Golden domes
The construction site at the corner of Yurlovskaya Street and Dezhnev Drive on the border of the Otradnoye and Medvedkovo districts was filled with people from early morning. Women in long skirts and handkerchiefs went hand in hand with serious bearded men in leather jackets. Girls in lace headscarves and sunglasses trotted along 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. The athletic youths unfurled a red banner on which was written in gold letters: “Your Holiness, Youth of the Northeast administrative district welcome you!".
So on April 22, 2015, a prayer service began for the consecration of the foundation stone of the Church of the Icon Mother of God"Burning bush".
A temporary platform was installed in the middle of the foundation piles; closer to noon, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill climbed the red carpet. He was accompanied by the patriarch's adviser on construction issues, the curator of the construction program for 200 churches and State Duma deputy Vladimir Resin, as well as the president of Transneft, Nikolai Tokarev.
Consecration of the foundation stone of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "The Burning Bush". Transneft allocated funds for the construction of the church (Photo: Ekaterina Kuzmina / RBC)
“The more dynamic life develops, the faster scientific and technical achievements develop,” the voice of Patriarch Kirill was amplified by the dynamics. - How big role machines, automata and other soulless systems play in people's lives, the more important it is for a person to strengthen his spirit so that he never becomes a slave to external circumstances, to preserve God-given freedom, and along with this freedom, the true human dimension of his life. May the Lord bless the builders, donors, all those who work to build this God's temple. 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 leads, decided to contribute to 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 acts as a 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 the construction without hesitation.” The company has been cooperating with the Russian Orthodox Church for many years, and also helps to build mosques in Tatarstan and Bashkiria. “Yes, building a temple is a very expensive business,” Tokarev admitted. “But at 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 being 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 of them). “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 requirement was estimated at 200 new churches.
Former Mayor Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov (pictured left, right, Patriarch Kirill) 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 was prepared by the Moscow government regulating the allocation of land for construction. But it was no longer signed by Luzhkov: at the end of September 2010, the mayor was dismissed. Decree No. 2367-RP "On the provision of measures for the selection land plots for the design and construction of Orthodox temple complexes on the territory of the city of Moscow "was signed at that time by the acting mayor and 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. “Due to historical reasons, the operating churches are located in the city center,” the mayor’s response to questions from RBC says. “Come down Sunday morning on the subway,” the mayor urges. - You will definitely see people with Orthodox prayer books in hands that have to get up before dawn to get to the temple.” At the same time, the mayor’s office only “helps with paperwork” (on land selected by the prefectures together with the Moscow Committee for Architecture) and holding public hearings “on the feasibility of building churches” when choosing sites for construction. If the consent of citizens is obtained, the Department of Land Resources approves the schemes of plots on the cadastral map and draws up the right " religious organization on land plots" for free fixed-term use.
In order to collect private donations for the construction of churches under the 200 Temples program, in January 2010, the Financial and Economic Department (FHU) of the Russian Orthodox Church established the Fund for Supporting the Construction of Churches in the City of Moscow. He concludes an agreement with philanthropists "On donation for construction" and transfers money.
The chairman of the board of the fund is the head of the FHU ROC, Archbishop Mark of Yegoryevsk. The co-chairs of the board of trustees are Patriarch Kirill and Sergey Sobyanin, among the members of the board 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 Church Construction Support Fund, as stated in its report for 2014 (available to RBC), collected about half of this amount - 533 million (in 2011, the collections were four times less - 122 million). 97% of these revenues in 2014 provided legal entities, according to the documents of the fund.
In the first place is the Charitable Foundation for the Revival of the Staritsky Holy Assumption Monastery, which transferred 165.7 million rubles for the construction of churches. The charter of the fund states: its founders "are individuals who have combined their efforts to achieve the goal of the fund, on the basis of voluntary property contributions." The chairman of the board of the fund is Viktor Khristenko, a 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, the total income of their family in 2013 amounted to 16 million rubles. In addition to them, the founders of the fund are longtime associates of the ex-minister: his former deputy, and now investment banker Andrey Dementyev, the former head of Oboronprom Andrey Reus, and the current chairman of the board of directors of OJSC Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant Sergey Preobrazhensky (SPARK data).
Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for the Revival of the Staritsky Holy Dormition Monastery, former minister Industry and Trade Viktor Khristenko and his wife, Tatyana Golikova, chairman of the Accounts Chamber, one of the founders of the fund, found funds for the construction of a temple on Mozhaisk Highway (Photo: Kommersant)
Patriarch Kirill offered to take 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 the Mozhaisk Highway, which received the status of the patriarchal metochion of the Holy Assumption Staritsky Monastery for 300 parishioners.
Among other major donors of the Temple Construction Support Fund is the Yutis Foundation, affiliated with Vasily Anisimov's Coalco group of companies. Yutis donated 108 million rubles. (Anisimov declined to comment for this article.)
In last place in the list of major donors is the Sistema Charitable Foundation (AFK Sistema), with 16 million rubles. According to Tatyana Gvilava, president of the Sistema Charitable Foundation, the fund finances the construction of a church in honor of St. Hermogenes for 200 parishioners on Osennaya Street. The first stone was laid in 2012; for three years, the Sistema Charitable Foundation invested 50 million rubles in the construction of the temple. Vladimir Yevtushenkov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sistema, took part in the ceremony of consecrating the stone.
