Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Sign" at Sheremetev Yard

Site Background

The area near Smolenskaya Street was first mentioned in chronicles at the end of the 15th century . The site belonged to the parish of the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul and in 1566 became part of the Oprichny Court. After the accession of Mikhail Fedorovich, the land at Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street was granted to the sovereign Uncle Ivan Romanov . According to one version, by his order around 1625 a new wooden church was erected in the yard. However, a number of researchers date the building twelve years earlier and indicate as a builder a certain Druzhin Koptev. This theory is confirmed by the mention of the chapels of the Monks Sergius of Radonezh and Varlaam Khutynsky, which existed since 1619. They were arranged as independent volumes with separate entrances. Local historian Viktor Vasilievich Sorokin believes that the buildings were located on the site of the old church of Peter and Paul ^{[6] [7] [8]} . The new church was consecrated in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "The Sign" , which was considered the patroness of the Romanov family ^{[1] [2] [9]} .

Construction and use

The Three Altar Church burned down in a fire in 1629 , but was soon restored to its former forms, and eight years later it was rebuilt in stone. After the death of Ivan Romanov in 1640, the estate was inherited by his son Nikita Ivanovich ^{[10] [1] [8]} . But after only sixteen years, the estate as escheat was listed in the ownership of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich , who gave the northern part to the Armory . In 1671, the remaining site and the church granted the emperor’s father-in-law Kirill Naryshkin ^{[11] [6] [1]} . From it, the courtyard passed to his son - the boyar Lev Naryshkin , at which a new church of the Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign” was erected. However, the exact dates of the reconstruction are unknown. Restorer Evgeny Vasilievich Mikhailovsky suggests that the work took place in the late 1680s. It is not known exactly who led the construction, but the researchers speculate on the involvement of architects Jan Bukhvostov and Peter Potapov ^{[12] [7]} . During the construction, materials were used from the disassembled church and the tombstones of the abolished cemetery. Externally, the building is similar to the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fili , erected in 1690-1694 . Probably, white stone exterior details were made according to one sketch, which corresponds to Mikhailovsky's theory ^[5] .

On February 20, 1722, by decree of the Holy Synod, the church received parish status and was assigned to the neighboring Holy Cross Monastery . Although there is evidence that from 1723 to 1726 the premises were not used. Services were resumed only after the death of Emperor Peter I , who did not approve of house worship ^[13] . At the same time, the owners of the estate remained the trustees of the temple, so some researchers indicate that it was not accessible to outsiders and continued to be of a house character ^[2] .

In the middle of the XVIII century, responsibility for the maintenance of buildings passed to Count Kirill Razumovsky, who received the estate as a dowry of his wife, Ekaterina Naryshkina . He carried out a large-scale reconstruction, arranging a palace in the style of early classicism . Presumably, the work was led by architect Vasily Bazhenov . During this period, the Znamenskaya Church remade windows and portals, dismantled the wall between the refectory and the lower four , the temple building was combined with a covered passage with a new complex ^{[1] [14] [9]} .

When in 1799 Nikolai Sheremetev acquired the dilapidated Razumovsky estate for 450 thousand rubles ^[13] , the church received its full name - the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign” at Sheremetev Yard. After the fire and occupation of Moscow in 1812, the sacked church was desolate for a long time. Its restoration began only in the 1840s with the son of Count Dmitry Sheremetev . The work was led by architect Afanasy Grigoryev ^[10] . During this period, the temple decoration was completely renewed and the 17th century iconostasis was replaced with a new one ^[15] . However, a description of its original appearance from 1811 has been preserved:

The wooden iconostasis with gilded carvings in 8 tiers in this local image. <...> Above the local images there are 32 icons of different sizes on wooden churches depicting the passions of the Lord , the apostles and saints . ^On top of the iconostasis is a wooden carved crucifix with the others in a carved gilded frame ^[5] .

The work was completed by 1847, the church was re-consecrated by Metropolitan Filaret . Later, the architect Mikhail Bykovsky carried out work on the installation of air heating ^{[16] [15]} .

After the October Revolution, the Sheremetev estate was occupied by the Military Academy of the Red Army , the Military Museum and the Hospital of the 4th Main Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Health. The Znamensky church was supplemented with extensions, where, by order of Vladimir Lenin, a special dining room was equipped. Nevertheless, the building itself was recognized as an architectural monument and taken under state protection. On April 28, 1921, the Znamenskaya Church Community was registered under the leadership of Archbishop Tryphon , to which the construction and church utensils were transferred. The Moscow City Council reserved the right to unilaterally terminate the contract. Five years later, by his order, the subclimate of the church was transferred to the housing councils of neighboring houses, and in February 1930 a decision was made on the final liquidation of the church. The building was occupied by the hospital dining room, the converted dome was taken under the Leninist room with a library. In the future, the building was rebuilt several times: dismantled the chapters and the interior decor, dismantled the porch and part of the refectory, built up the cemetery and laid the arches of the basement ^{[10] [15] [17]} .

