Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kolomenskoye. Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye Temple of the Ascension of the Lord Great Ascension
The Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kolomenskoye is an Orthodox church located in Kolomenskoye, which was previously a village and the residence of Russian princes, and today is part of the city limits of Moscow.
The Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye is a masterpiece of Russian and world architecture, perhaps the first tented church in Russia.
Story
According to legend, this church was decided to be built by the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III, who for a long time did not have a son to whom he could pass the throne. Already in adulthood, Vasily III became the father of the future Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. In honor of the baptism of the long-awaited heir, the Grand Duke ordered the construction of a church in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow.
The Church of the Ascension is also classified as a memorial church - built in honor of some event. The tradition of memorial churches in Rus' appeared in the 16th century.
Architecture Features
In the first half of the 16th century, Russian rulers invited Italian architects to build original churches and cathedrals, such as, for example, the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, the Rurik family tomb, the Archangel Cathedral and the walls of the Moscow Kremlin.
The architect of the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye was Peter Francis Anibale, an architect from Italy, who became famous in Rus' as Petrok Maly or Peter Fryazin. The Ascension Cathedral in Kolomenskoye was built in 1528-1532.
The unusual church amazes not only modern visitors to the museum-reserve; it was also unusual for people who lived in the 16th century. On the high bank of the Moscow River, a 62-meter white stone pillar rises on a powerful base of galleries. The main mood of the church is set by triple kokoshniks, reminiscent of flames, and a tent, the top of which is crowned with a golden cross. The slender silhouette of the Ascension Church in Kolomenskoye, directed towards the sky, also refers the imagination to images of defensive towers.
With its appearance, the temple speaks of a biblical event - the Ascension of Jesus Christ to God the Father.
The composition of the Temple of the Ascension is as follows: on the quadrangle, the lower base, an octagon, an octagonal pillar, topped with a tent, was erected. The tent in this case is a pyramid of several sides, externally reminiscent of fabric camping tents.
The main material of the building is brick; there are white stone elements. Due to their original appearance, the skyward tented churches are also called “Russian Gothic”, although the appearance of the Church of the Ascension also contains later elements. Previously, not a single stone temple in Rus' was decorated with a tent; only vaults and domes were used.
It is widely believed that the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye is the first Russian temple in the tent style. Historians have proven that the first tented church in Russia was built of wood near the Kremlin in honor of the birth of Ivan the Terrible, but has not survived to this day.
The interior of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord has not been preserved in its original form. The interior space is relatively small, since the church was used only by the princely family during their stay in their residence in Kolomenskoye. The Church of the Ascension is very light thanks to the skillful and proportional combination of architectural techniques and materials. The modern iconostasis was reconstructed according to the model of the iconostases of the 16th century and later periods.
Current state
Over the long period of its existence, the church was practically not rebuilt, which is why the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kolomenskoye was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the complex of buildings of the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve. The modern appearance of the temple does not fully correspond to the original appearance.
The first consecration of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord took place in Kolomenskoye in 1532, and the second consecration in 2000.
At the beginning of the 21st century, a significant restoration of the temple was carried out, but the wooden structures of the ceilings above the galleries were completely destroyed, the cracks in the walls were not carefully studied and repaired. The current condition of the church is of concern due to its location on a coastline prone to landslides.
Worship in the temple
Divine services are held not in the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kolomenskoye, but in the attached Church of St. George the Victorious on Sundays and some holidays.
Temple exposition
After the completion of the restoration, in the basement of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kolomenskoye there is a permanent exhibition “Secrets of the Church of the Ascension”. The basement itself is also of interest; some of its details are not entirely clear to researchers. It was in Kolomenskoye, in the basement of the Church of the Ascension, that they tried to look for the mysteriously disappeared library of Ivan the Terrible. Also in 1917, in the basement of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord, an ancient miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Sovereign” was miraculously discovered, which today is kept in the Church of the Icon of the Kazan Mother of God.