Donors transfer half of the budget directly, asking, according to Mark, "the blessings of the patriarch, but without concluding an agreement with the foundation and working with the parish."
money for faith
The list of businessmen-donors is very diverse - from the richest and most famous to entrepreneurs. middle class. According to the memoirs of Vladimir Resin, Vladimir Potanin, who occupies the first line in the Forbes list in 2015 with a fortune of $ 15.4 billion, a few months ago personally turned to the patriarch "with a request to bless 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 Prince Alexander Nevsky (Lobachevsky St.) for 800 parishioners and the Church of All Saints in the Russian Land Resplendent (crossing Novocheremushkinskaya St. and Garibaldi St. ) per 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 developers of the program, in an interview with RBC, estimated the total costs at 600 million rubles.
“Potanin is well done: he recently asked for a blessing for the construction of temples, transferred 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 a member of the board of trustees, has not yet given money for the construction of temples, he complains in a conversation with an RBC correspondent.
Some donors prefer to remain in the background. 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 directly given to the parish by “donors on conditions of the strictest anonymity,” the rector of the temple, Priest Grigory 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 really are those who were and are parishioners of this church,” a lot of people participated in the fundraising, but Volozh himself was not among the donors.
The foundation of the Mitinsky temple was laid by Arkady Baskaev, the former commander of the Moscow Military District and ex-deputy of the State Duma from " United Russia". The Ratniki Foundation, which is headed 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 the branch of my foundation is located in the Arfa shopping center, which is owned by my daughters,” he explained. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Raisa Arkadyevna Baskayeva, Natalya Arkadyevna Baskayeva and Olga Arkadyevna Yaremchuk own Alanis LLC, which owns the Arfa shopping complex (with an area of 9.5 thousand square meters), located on the 73rd km of the Moscow Ring Road.
One of the most generous donors of the 200 Temples program is businessman Mikhail Abramov. The founder and philanthropist of the Museum of the Russian Icon, the owner of Plaza Development (specializes in category B + business centers in the industrial zones of Moscow), Abramov, according to him, donated about 700 million rubles for the construction of two churches. He is sure that for a person who cares about how our state will develop, participation in the program is a great honor and good fortune. 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 the new brainchild 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 like Kizhi, the 17th century, the idea was taken from Arkhangelsk,” Abramov describes the chapel. He is sure that the 200 Temples program is a colossal idea of the city authorities, which, unfortunately, is now “not moving as fast as we would like.”
The problem, Mikhail insists, is that "a huge number of businessmen", instead of "giving money" for churches, "leave the country" for some cozy place in Europe. “I believe that the country will cope with external problems and become a serious and powerful state,” the businessman hopes. Abramov himself sympathizes with the current government, which actively supports the Russian Orthodox Church. “I fully agree with everything that is happening today. Of course, I don’t like what is happening in the economy at all,” Abramov explains.
Not so enterprising entrepreneurs are involved in 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"
Resin, 79, has long since retired from official status, but his office is still located in one of the Moscow government buildings on Nikitsky Lane, next door to Deputy Mayor for Construction Marat Khusnullin. At the end of 2012, Patriarch Kirill invited Resin to become an adviser on the construction of voluntary under the patriarchy. “The 200 Temples program, which the former vice-mayor has been supervising since its launch, obviously owns his thoughts: Resin’s spacious office even found a place for a model of one of the program’s largest and most iconic projects — the Church of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God for 1,000 parishioners on Michurinsky avenue. Resin willingly shows it to his guests.
The main curator of the program for the construction of 200 churches is a State Duma deputy and adviser to the patriarch on construction issues, former First Vice Mayor of Moscow Vladimir Resin
This temple, 57 meters high, was built at the suggestion of the inhabitants of the nearby FSB academy. According to the memoirs of the rector of the temple, Archpriest Valery Baranov, the initiative came from the leadership and students of the Academy of the FSB: "From there they turned to the late Patriarch Alexy, he blessed." At the stage of collecting documents, the church entered the "200 Temples" program, where the scheme for collecting documents is "centralized" and everything happens "in cooperation with the authorities." Construction is scheduled to be completed in the fall; now the rector estimates the expenditure at 500 million rubles. Of these, 250 million were invested by the general contractor, the Krost concern (it is building four churches for the program), 110 million rubles. singled out construction company"Monarch", the rest was given 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, which is why we were asked. The rector collects, raises 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 be doing this.”
According to Ambartsumyan, “if it were not for the energy of the phenomenal organizer Vladimir Resin,” the program would have moved much more slowly. I agree with him general manager Concern "Krost" Alexei Dobashin: thanks to Resin's requests, the concern invested about 350 million rubles in the construction of four churches under the program.
At the call of Resin, the Rechnikov Invest company (the construction business of the AEON group of Roman Trotsenko and the Ferro-Stroy company, controlled by Evraz Group co-owners Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov) turned out to be in the program. Dmitry Starostin, chairman of the board of directors of the company, worked closely with the former head of the capital's construction complex in the past. In 2014, Rechnikov transferred 50 million rubles. for the construction of the Church of St. Spyridon of Trimifuntsky in the Nagatinskiy backwater (in just a year and a half, donations to Rechnikov Invest 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 the donations stopped (the press service of the VTB RBC group confirmed the fact of his participation in the program, refusing to comment further ).