During the Great Patriotic War , an explosive bomb exploded on the territory of a nearby campus of Moscow University , the fragments of which damaged the walls of the Church of the Sign of the Mother of God. Necessary repairs were not carried out, and the building quickly deteriorated: the roof fell through, the walls were covered with trees, and white-stone decor was showered. In 1954, architects Evgeny Vasilievich Mikhailovsky and Irina Valentinovna Ilyenko prepared a project for the complete restoration of an architectural monument. But the work was carried out only from the outside, the original interior was not recreated, and out of five chapters, only four were reconstructed ^[5] . Twenty years later, the facades and the sagging foundation were renewed, but the building needed a comprehensive repair ^{[10] [18] [14]} .

Suggestions to return the church of the Russian Orthodox Church have been expressed since 1989, especially active social movements were during the repair of the 1990s ^[11] . Some sources mistakenly indicate that the temple was transferred to the organization in 1991 in the wake of the transition of other church buildings ^{[12] [10]} . On December 29, 2001, by decree of Patriarch Alexy II, the Church of the Icon of the Virgin “Sign” in the former Sheremetev Court received the status of the courtyard of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia . At the same time, an order to transfer the ROC building was not signed and the building continued to be occupied by the dining room of the hospital and the services of the medical unit of the Office of the President of Russia . Therefore, the prayer room was temporarily placed in an empty Leninist room, arranging a wooden iconostasis. The decision to transfer the premises to the sole property of the Russian Orthodox Church was taken only in 2005 after the appeal of Metropolitan Alexy II to President Vladimir Putin ^[3] .

At that time, for two years now, restoration work was being carried out in the building with funds allocated by the Presidential Administration. Under the guidance of the restorer Elena Grigoryevna Odinets, according to archival documents, they restored the chapter over the refectory, opened the white stone basement , recreated the original color scheme, interiors and iconostasis. Under the window of the second tier, an opening was discovered earlier, leading to an internal wall staircase to the ringing tier. Restorers converted a massive white stone slab at the entrance to the stairs under a small balcony and reconstructed the carved royal place . During architectural surveys, columns were not found flanking the corners of the altar and basement, the existence of which some researchers suggested ^[5] . In April 2008, the church held little lighting and it became available for parishioners ^{[19] [9] [4]} .

In 2012, the temple icon returned by the clergy after closing in the 20th century was returned to the church. The ark with particles of the relics of the reverend Optina Elders and the embroidered plate of Seraphim of Sarov are also stored in the temple. The organization operates a Sunday school and the Gospel circle ^[20] .

The Church of the Sign on the Sheremetev Yard is considered one of the first examples of temple architecture in the Naryshkin Baroque style ^{[21] [6] [14]} . The composition is executed as patrimonial churches “ under bells ” and differs in longitudinal-axial construction. The main lower volume is represented by a two-colored four, above which three tiers of decreasing octagons are set. Four small domes with petal domes rise above the refectory and the altars. The refectory and three - part apse are located on a high vaulted basement, around which a arched cemetery has been arranged. Perpendicular to him from the western side was originally a wide staircase on creeping arches . But during the reconstruction, Razumovsky dismantled it, arranging a new two-story passage ^{[9] [5]} . During the repair of the mid- 19th century, the separate entrances to the chapels of St. Sergius of Radonezh and Varlaam Khutynsky were laid, combining the premises with the main altar with arched passages. The facades of the church are richly decorated with crests, pediments , patterned pinnacles , columns with capitals and white-stone platbands ^{[10] [22]} .

The interior is represented by a carved four-row iconostasis in the Russian Baroque style and the dome painting " Spas Pantokrator ", stylized as a temple painting of the late XVII century . But in accordance with architectural analogies, the inner walls of the church are plastered, and only the faces of the arches are emphasized by complex baroque carvings . Window arches were also decorated with carvings and medallions with images of saints and martyrs. The royal place is located opposite the iconostasis and is made in the form of a carved balcony with a dome stylized as the art style of the temple ^{[23] [22]} .

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• Parishioners of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”
• The Znamenskaya Church on the Sheremetev Yard in the “Discover Moscow” project
• Temple of the Icon of the Mother of God "Sign" in the project "Cathedrals.ru"