The exhibition, located here in the basement premises, presents rare materials from the collections of the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve. In addition to photographs documenting the state of the Ascension Church in different periods, fragments of chronicles, a list of the “Sovereign” icon of the Mother of God, measurement drawings and projects of architects of past centuries are exhibited. Visitors can watch a film about the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye.
In the 20th century, archaeological excavations were carried out in Kolomenskoye, which revealed a large number of carved white stone decorative details of the Church of the Ascension and other artifacts testifying to the life of Russian people in ancient times.
How to get there
First, you need to get to the Kolomenskoye estate, its official address is Andropov Avenue, 39.
Follow the Zamoskvoretskaya (green) line to the Kolomenskaya station, then walk for about 15-20 minutes along residential buildings to the entrance to the museum-reserve. Next, follow the signs for the reserve, heading towards the bank of the Moscow River, where you will see the Church of the Ascension. Near the temple there is St. George's Church with a bell tower and the Vodovzvodnaya Tower.
You can also enter the museum-reserve from the other side, where the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich is located. Head to the Kashirskaya metro station on the green Zamoskvoretskaya line or the turquoise Kakhovskaya line. From the metro you need to walk about 300 meters to the entrance to the museum, and then follow the signs to the Temple of the Ascension.
Use ground transport to get to the Kolomenskaya stop near the metro.
It is convenient to get to Andropov Avenue by car; there is a large number of parking spaces near the Kolomenskoye estate. Be careful, there are often traffic jams on this road.
For comfortable trips around Moscow, use the taxi services Uber, Yandex taxi, Gett Taxi, Maxim and others.
Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kolomenskoye
Panorama of the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye
“Nothing struck me as much as the monument of ancient Russian architecture in the village of Kolomenskoye. I saw a lot, I admired a lot, a lot amazed me, but time, ancient time in Russia, which left its monument in this village, was for me a miracle of miracles. I saw the Strasbourg Cathedral, which had been built for centuries, I stood near the Milan Cathedral, but apart from the stuck-on decorations, I found nothing. And then the beauty of the whole appeared before me. Everything inside me trembled. It was a mysterious silence. Harmony of beauty of finished forms. I saw some new kind of architecture. I saw the striving upward, and for a long time I stood, stunned.”
Hector Berlioz
Like a watchtower, the white stone pillar of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kolomenskoye, built in the royal estate near Moscow, rises high above the Moscow River. This temple, one of the masterpieces of architecture of world significance, has been included in the list of UNESCO World Historical and Cultural Heritage Sites since 1994.
For the first half of the 16th century - the time when the church was built - such a church building was extremely unusual; it was sharply different from the previous stone temple buildings of the Byzantine or Russian-Byzantine style (mainly cross-domed). The creation of the church in Kolomenskoye gave rise to a new style of church architecture - tent-roofed. The event in honor of which the temple was erected also acquired considerable significance for the history of the country.
The village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow, located on the southern approaches to the capital, has a long history. According to legend, it was founded in the middle of the 13th century by residents of Kolomna, who were forced to flee their hometown during Batu’s invasion. In the 14th-15th centuries, the village was owned by representatives of the Moscow branch of the Rurik dynasty, the descendants of Prince Ivan Kalita - Vladimir the Brave and Vasily I. Later, Kolomenskoye became a grand ducal and then a royal country residence - residential and economic buildings, a fortress fence, and churches were built here. Kolomenskoye looked especially beautiful under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Then, next to the stone temples on the high bank of the Moscow River, there was a magnificent royal palace, which consisted of many elegant towers and chambers of various shapes, connected into a single whole by fancy galleries, stairs and passages. However, by the time of Alexei Mikhailovich’s accession to the throne, the Church of the Ascension had stood in Kolomenskoye for more than a century. It was erected in 1530-1532 under Grand Duke Vasily III.