“We are building a residential complex on the territory of the Moscow Shipbuilding Plant, 500 meters from the temple. A year and a half ago, Resin asked us for a favor, - Starostin restores the chronicle of events. - They began to talk about the specifics, I told Resin: “I'm afraid that we will pay the money, but again they will not be enough. Since we are sitting next to a construction site, you will come to us and say: "Give us another 100 million." And it’s more difficult for us to earn money than for a bank,” Starostin recalls. As a result, we agreed as follows: Rechnikov Invest LLC gives money for completion, but the company itself determines the terms and scope of work, controls the quality and result. 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 offer came from Resin, Starostin recalls, “we sat for a long time, thinking together with the shareholders.” In the end, they decided to give money. “Because if we do not agree, they will pester the prefect: “Go, take 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 council. 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 integrated development of the entire territory. And it won't ruin your reputation."
At the request of Resin, CJSC MSM-5 also invested money in the construction of the temple. The chairman of the board of directors, Obid Yasinov, estimates the amount of donations at 270 million rubles: “Vladimir Iosifovich turned to us, we decided to help, because we have been working with him for 25 years: in Mitino they built with his help, in Izmailovo, in Kozhukhovo.” With the money of MSM-5, a church was erected for 500 parishioners on Staroorlovskaya Street. Now, on the recommendation of Resin, CJSC MSM-5 is building a temple in honor of St. Hermogenes on Autumn Street: “Here we are already acting as a contractor,” Yasinov explains. The construction is financed by the charitable foundation Sistema; according to Yasinov, "the fund was looking for a contractor, Resin advised us." From the point of view of profit, the order, Yasinov assures, is not profitable: "This order is not to make money, but to keep construction going."
The first object of the 200 Temples program, the Church of the Holy Blessed Prince Dmitry Donskoy on Polyarnaya Street, was erected by the Dorinzh-39 company (specializes in the construction of roads and transport interchanges). Its leader, Gadzhi Gadzhimusaev, was hired by Gordorstroy a quarter of a century ago by Vladimir Resin. Now Gadzhimusaev helps mosques in his native Dagestan and temples in the Moscow region. He is still devoted to Resin, and an investment of 120 million rubles. in the construction of a temple for 250 parishioners was for him "a matter of course." “I asked Vladimir Iosifovich myself,” Gadzhi explains.
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, Grand Park residential complex and the Liner complex. Several temples are being built at their own expense by "Satori" and SU-155 (company representatives 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 I was sure that they would support me. You will notice: I asked them at a time when I was no longer their vertical leader, ”he explains in an interview with RBC.
Architects
In 1985, Andrey Anisimov, the head of the Guild of Russian Church Builders, 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 served as chief public utilities. “I have been to Moscow and brought boxes of Cheerfulness tea to my colleagues in Kogalym, which everyone liked very much at that time, but it was not available in the north. We liked to drink tea in my office, it was very cozy,” Anisimov recalls. Anisimov returned to Moscow in the late 1980s: a record of dismissal in his work book Sobyanin also signed.
For the 200 Temples program, Andrey Anisimov Workshops designed three churches. The architect has questions: “It is not enough to create a project for a temple, it must be correctly implemented! And here a problem arises: a good modern builder sometimes does not know the intricacies and features of traditional architecture, does not know the necessary techniques. So often the project turns into a standard “new Russian” building.” According to Anisimov, his workshop made a project for the Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist in Brateevo, but the rector paid 2 million rubles for the idea of the temple. and changed the project. The church did not comment on the situation.
Recently, "Workshops of Andrey Anisimov" left the object - the temple on the street. 1st Volskaya in the Moscow district of Nekrasovka. The trustee of the temple is Avenue Management Management Company (specialization - construction and development). “Non-payments often make further construction impossible,” explains the architect. "Workshops" were forced to stop work. The rector of the temple in Nekrasovka, Archpriest Alexei Pshenichnikov, confirmed the debt to Anisimov of 7.6 million rubles. According to Pshenichnikov, "the debt is registered with the parish," and "Avenue Management" took over the financing of the temple "with a formed debt," to which it has nothing to do. “We pray that the Lord will help pay off the debt,” the archpriest told an RBC correspondent. The Avenue Management Management Company did not answer questions from RBC.
The temple in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Education" in the Nekrasovka district is being designed by an old acquaintance of the capital's mayor Sergei Sobyanin - the former chief architect of the city of Kogalym Andrey Anisimov (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
Eight churches in the 200 Temples program are being built according to the designs of architect Andrey Obolensky, head of design workshop No. 12 of Posokhin Mosproekt-2. In his opinion, the program is in a difficult situation: “It all started on such an emotional upsurge, and now there is a crisis, many investors refuse. There are unfinished temples for which there is no money yet.”
One of these temples is the church on the corner of St. Bazhov and Malahitova, 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 an interregional public organization"Mordovian community", indicated on the website of the program. Collected 10 million rubles. not enough yet. According to Viktor Chindyaskin, the head of the Mordovia mission under the President, the community asked Resin for a one-year delay due to the crisis, after which "fundraising will continue."
Road to the temple
The program really hard times, confirms Archbishop Mark. Members of the Board of Trustees help little: “At first, everyone handed over an initial contribution of 100 thousand rubles, and that was the end of the matter for many.” The joint program with the Bank of Moscow (the line of cards "Gift to the Shrine": 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 statements, only about 190 thousand rubles. A member of the Board of Trustees, the head of Sberbank German Gref affiliate program does not offer, Mark notes.
However, Resin is sure that there is no such case that the temple was not completed: "Trust me, everything is being built, just much more slowly than we would like."
