the co-owners of the Evraz Group Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov). Dmitry Starostin, chairman of the company’s board of directors, in the past worked closely with the former head of the capital’s construction complex. In 2014, Rechnikov transferred 50 million rubles. for the construction of the Church of St. Spyridon of Trimifuntsky in the Nagatinsky backwater (in just a year and a half, donations from the Rechnikov Invest company amounted to 90 million rubles). Initially, the construction of the temple was financed by the VTB group: according to two RBC sources familiar with the construction progress, the bank allocated 100 million rubles for the construction, after which donations stopped (the press service of the VTB group RBC confirmed the fact of its participation in the program, refusing further comments ).
“We are building a residential complex on the territory of the Moscow Shipyard, 500 m from the temple. A year and a half ago, Resin asked us for a favor,” Starostin restores the chronicle of events. “They started talking about specifics, I said to Resin: “I’m afraid that we will pay the money, but it won’t be enough again. Since we are sitting next to the construction site, you will come to us and say: “Give me another 100 million.” And it’s harder for us to make money than for a bank,” recalls Starostin. As a result, we agreed as follows: Rechnikov Invest LLC provides money for completion, but the company itself determines the timing and scope of work, controls the quality and results. Once a week, Starostin himself went to the construction site to monitor how things were going with the contractor, the SMU-2 company. When the proposal came from Resin, Starostin recalls, “we sat for a long time and thought together with the shareholders.” In the end, they decided to give money. “Because if we don’t agree, they will pester the prefect: “Go, get money for the temple from wherever you want!” — Starostin explains. “And the fact that we took over the temple is useful for the project, future residents and us, including when communicating with the prefecture and the government.” We are building a housing complex in Nagatino; there was no church in the plan, but for us this, of course, is useful in terms of a good deed and the comprehensive development of the entire territory. And it won’t ruin your reputation.”
At Resin’s request, MSM-5 CJSC also invested money in the construction of the temple. Chairman of the Board of Directors Obid Yasinov estimates the volume of donations at 270 million rubles: “Vladimir Iosifovich turned to us, we decided to help, since we have been working with him for 25 years: we built with his help in Mitino, in Izmailovo, in Kozhukhovo.” With money from MSM-5, a temple for 500 parishioners was built on Staroorlovskaya Street. Now, on Resin’s recommendation, MSM-5 CJSC is building a temple in honor of St. Hermogenes on Osennaya Street: “Here we are already acting as a contractor,” explains Yasinov. The construction is financed by the Sistema charitable foundation; according to Yasinov, “the fund was looking for a contractor, Resin recommended us.” From the point of view of benefits, Yasinov assures, the order is not profitable: “This order is not to make money, but so that construction does not stop.”
The first object of the “200 Temples” program, the Church of the Holy Blessed Prince Dmitry Donskoy on Polyarnaya Street, was built by the Doring-39 company (specializing in the construction of roads and transport interchanges). A quarter of a century ago, its leader, Gadzhi Gadzhimusaev, was hired by Vladimir Resin to work in Gordorstroy. Now Gadzhimusaev helps mosques in his native Dagestan and churches in the Moscow region. He is still devoted to Resin, and the investment is 120 million rubles. the construction of a church for 250 parishioners was “a natural thing” for him. “I asked Vladimir Iosifovich myself,” explains Gadzhi.
There are other large developers, for example, the Inteko company: its press service told RBC that Inteko, at its own expense, is carrying out monolithic work on the construction of the frame of the Church of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow on Sofia Kovalevskaya Street. The company chose an address in the Northern District next to several Inteko facilities: DSK No. 7, the Grand Park residential complex and the Liner complex. Several temples are being built at their own expense by Satori and SU-155 (representatives of the companies did not answer RBC’s questions).
Resin is more comfortable working with old acquaintances. “You know, in order to get a harvest, you need to sow seeds on prepared land. I turned to people whom I had known for a long time, with whom I had worked for a long time, and was confident that they would support me. Please note: I asked them at a time when I was no longer their vertical leader,” he explains in an interview with RBC.
Architects
In 1985, the head of the Guild of Temple Builders of Russia, Andrei Anisimov, worked as the chief architect of the city of Kogalym and sat in neighboring offices with Sergei Sobyanin - the future mayor of Moscow at that time held the post of head of public utilities. “I visited Moscow and brought boxes of Bodrost tea to my colleagues in Kogalym, which everyone really liked at that time, but there was none in the north. We loved to drink tea in my office, it was very cozy,” Anisimov recalls. Anisimov returned to Moscow in the late 1980s: the dismissal record in his work book was also signed by Sobyanin.