The reason for the construction of the Ascension Church remains a controversial issue to this day. The most popular version says that the temple was erected on the occasion of the birth of the long-awaited heir, the future Tsar Ivan the Terrible, into the grand ducal family. Taking into account the fact that no documentary information has been found about the beginning of the construction of the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye, historians turn to a brief message in the chronicle, which reads: “In the same summer (7040 - 1532) the stone church of the Ascension of the Lord was completed in Kolomenskoye Our God and Savior Jesus Christ." It also reports on the consecration of the church on September 3, 7041 and on the three-day feast on this occasion of the Grand Duke with children, Metropolitan Daniel and numerous guests. Almost all publications during the period of study of the monument do not question the legendary reason for the construction of the church, although only two years passed from the birth of Ivan to the completion of construction. The time of laying remains unknown.
The choice of the site for laying the church was directly influenced by the presence of a spring gushing from the base of the bank under the church, right along the continuation of the longitudinal axis of the temple. A coincidence is completely excluded here - the keys have always been looked at as a “miracle”; they have been worshiped since ancient pre-Christian times. An ancient legend says that along the bottom of a ravine in Kolomenskoye, St. George the Victorious was chasing a serpent on horseback. The horse's hooves hit the ground and springs with clean water miraculously opened under them, healing both eye and kidney diseases, and especially infertility in women. And since then, women have prayed in Kolomenskoye for the gift of offspring.
The new white stone church surprised contemporaries with the unusualness of its architecture. However, it is impossible to accurately establish the name of the architect who built this outstanding monument - presumably, it was built by the Italian architect Pyotr Francis (Francesco) Anibal (in Russian chronicles - Pyotr Fryazin or Petrok Maly). According to a number of versions, Petrok came with a ready-made idea for the vertical composition of the Church of the Ascension, which was honed on examples of architecture from different countries: first of all, on Italian examples and only lastly on Russian ones. The “Italian” version is supported by decor that has never been seen before in Russian architecture, as well as the date stamped on the capital of the column in Arabic numerals according to the new chronology (from the Nativity of Christ). Neither Arabic numerals nor chronology from the Nativity of Christ were used in Rus' at that time.
At the same time, other researchers believe that the folk traditions of Russian wooden temple architecture could serve as a model for the master who created the Ascension Church in the village of Kolomenskoye. What was new here was not only the pillar-shaped form of the church and the hipped roof, but also the absence of altar apses and a relatively small internal space - the Church of the Ascension, which became the home summer church of the Grand Dukes, was intended only for members of the august family (which is why its internal dimensions are relatively small).
The temple was connected by a covered passage to the palace. In addition, it had an important defensive value as a watchtower, from which watchmen received “telegraphic” fire signals about danger from the Moscow region. With the help of torches or lit birch bark they were transferred further - to the Simonov Monastery and to the bell tower of Ivan the Great. After all, it was from the south that the greatest danger to the borders of Moscow was then threatened - Tatar raids.
In the 16th century, a separate bell tower appeared, which became the belfry of the Ascension Church. In its lower tier, the throne was consecrated in the name of St. George the Victorious. According to legend, it was built on the site of the wooden St. George Church, which was erected by Dmitry Donskoy. There is a version that the construction of this bell tower also began under Vasily III in honor of the birth and namesake of his second son, Yuri (baptized George), born in October 1533. The slender, swift, high bell tower seemed to echo the architecture of the Ascension Church.
The Church of the Ascension was built of large bricks; during construction, wrought iron ties were laid into the masonry of the basement. The temple is surrounded by galleries, resting on arcades; Covered stairs lead to the galleries. Initially, the walkways were open, and behind the altar there was a royal place with a “tower” roof, most likely built under Alexei Mikhailovich. From there the king distributed alms after the service. Here Ivan the Terrible could receive petitions.
The original tyablo iconostasis was dismantled under Nicholas I and replaced with an iconostasis from the Kremlin Ascension Monastery. Later, the iconostasis was restored with the ancient icons preserved, although not in their original form.
In 1917, the miraculous icon of the “Sovereign” Mother of God was found in the temple - according to information, on the very day when Emperor Nicholas II abdicated the throne.