79-year-old Vladimir Resin has long ceased to have the status of an official, but his office is still located in one of the buildings of the Moscow government (Photo: Dmitry Ternovoy for RBC)
There is another difficulty - the allocation of sites 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 only a church can be built on the site allocated for the temple and nothing more. 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 ROC with a request for construction, only then they allocate a site,” says Vladimir Resin. “But here, you know, it happens according to Chernomyrdin: they wanted the best, it turned out as always.” He also admits: there are "disagreements with the public." During the five years of the program's operation, there were 27 sites where they initially wanted to build temples, and then canceled. “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, a deputy of the Gagarinsky district. “Our residents immediately organized themselves: they collected 2,000 signatures in two evenings, then there were more fees and repeated appeals. At one of the sites, the boulevard near Molodezhnaya Street, the struggle dragged on for six months: there were skirmishes between local residents and supporters of the church, Orthodox activist Kirill Frolov came to the Gagarinsky district with Cossacks, in response, residents wrote letters to Putin, the patriarch and the prosecutor's office.
Patriarch Infantry
“The project for a site for the construction of a church in honor of the Burning Bush icon was submitted to the municipal council for approval twice,” explains Mikhail Velmakin, deputy of the Otradnoye district. “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 Sunday school and services.” All deputies of the municipal council, with the exception of Velmakin, spoke in favor of agreeing 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 erected on 2 hectares: six months before the start of construction, active residents gathered rallies against the construction, the Orthodox held prayers in support of it.
This temple is supported by the Forty Sorokov social movement: more than a year ago, it was founded by the father of nine children, the owner of a logistics company and, according to him, the composer Andrey Kormukhin and the international boxing master of sports Vladimir Nosov. In "Forty Sorokov", lists Kormukhin, there are athletes, and writers, and artists, and journalists. There are also football fans on the move: for example, the well-known football fan of Spartak Vasily (Killer) Stepanov takes part in organizing the Orthodoxy and Sport holidays. According to media reports, he collaborated with the Walking Together movement, led by Vasily Yakimenko. Stepanov and Yakemenko did not answer questions from RBC. Kormukhin himself is also a fan of Spartak.
“Our movement began when the church was attacked: Pussy Riot, photos of the patriarch's watch. We understood that this was a planned attack on the Russian Orthodox Church and Orthodoxy, and the laity should stand up for the mother church when they say, here, the priests are snickering, ”Kormukhin is convinced.
Its founder describes the tactics of the movement with the term “hybrid war”: “We believe that holy patriarch second person after the president. He sometimes calls us "our guards". The number of FSO officers to protect him, when everyone wants to touch him and take a blessing, is clearly not enough, so we, “voluntary assistants to the traffic police”, protect the patriarch during his appearances at public events. In motion, Kormukhin counts, several thousand people, 10 thousand subscribers in the group on VKontakte. Members of 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, support.” They write in a personal, we broadcast it to the public space, we pull up the guys from the areas where they should build a temple, ”Kormukhin shares.
At the temple in honor of the Holy Martyr Tatiana of Rome on Krasnodarskaya Street, investors changed several times, due to which the construction was delayed (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
Merging programs
Soon cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and city authorities may be strengthened: at the end of April, next meeting The Board of Trustees of the Moscow Church Support Fund, Patriarch Kirill, proposed merging the 200 Temples program with the city's counterparts, which allocate budget money 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 sure: "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 program "200 temples" will most likely add the city part of the federal target program Culture of Russia (the total funding budget for 2015 is 4.4 billion rubles), two sources familiar with the details of the association told RBC. In addition to the "Culture of Russia", a "small but popular" restoration program of the Moscow government will also be included in the single program, according to Mayor Sobyanin's response to RBC's request. According to the Moscow Heritage Committee, in 2015 subsidies of up to 200 million rubles will be allocated for the restoration of 14 monuments of church architecture.
Archbishop Mark of Yegoryevsky and Vladimir Resin were entrusted with developing the concept of the joint program. Financing, the archbishop explains, will be as follows: the restoration and restoration of churches in the city of Moscow will be carried out at the expense of 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 acceptance 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 they will be held in the summer, dedicated to the memory of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, the Baptist of Russia. 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 Government of the Russian Federation of September 2, 2014 "On holding events dedicated to the memory of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir - the Baptist of Russia", signed by Prime Minister Medvedev. Before that, according to an RBC source close to the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, 500 million rubles were allocated for the restoration of the destroyed building of the diocesan house. donated billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, 100 million rubles. - businessman Vasily Anisimov, 80 million rubles. gave the head of the investment company "Aton" Yevgeny Yuryev (donors did not answer RBC's questions).
The consecration of the Prince Vladimir Church is scheduled for July 6, in November will pass grand opening, to which, according to RBC's source in the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Putin was invited. “The state supports the restoration of churches, this is very good,” says Elena Markova, Vice-Rector of the St. Tikhon Humanitarian University. “This year is dedicated to the memory of the Holy Prince Vladimir, and the main people, which is noteworthy, are Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Resin and Patriarch Kirill, who also bore the name Vladimir before becoming a monk.”
With the participation of Ivan Golunov
The famous colorful Church of the Intercession on the Moat, one of the main attractions of Moscow, was erected from 1555 to 1561 to commemorate the capture of Kazan by Russian troops in 1552. It was consecrated in honor of the Feast of the Intercession because the attack of Russian troops on Kazan began on that day. We are accustomed to perceive the cathedral as a single one, but in fact it consists of ten independent temples. Hence such a bizarre, unique appearance of the entire cathedral, or, better, the temple complex.