For the “200 Temples” program, Andrei Anisimov’s Workshops designed three temples. The architect has questions: “It’s not enough to create a temple project, it needs to be implemented correctly! And here a problem arises: a good modern builder sometimes does not know the subtleties and features of traditional architecture and does not know the necessary techniques. So often the project turns into a standard “New Russian” building.” According to Anisimov, his workshop made a design for the Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist in Brateevo, but the abbot paid 2 million rubles for the idea of the temple. and changed the project. The temple did not comment on the situation.
Recently, “Andrei Anisimov’s Workshops” left the facility - the temple on the street. 1st Volskaya in the Moscow district of Nekrasovka. The trustee of the temple is the Management Company "Avenue Management" (specialization - construction and development). “Non-payments often make further construction impossible,” explains the architect. The “workshops” were forced to stop working. The rector of the church in Nekrasovka, Archpriest Alexey Pshenichnikov, confirmed the debt to Anisimov in the amount of 7.6 million rubles. According to Pshenichnikov, “the debt belongs to the parish,” and Avenue Management took upon itself the financing of the temple “with an established debt,” to which it has nothing to do. “We pray that the Lord will help us repay the debt,” the archpriest told an RBC correspondent. Avenue Management did not answer RBC's questions.
The temple in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Education” in the Nekrasovka district is being built according to the design of an old friend of the capital’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin - the former chief architect of the city of Kogalym Andrei Anisimov (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
Eight churches in the “200 Temples” program are being built according to the designs of architect Andrei Obolensky, head of design workshop No. 12 of Mosproekt-2 named after Posokhin. In his opinion, the program is in a difficult situation: “It all started on such an emotional high, and now there is a crisis, many investors are refusing. There are unfinished churches for which there is no money yet.”
One of these temples is the church on the corner of the street. Bazhov and Malakhitova, the blessing for the construction of which was personally given by Patriarch Kirill, whose grandfather was born in Mordovia. The investor of the project is the interregional public organization “Mordovian Community”, as indicated on the program’s website. 10 million rubles collected. not enough yet. According to the head of the Mordovia representative office under the President, Viktor Chindyaskin, the community asked Resin for a one-year delay due to the crisis, after which “fundraising will continue.”
Road to the temple
The program is indeed facing difficult times, Archbishop Mark confirms. Members of the board of trustees are of little help: “At first, everyone made a down payment of 100 thousand rubles, but that was the end of the matter for many.” A joint program with the Bank of Moscow (the “Gift to the Shrine” line of cards: when making purchases for 2 thousand rubles, the bank will transfer 30 rubles to the Fund for Supporting the Construction of Temples) collected, according to the bank’s reporting, only about 190 thousand rubles. And a member of the board of trustees, the head of Sberbank, German Gref, does not offer an affiliate program, Mark notes.
However, Resin is sure that there is no such case that the temple will not be completed: “Believe me, everything is being built, just much slower than we would like.”
79-year-old Vladimir Resin has not had the status of an official for a long time, but his office is still located in one of the Moscow government buildings (Photo: Dmitry Ternovoy for RBC)
There is another difficulty - the allocation of plots for construction: residents, according to Mark, “sometimes protest against construction in their area.” The archbishop believes that these people are being intimidated: “They do not understand that on the site allocated for the temple, only a temple can be built and nothing else. There will be a flower garden, there will be a Sunday school, there will be a place for young people to gather.” “First, the parishioners themselves turn to the Russian Orthodox Church with a request for construction, only then they allocate a site,” says Vladimir Resin. “But here, you know, it happens like Chernomyrdin: we wanted the best, it turned out as always.” He also admits that there are “disagreements with the public.” Over the five years of the program, there were 27 sites on which they initially wanted to build churches, but then canceled them. “We are not at war with our people,” Resin assures.
Municipal deputies often oppose the construction of new churches. “We were going to build churches on four sites,” recalls Elena Rusakova, deputy of the Gagarinsky district. “Our residents instantly organized themselves: 2 thousand signatures were collected in two evenings, then there were more collections and repeated appeals. In one of the areas, a boulevard near Molodezhnaya Street, the struggle lasted for six months: local residents clashed with church supporters, Orthodox activist Kirill Frolov came to the Gagarinsky district with Cossacks, and in response, residents wrote letters to Putin, the patriarch and the prosecutor’s office.”
Patriarch's Infantry
“The project for the site for the construction of a church in honor of the Burning Bush icon was submitted to the municipal council for approval twice,” explains Otradnoe district deputy Mikhail Velmakin. “Initially, we were sent for approval a plot on which the temple was located on 0.7 hectares, but for approval we were sent a plan in which the temple already occupied 2 hectares of land - at the expense of the Sunday school and services.” All deputies of the municipal council, with the exception of Velmakin, spoke in favor of approving the site: a “separate opinion” was attached to the protocol, which recommended reducing the territory “from 2 hectares to 0.7 hectares.”
The temple, the construction of which is financed by Transneft, is being built on 2 hectares: six months before the start of construction, active residents held rallies against the construction, and Orthodox Christians organized prayer services in support of it.