Peasant Evdokia Adrianova from the village neighboring Kolomenskoye had two wonderful dreams. In the first, she stood on the mountain and heard a voice saying: “The village of Kolomenskoye, a large, black icon, take it and make it red, then pray and ask for it.” The peasant woman became frightened and began to beg for an explanation of the strange dream. A few days later she had a second dream: she saw a white church, entered and saw a majestic woman sitting in it, in whom she recognized with her heart the Most Holy Theotokos. Having compared the two dreams, she went to Kolomenskoye and saw the very white church that she had dreamed about. Together with the priest of the Church of the Ascension, Father Nikolai Likhachev, in the basement they managed to discover the largest icon, blackened by dust. When the icon was washed, the Sovereign image of the Mother of God was revealed - there is a version that this image previously belonged to the Ascension Convent in the Moscow Kremlin - Starodevichy. Before Napoleon’s invasion, everything valuable was hidden from the Kremlin, and they decided to hide the Sovereign Icon in Kolomenskoye, where it lay until 1917. After the revolution and the closure of the Ascension Church, the icon was transferred to the neighboring St. George Church, and after its closure - to the storerooms of the State Historical Museum. On July 27, 1990, the Sovereign Icon returned to Kolomenskoye, to the Kazan Church that was then in operation.
In Soviet times, the Church of the Ascension, along with the rest of the monuments in the village of Kolomenskoye, was transferred to the jurisdiction of the museum-reserve, organized in 1928. In 2007, the lengthy restoration of the monument was completed, around which there was a serious discussion on the topic of its quality. But one way or another, the forests that for a long time hid the oldest tent of Moscow have now been removed, and the main vertical of the high bank of the Moscow River is again visible from everywhere.
UNESCO World Heritage Site No. 634.
What is what in the churchNothing struck me more in life than the monument of ancient Russian architecture in the village of Kolomenskoye. I saw a lot, admired a lot, a lot amazed me, but time, ancient time in Russia, which left its monument in this village, was for me a miracle of miracles. I saw the Strasbourg Cathedral, which had been built for centuries, I stood near the Milan Cathedral, but apart from the stuck-on decorations, I found nothing. And then the beauty of the whole appeared before me. Everything inside me trembled. It was a mysterious silence. Harmony of beauty of finished forms. I saw some new kind of architecture. I saw the upward striving, and I stood dumbfounded for a long time.
The Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kolomenskoye is credited with the functions of a watchtower, but this is an invention of Soviet historians, since until 1867 the drum of the head of the temple was deaf, and the premises there were not used.
The Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye became the first stone tented church in Rus'.
How to read facades: a cheat sheet on architectural elementsItalian architects probably took part in the construction. This is supported by decorative elements that have not previously been seen in Russian architecture: pilasters with carved capitals framing semi-column windows. A unique foundation was laid at the base of the temple: it is a huge artificial rock, which additionally raised the church. It not only visually balances the temple, but also makes it possible not to block the source flowing in this place.
In the eastern part of the gallery surrounding the basement of the Ascension Church there is a white throne. From there, Alexey Mikhailovich Quiet watched the exercises of his army. There he received a delegation of Muscovites during the Copper Riot. From there he ordered the crowd's heads to be cut off. Some historians say that from this throne the king also distributed alms after the service.
In the basement of the temple the royal treasury was kept and there was a tomb. Despite its impressive appearance, the inside of the church is small: 8.5 m x 8.5 m. The fact is that the Church of the Ascension of the Lord was a house church and was not intended for a large number of people. During the service, the king, members of the royal family and some dignitaries close to him were there.
In the early 1990s, the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kolomenskoye was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In 2007, the ancient iconostasis was recreated in the church. Now there is a church museum in it, and services are held on major holidays.
Total 29 photos
When you pronounce the word “Ascension”, an amazing feeling of spiritual accomplishment, a miracle arises in your soul, and a visual representation of the final stage of the earthly feat of Jesus Christ appears. Accordingly, a lot of churches dedicated to this New Testament event were built, but it is this one, “behind the Serpukhov Gate,” that evokes in me the warmest, brightest feelings and for me most of all corresponds to the sound of the word “Ascension.” It seems to me that it was this church, as an architectural image, that most fully embodied in its rapid and sublime forms the meaning and spiritual content of the Ascension of the Lord.