Initially, there were nine churches, and it was the central one in honor of the feast of the Intercession of the Virgin. The remaining eight were dedicated to some holiday or saint, on whose day this or that memorable event related to the siege of Kazan took place. In 1588, a church was attached to the complex over the burial place of the famous Moscow Blessed Basil, and now it only has the right to be called, in the strict sense of the word, the Church of St. Basil the Blessed. [S-BLOCK]
So, we will talk about the Pokrovsky multi-church cathedral, as it was built in 1555-1561. In many books and in our time, you can read that its construction was led by two masters: Barma and Posnik. There are, however, versions that some unknown Italian masters led the construction. But it has no documentary evidence and no argument, except unusual look cathedral. N. M. Karamzin rashly called the style of the Intercession Cathedral "Gothic", but this is absolutely wrong from an art history point of view, and only the authority of this "first Russian historiographer" allows some to still insist on the foreign authorship of the original St. Basil's Cathedral.
Where did the persistent opinion come from that two masters supervised the construction?
In 1896, priest Ivan Kuznetsov published an excerpt from a handwritten collection that was then kept in the Rumyantsev Museum. This collection is late, was compiled no earlier than the end of the XVII - early XVIII centuries The collection contains "The Legend of the Transfer of the Miraculous Image of Nicholas the Wonderworker", which was the royal contribution to the Pokrovsky Cathedral under construction. In this late legend, we read that soon after the capture of Kazan, Tsar Ivan the Terrible erected seven wooden churches around the larger, eighth, stone one, near the Frolovsky Gates (that is, from the 17th century, the gates of the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower). “And then God gave him two Russian masters, nicknamed Barma and Postnik, who were wise and fit for such a wonderful deed.” This news of the "two masters" was accepted by most historians uncritically. [S-BLOCK]
This news was not a chronicle text, but a much later legend in which the old tradition was rethought. The expression "by nickname" was put in the then Russian language before the nickname of a person, and not before his own name. Posnik or Postnik is given name. Barma, on the other hand, was a nickname, meaning, perhaps, a skilled person, as barmas were skillfully made - mantles for grand ducal and royal clothes, richly and variously decorated. Therefore, in the phrase "Tales" about two masters "nicknamed Barma and Postnik" it is illogical that the first master is named only by a nickname without a name, and the second - only by a name without a nickname.
More logical is the text from the Russian Chronicler from the beginning of the Russian land to the accession to the throne of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, written in the first half of the 17th century; therefore, much closer to the event of interest to us. It says: “In the same year (1560), by order of the tsar and sovereign and Grand Duke Ivan, a church was started, promised for the capture of Kazan in honor of the Trinity and the Intercession ..., and Barma and his comrades were the master.” Only one master is named here, but, obviously, not due to the author's ignorance about the second master (Postnik), but because it was one and the same person. [S-BLOCK]
Subsequently, another source was found, showing that the names Postnik and Barma really refer to one, and not to two persons. It follows from it that the manuscript of the Sudebnik of 1550 belonged until 1633 to the monastery lawyer, the Moscow servant Druzhina. The squad was the son of Tarutia and the grandson of Posnik, who had the nickname Barma. The matter seems perfectly clear. And thus the mythical "two masters", one of whom was called Barma, and the other Postnik, are united into one historical person- Postnik (this, of course, is not a baptismal name, but something like a modern surname) nicknamed Barma, which meant that this person was skilled in crafts.
Moreover, the master Postnik of that time is known for the construction of a number of buildings, namely: the Kazan Kremlin, Nikolsky and Assumption Cathedrals in Sviyazhsk. However, this fact, brilliantly proven back in 1957 by the Russian archaeologist N.F. Kalinin, still passes by the attention of many historians and art critics, and they habitually talk about “Barma and Postnik as the two builders of the Intercession Cathedral.”
Today, July 12, the Intercession Cathedral, better known as St. Basil's Cathedral, celebrates its 450th anniversary. This date is not accidental: on July 2 (June 29, according to the old style), 1561, the central Intercession Church of the cathedral was consecrated.
The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, better known as St. Basil's Cathedral, is located in the southern part of Red Square in Moscow, near the Spassky Gates of the Kremlin, above the descent to the Moscow River. It was built in the middle of the 16th century by order of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible to commemorate the conquest of the Kazan Khanate - part of the former Golden Horde - as a token of gratitude for the victory.
What used to stand on the site of the Pokrovsky Cathedral is not exactly known. Russian chronicles contain fragmentary and conflicting reports about wooden and stone churches. This gave rise to many conjectures, versions and legends.
According to one version, shortly after the return of Ivan IV the Terrible from the Kazan campaign of 1552, on the site of the future Church of the Intercession on the Moat on the edge of the Moscow River, a wooden church was laid on a hill in the name of Life-Giving Trinity with seven aisles.
Saint Macarius Metropolitan of Moscow advised Ivan the Terrible to create a stone church here. Metropolitan Macarius also owned the main compositional idea of the future church.
The first reliable mention of the construction of the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God dates back to the autumn of 1554. It is believed that it was a wooden cathedral. It stood for a little over half a year and was dismantled before the construction of the stone cathedral began in the spring of 1555.