This temple supports the social movement “Forty Sorokov”: more than a year ago it was founded by the father of nine children, owner of a logistics company and, according to him, composer Andrei Kormukhin and international master of sports in boxing Vladimir Nosov. In “Forty Sorokov,” Kormukhin lists, there are athletes, writers, artists, and journalists. There are also football fans in the movement: for example, the famous Spartak football fan Vasily (Killer) Stepanov takes part in organizing the “Orthodoxy and Sports” holidays. According to media reports, he collaborated with the “Walking Together” movement, led by Vasily Yakemenko. Stepanov and Yakemenko did not answer RBC’s questions. Kormukhin himself also supports Spartak.
“Our movement began when attacks on the church began: Pussy Riot, photographs of the patriarch’s watch. We realized that this is a planned attack on the Russian Orthodox Church and Orthodoxy, and the laity should stand up in defense of the mother church when they say, look, the priests are snickering,” Kormukhin is convinced.
Its founder describes the tactics of the movement with the term “hybrid war”: “We believe that His Holiness the Patriarch is the second person after the president. He sometimes calls us “our guardsmen.” The number of FSO officers to guard him, when everyone wants to touch him and take his blessing, is clearly not enough, so we, “voluntary traffic police assistants,” protect the patriarch during his appearances at public events. There are several thousand people on the move, Kormukhin estimates, 10 thousand subscribers in the group on VKontakte. Participants in the movement go “to public hearings in those areas” where they plan to build a temple. “People themselves tell us: “Guys, we will have hearings and a council of deputies, come and support.” They write in a personal message, we broadcast it to the public space, we attract children from the areas where the temple is to be built,” shares Kormukhin.
At the temple in honor of the holy martyr Tatiana of Rome on Krasnodarskaya Street, investors changed several times, which is why construction was delayed (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
Merging programs
Soon, cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and city authorities may strengthen: at the end of April, at the next meeting of the board of trustees of the Fund for the Support of Moscow Temples, Patriarch Kirill proposed combining the “200 temples” program with city analogues, according to which budget money is allocated for the restoration and restoration of churches. The purpose of the association is to optimize work in all areas and coordinate the restoration, restoration and construction of new churches from one center, Deacon Alexander Volkov, press secretary of Patriarch Kirill, explains to RBC. He is confident: “The Church and the Moscow authorities are not doing an opportunistic project, but a cause that is supported by people.”
In a practical sense, the union will look like this. The city part of the federal target program “Culture of Russia” will most likely be added to the “200 temples” program (the total funding budget for 2015 is 4.4 billion rubles), two sources familiar with the details of the merger told RBC. In addition to “Culture of Russia,” the unified program will also include a “small but popular” restoration program of the Moscow government, says Mayor Sobyanin in response to RBC’s request. According to Moscow Heritage Committee, in 2015 subsidies in the amount of up to 200 million rubles will be allocated for the restoration of 14 monuments of church architecture.
Archbishop Mark of Yegorievsk and Vladimir Resin were entrusted with developing the concept of the unified program. Financing, the archbishop explains, will be as follows: the restoration and restoration of churches in the city of Moscow will be carried out with state assistance, and the implementation of the “200 churches” program will, as before, be funded by private donations. You can already vote for the name of the program on the “Active Citizen” website, while “Golden-domed Moscow” is in the lead.
After the adoption of the new concept, the updated program will include an object that the authorities treat with special reverence - the Moscow Diocesan House with the Prince Vladimir Church. This is one of the places where in the summer they will hold events dedicated to the memory of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, the baptizer of Rus'. President Putin pays special attention to the anniversary: according to the budget of the “Culture of Russia” program, 20 million rubles are planned to be allocated for the restoration of the Cathedral Chamber of the diocesan house. This amount is also mentioned in the order of the Russian government dated September 2, 2014 “On holding events dedicated to the memory of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir, the Baptist of Rus',” signed by Prime Minister Medvedev. Before this, according to an RBC source close to the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, 500 million rubles were spent on the restoration of the destroyed building of the diocesan house. billionaire Arkady Rotenberg donated 100 million rubles. — businessman Vasily Anisimov, 80 million rubles. given by the head of the investment company Aton Evgeny Yuryev (the donors did not answer RBC’s questions).
The consecration of the Prince Vladimir Church is scheduled for July 6; a grand opening will take place in November, to which, according to an RBC source in the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Putin has been invited. “The state supports the restoration of churches, this is very good,” said Vice-Rector of St. Tikhon’s Humanitarian University Elena Markova. “This year is dedicated to the memory of Saint Prince Vladimir, and the main people, which is noteworthy, are Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Resin and Patriarch Kirill, who before becoming a monk also bore the name Vladimir.”
With the participation of Ivan Golunov