I will tell you about this amazing church and post a number of photographs taken in different years and at different times, so don’t be surprised, for example, by “autumn meeting summer”)
The Church of the Ascension of the Lord was located outside the Serpukhov Gate of the Zemlyanoy Town, on Bolshaya Serpukhovskaya Street - on the road to the city of Serpukhov, which existed since the 14th century...
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In 1696, the Danilov Monastery donated a plot of its land outside the Serpukhov Gate of the Zemlyanoy City for the construction of a church. A wooden church in the name of the Ascension of the Lord with a chapel of the Nine Martyrs of Cyzicus was soon built, the chapel was consecrated, and the main church was consecrated only in 1700. In 1709 (according to another version - in 1708) a decree appeared on the construction of a new building in stone on the site of the old temple.
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The stone church was built at the expense of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich according to the design of Trezzini, Michurin and Ukhtomsky (according to some versions at different times and at the final stage). But the temple was rebuilt only up to half the windows, when Peter I issued a decree banning stone construction everywhere except St. Petersburg. However, there is a version that construction was stopped due to the execution of Tsarevich Alexei.
On October 9, 1714, the lower church was consecrated in the name of the icon of the Mother of God of Jerusalem with the side chapels of the 9 Martyrs of Cyzicus and Alexius the Man of God. The upper temple was covered with a temporary roof. The bell tower also turned out to be unfinished. In the 1730s. parishioners repeatedly petitioned for help to continue construction, but they received permission to raise funds only on May 18, 1756.
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The construction of the church was completed in the mature Baroque style only in 1756-62 and the temple was consecrated.
The centric composition of the temple, raised on a high basement, cruciform in plan, surrounded by an open gallery, was designed to be perceived mainly both from the square in front of the Serpukhov Gate, and from the two roads converging on it - now Bolshaya Serpukhovskaya and Lyusinovskaya streets. Above the two-light quadrangle of its main volume rises a large light octagon, completed by a cup-shaped head on a small drum. In the basement there is the warm Church of the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God, in the upper cold church there are the thrones of the Ascension of the Lord, Alexius the Man of God and the Nine Martyrs of Cyzes.
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The Ascension Church had a significant area overlooking Bolshaya and Malaya Serpukhovskaya streets, as well as a lane later named after the Ascension Church.In 1757, a one-story stone almshouse was built next to the temple. The courtyards of the clergy, and later several stone two-story houses, were located on the other side of the alley.
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In the 1830s - 1840s. The temple underwent significant reconstruction. In 1832, a new two-story refectory was built at the expense of the headman of the Remizov church. with the chapels of St. Sergius of Radonezh and St. Nicholas , and a passage was built over the previously open staircase. In the same year it was added andhigh three-tier bell towerin the style of classicism I. Later, new iconostases appeared in the temple, and several tiers were built over the bell tower in the Empire style.
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In 1845, iconostases were installed in the new aisles of the lower refectory, dedicated to Nicholas the Wonderworker and Sergius of Radonezh. During this period, the roofs and bars in eight windows were also replaced, the plinth was corrected, new plaster was done on the facades, the carpentry was replaced, the bars around the altar of the upper church were replaced, and the cross was again gilded. Domes with crosses were placed over the new chapels.
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The wall paintings in the church were repeatedly copied. The surviving pictorial layer in the style of late classicism dates back to the end of the 19th century.
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In 1929 the temple was closed. In 1930, the fence and bell tower were destroyed, the almshouse and fence were destroyed, and government institutions were located inside.
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In 1990, the temple was returned to the Orthodox Church. A year later, permission was received to carry out renovation work on the building. At the cost of enormous efforts and material costs, the historical monument was restored to its original appearance,The bell tower, fence, and clergy house were updated.The church was consecrated in 1991.
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The once destroyed bell tower also took its place. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', construction of a baptismal church began in April 1995 in the name of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga. Currently, the sacrament of baptism by complete immersion is performed in the church and prayers with an akathist to Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga are served weekly.
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Let's look into the lower warm temple of the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God.
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These are several shots from the service in honor of the 285th anniversary of the Russian commander Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov.
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