Intercession Cathedral was erected by Russian architects Barma and Postnik (there is a version that Postnik and Barma are the names of one person). According to legend, so that the architects could not create a new better creation, Tsar Ivan IV, upon completion of the construction of an outstanding masterpiece of architecture, ordered them to be blinded. Subsequently, the inconsistency of this fiction was proved.
The construction of the temple was carried out only 6 years and only in the warm season. The chronicle contains a description of the "miraculous" finding by the masters of the ninth, southern throne, after the entire construction was almost completed. However, the clear symmetry inherent in the cathedral convinces us that the architects initially had an idea about the compositional structure of the future temple: it was supposed to put eight aisles around the central ninth church. The temple was built of brick, and the foundation, plinth and some decorative elements were made of white stone.
By the autumn of 1559 the cathedral was basically completed. On the feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God, all the churches were consecrated, with the exception of the central one, since "the large church of the middle Intercession of that year was not completed."
The consecration of the Intercession Church and, accordingly, the entire cathedral took place on July 12 (June 29, according to the old style), 1561. The church was consecrated by Metropolitan Macarius.
Each cathedral church received its own dedication. The Eastern Church was consecrated in the name of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity. Researchers are still looking for an answer to why this church got its name. There are several hypotheses. It is known that in honor of the "Holy Life-Giving Trinity" in 1553 a monastery was founded in conquered Kazan. It is also believed that the wooden Trinity Church originally stood on the site of the Intercession Cathedral, which gave the name to one of the aisles of the future temple.
Four side aisles were consecrated in honor of the saints, on whose days of memory major events Kazan campaign: Cyprian and Justina (October 2 (15) - the assault on Kazan ended on this day), Gregory, the Enlightener of Great Armenia (on the day of his memory on September 30 (October 13) the Arskaya Tower of Kazan exploded), Alexander Svirsky (in the day of his memory on August 30 (September 12), a victory was won over the army of Tsarevich Epanchi, who was hurrying from the Crimea to help the Tatars), the Three Patriarchs of Constantinople Alexander, John and Paul the New (also commemorated on August 30).
Three more chapels are dedicated to Nikolai Velikoretsky, Varlaam Khutynsky and the feast of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem. The central throne is named in honor of the Intercession of the Virgin, since on October 1 (14) on the day of this holiday, which symbolized the intercession of the Mother of God for the Christian race, the main assault on Kazan began. By the name of the central church, the whole cathedral was named.
The prefix "on the Moat", found in chronicles about the cathedral, is due to the fact that a deep and wide defensive moat ran through the entire area, later called Red, along the Kremlin wall from the 14th century, which was filled up in 1813.
The cathedral had an unusual architectural composition - 9 independent temples were built on a single foundation - the basement - and interconnected by internal vaulted passages surrounding the central temple. Outside, all the churches were surrounded by the originally open gallery-ambulance. The central church ended with a high tent, the aisles were covered with vaults and crowned with domes.
The ensemble of the cathedral was complemented by a three-hipped open belfry, in the arched spans of which massive bells hung.
Initially, the Intercession Cathedral was crowned with 8 large domes and a small dome above the central church. To emphasize the importance of building material, as well as protect the cathedral from atmospheric influences, all its walls outside were painted in red and white. The painting imitated brickwork. The material of the original covering of the domes remains unknown, as they were lost during the devastating fire of 1595.
In its original form, the cathedral existed until 1588. Then, from the northeast side, a tenth church was added to it over the grave of the holy fool Basil the Blessed, who spent a lot of time at the cathedral under construction and bequeathed to bury himself next to it. The famous Moscow miracle worker died in 1557, and after his canonization, the son of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, Fyodor Ioannovich, ordered the construction of a church. In architectural terms, it was an independent pillarless temple with a separate entrance.
The place where the relics of St. Basil the Blessed were found was marked with a silver shrine, which was subsequently lost during the Time of Troubles, in early XVII v. Divine services in the church of the saint soon became daily, and starting from the 17th century, the name of the chapel was gradually transferred to the entire cathedral, becoming its "folk" name: St. Basil's Cathedral.
At the end of the 16th century, figured domes of the cathedral appeared - instead of the original burnt cover.
In 1672, an eleventh church was added to the cathedral from the southeast side: a small church over the grave of St. John the Blessed, a revered Moscow holy fool, who was buried near the cathedral in 1589.
In the second half of the 17th century, significant changes took place in the external appearance of the cathedral. The wooden sheds over the grove, which burned down every now and then in fires, were replaced with a roof on arched brick pillars. Above the porch of the church of St. Basil the Blessed, the church of St. Theodosius the Virgin was added. Above the previously open white stone stairs leading to the upper tier of the cathedral, vaulted hipped porches appeared, arranged on the so-called "creeping" arches.
In the same period, polychrome ornamental painting appears. It covers the newly built porches, supporting pillars, the outer walls of the galleries and the parapets of the promenades. The facades of churches retain at this time a painting that imitates brickwork.
In 1683, the entire cathedral along the upper cornice was surrounded by a tiled inscription. Large yellow letters on a dark blue background of glazed tiles told about the history of the creation of the temple and its renovation in the second half of the 17th century. The inscription was destroyed a century later during the next repair.
In the 1680s the belfry was rebuilt. On the site of an open structure, a two-tiered bell tower was erected with an open upper platform for ringing.
In 1737, during a grandiose fire, St. Basil's Cathedral was badly damaged, especially its southern church.
Cardinal changes in its program of murals occurred during repairs in the 1770s-1780s. The altars of wooden churches demolished to prevent fires from Red Square were transferred to the territory of the cathedral and under its vaults. At the same time, the throne of the Three Patriarchs of Constantinople was renamed in the name of John the Merciful, and the church of Cyprian and Justina began to bear the name of Saints Adrian and Natalia (the original dedications to the churches were returned in the 1920s).
The inside of the church was painted with oil painting depicting saints and hagiographic scenes. Oil painting was updated in 1845-1848. and in late XIX century. Outside, the walls were covered with paintings that imitated masonry from large boulders - "wild stone". The arches of the basement (lower non-residential tier) were laid, in the western part of which housing was placed for the clergy (temple servants). The bell tower was combined with an extension to the cathedral building. The upper part of the chapel of St. Basil the Blessed (the Church of Theodosius the Virgin) was rebuilt into a sacristy - a repository of church valuables and shrines.
In 1812, an order was given to the French gunners to blow up the cathedral. However, it was only plundered by Napoleon's troops, but immediately after the war it was repaired and consecrated. The area around the cathedral was landscaped and surrounded by an openwork cast-iron lattice, designed by the famous architect O. Bove.
At the end of the 19th century, for the first time, the task arose of returning the cathedral to its original appearance. The specially created Commission for the restoration of the monument included well-known architects, scientists and painters, who determined the main directions for the study and restoration of the Intercession Cathedral. However, lack of funds October Revolution and the subsequent period of devastation in the history of Russia did not allow the implementation of the planned program.
In 1918, the Intercession Cathedral was one of the first to be taken under protection by the state as a monument of national and world significance. Since May 21, 1923, it has been open to visitors as a historical and architectural museum. At the same time, until 1929, divine services were held in the church of St. Basil the Blessed.
In 1928, the Pokrovsky Cathedral became a branch of the State Historical Museum and remains so to this day.
In the 1920s extensive scientific and restoration work was launched on the monument, thanks to which it became possible to restore the original appearance of the cathedral and recreate the interiors of the 16th-17th centuries in individual churches.
From that moment to the present, four global restorations have been carried out, including architectural and painting works. The original "brick-like" painting of the 16th century was restored on the outside, in the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God and in the Church of Alexander Svirsky.
In the 1950s-1960s. unique restoration work was carried out: in the interior of the central church, a "temple-built chronicle" was opened, in which ancient architects indicated the exact date the completion of the construction of the cathedral - July 12, 1561 (the day of Equal-to-the-Apostles Peter and Paul); for the first time, the iron coverings of the domes were replaced with copper ones. The successful choice of material contributed to the fact that until now the coatings of the domes remain unscathed.
In the interiors of four churches, iconostases have been reconstructed, almost entirely consisting of icons of the 16th-17th centuries, among which there are genuine masterpieces of the ancient Russian school of icon painting ("Trinity" of the 16th century). The pride of the collection are the icons of the XVI-XVII centuries. "The Vision of Sexton Tarasius", "Nikola Velikoretsky in Life", "Alexander Nevsky in Life", as well as icons from the original iconostasis of the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos "Basil the Great" and "John Chrysostom". In other churches, iconostases of the 18th and 19th centuries have been preserved. Among them, two iconostasis were moved in the 1770s. from the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin (altar barriers in the Church of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem and in the central church).
In the 1970s a fresco of the 17th century was discovered on the outer bypass gallery under late records. The found painting served as the basis for the reconstruction of the original ornamental painting on the facades of the cathedral.
The year 1990 was an important milestone in the history of the museum: the Intercession Cathedral was included in the List of Objects world heritage UNESCO in Russia. After a long break in the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, divine services were resumed. The following year, the cathedral was approved for joint use by the State Historical Museum and the Russian Orthodox Church.
In 1997, the restoration of the interior, monumental and easel painting was completed in St. Basil's Church, closed since the late 1920s. The church was included in the exposition of the Pokrovsky Cathedral, and divine services were resumed in it.
In the Pokrovsky Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church divine services are held: on the days of the main thrones (Protection and St. Basil the Blessed), patriarchal or sovereign services are held. At the shrine of St. Basil the Blessed, an akathist is read every Sunday.
In 2001-2011 seven churches of the cathedral were completely restored, facade paintings were renewed, and partly tempera painting of the inner gallery. In 2007, the Pokrovsky Cathedral became a nominee for the Seven Wonders of Russia competition.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
MOSCOW, June 18 - RIA Novosti. Scientists from the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences have completed excavations on the territory of the temple complex in Bogolyubovo and have found strong evidence that the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin and many other churches Vladimir Rus were built by masters from Northern Italy, the press service of the institute reports.
"The parts of the cathedral discovered during excavations in 2018 gave 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 led by Sedov has been excavating for three years near the walls of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in Bogolyubovo, the residence of the Grand Duke Vladimir Andrey Bogolyubsky. According to legend, it was founded in 1158, when the prince, who was traveling from Vladimir to Rostov, had a dream in the place of the future Bogolyubov Mother of God.
She ordered 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 Russia from south to north. In memory of this event, Prince Andrei built the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, which collapsed in 1722 and on the site of which a new cathedral was built.
Scientists found traces of the existence of this temple by excavating in that part of the territory of the modern cathedral, where the western wall of the church of Andrei Bogolyubsky once stood. The study of the walls of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin showed that Western masters from the time of Frederick Barbarossa, who arrived on the territory of Vladimir Russia 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 was the corner columns of the temple, placed diagonally.
According to archaeologists, there are similar elements of architecture in the cathedrals of Northern Italy: for example, in cathedral 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, 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 noted by Sedov and colleagues, indicates that the temple was built by several groups of craftsmen who arrived in the northeast of Russia 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, participated in the construction.
In addition, scientists managed to find other elements of the temple complex that helped them uncover it. general appearance, and to understand what the area around it looked like, covered with white stone.
Scientists hope that in the near future the remains of the temple they found will be fully opened and turned into a museum. This, according to Sedov, will not only help Russians to get to know history better, but also prevent further destruction of the temple walls. This, as the archaeologist concludes, will require financial and administrative support from the authorities.
In 1561, one of the most famous churches in Russia, the Intercession Cathedral, or, as it is called otherwise, St. Basil's Cathedral, was consecrated. The Kultura.RF portal recalled interesting facts from the history of its creation.
Temple-monument
The Intercession Cathedral is not just a church, but a memorial temple erected in honor of the accession of the Kazan Khanate to the Russian state. The main battle, in which the Russian troops won, took place on the day of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. And the temple was consecrated in honor of this Christian holiday. The cathedral is made up of individual churches, each of which is also consecrated in honor of the holidays in which the decisive battles for Kazan took place - the Trinity, the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem and others.
Massive construction in record time
Initially, a wooden Trinity Church stood on the site of the cathedral. Temples were built around it during campaigns against Kazan - they celebrated the resounding victories of the Russian army. When Kazan finally fell, Metropolitan Macarius proposed to Ivan the Terrible to rebuild the architectural ensemble in stone. He wanted to surround the central temple with seven churches, but for the sake of symmetry, the number was increased to eight. So, on the same foundation, 9 independent churches and a belfry were built, they were connected by vaulted passages. Outside, the churches were surrounded by an open gallery, which was called the abyss - it was a kind of church porch. Each temple was crowned with its own dome with a unique pattern and original drum decoration. A grandiose building for those times, 65 meters high, was built in just six years - from 1555 to 1561. Until 1600 it was the most high building Moscow.
Temple in honor of the soothsayer
Although the official name of the cathedral is the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat, everyone knows it as St. Basil's Cathedral. According to legend, the famous Moscow miracle worker collected money for the construction of the temple, and then was buried near its walls. Holy fool Basil the Blessed walked the streets of Moscow barefoot, almost without clothes for almost the entire year, preaching mercy and helping others. There were legends about his prophetic gift: they say he predicted the Moscow fire of 1547. The son of Ivan the Terrible, Fyodor Ivanovich, ordered the construction of a church dedicated to St. Basil the Blessed. It became part of the Intercession Cathedral. The church was the only temple that always worked - all year round, day and night. Later, according to its name, parishioners began to call the cathedral St. Basil's Cathedral.
Louis Bichebois. Lithograph "St. Basil's Church"
Vitaly Grafov. Moscow miracle worker Blessed Basil. 2005
The royal treasury and the lectern at the Execution Ground
There are no basements in the cathedral. Instead, they built a common base - a vaulted basement without supporting pillars. They were ventilated through special narrow holes - vents. Initially, the premises were used as a warehouse - the royal treasury and the values of some wealthy Moscow families were stored there. Later, a narrow entrance to the basement was laid - it was found only during the restoration of the 1930s.
Despite its colossal external dimensions, the Intercession Cathedral is quite small inside. Perhaps because it was originally built as a memorial monument. In winter, the cathedral was completely closed, as it was not heated. When services began to be held in the temple, especially on large church holidays there were very few people inside. Then the lectern was transferred to the Execution Ground, and the cathedral seemed to serve as a huge altar.
Russian architect or European master
It is still not known for certain who built St. Basil's Cathedral. Researchers have several options. One of them - the cathedral was erected by the ancient Russian architects Postnik Yakovlev and Ivan Barma. According to another version, Yakovlev and Barma were actually one person. The third option says that a foreign architect became the author of the cathedral. After all, the composition of St. Basil's Cathedral has no analogies in ancient Russian architecture, but in Western European art you can find prototypes of the building.
Whoever the architect was, there are sad legends about him. future fate. According to them, when Ivan the Terrible saw the temple, he was struck by its beauty and ordered the architect to be blinded so that he would never repeat his majestic building anywhere. Another legend says that the foreign builder was executed at all - for the same reason.
Iconostasis with inversion
The iconostasis for St. Basil's Cathedral was created in 1895 by architect Andrei Pavlinov. This is the so-called iconostasis with an inversion - it is so large for a small temple that it continues on the side walls. It is decorated with ancient icons - Our Lady of Smolensk of the 16th century and the image of St. Basil the Blessed, written in the 18th century.
Also, the temple is decorated with murals - they are created on the walls of the building in different years. Basil the Blessed, the Mother of God are depicted here, the main dome is decorated with the face of the Almighty Savior.
Iconostasis in St. Basil's Cathedral. 2016. Photo: Vladimir d "Ar
"Lazarus, put me in my place!"
The cathedral was almost destroyed several times. During the Patriotic War of 1812, French stables were located here, and after that the temple was completely blown up. Already in Soviet times, Stalin's associate Lazar Kaganovich suggested dismantling the cathedral so that there would be more space on Red Square for parades and demonstrations. He even created a layout of the square, and the temple building was easily removed from it. But Stalin, seeing an architectural model, said: “Lazar, put it in its place!”
