Assumption Cathedral (Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery)

The first building of the Assumption Cathedral was wooden; it was built in 1397 by the woodworker artel. But since the church was small and dilapidated over time, after the death of Cyril, during the administration of the monastery, Abbot Tryphon, a new Assumption Church was built. It was also wooden and "decorated with icons and other beauties." This building burned down during a severe fire between 1462 and 1497 ^[1] .

The current building of the Assumption Cathedral of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery is one of the first stone buildings in Belozerye. The existing cathedral was built in 1497 by an artel of Rostov masters, after the wooden Assumption Church of the monastery burned down ^[2] . It is believed that the two predecessor churches were also created by Rostov architects. Subsequently, the cathedral was repeatedly rebuilt, in the 20th century it was actively restored ^[3] .

The Assumption Cathedral (cubic, four pillar , one-domed) is one of three North Russian cathedral churches built by the Rostov artel at the end of the 15th century. The second cathedral was preserved in the Ferapontov monastery , and the third, on Stone Island , was blown up under Stalin. All three monuments have much in common, for they continue the traditions of early Moscow architecture (medieval architecture of the Moscow principality ).

The study of the Assumption Cathedral allows you to get an idea of ​​the architecture of North-Eastern Russia before the impact of the Italian school. Distinctive features are manifested in scale, proportions, volumetric-spatial composition and details.

The first plan for the restoration of the cathedral was drawn up by Nikolai Nikolsky ^[4] . In 1919, the All-Russian Commission, which worked in the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, identified and mothballed the 75 most valuable icons. The temple icon "Assumption" (restorers P. Yukin, V. Gorokhov) was cleared ^[5] .

In 1924, a local museum was organized, the decision to create which was made in 1919. In 1920-1930, the architect V.V.Danilov worked on the study and restoration of the monastery's monuments. In 1958, under his leadership, an 18th-century wall was dismantled, dividing the space of the northern porch into two compartments . As a result, fragments of mural paintings of the 17th century, which were under late masonry, were rediscovered.

Since 1953, architects and restorers of the TsNRPM (formerly TsNRM, VPNRK) have been studying and restoring the monuments of the monastery. The leading role here belonged to the architect Sergei Podyapolsky . According to the complex of the Assumption Cathedral in 1963, he developed a preliminary design of the restoration, which included proposals for the northern and western porches. In the same project, a graphic reconstruction of the original appearance of the Assumption Cathedral and the northern porch was developed, requiring further only minor correction. The restorer’s views on the general direction of restoration work made a more significant evolution, if we compare the provisions of the preliminary design with the corresponding section of the “Sketch Design for the Restoration and Adaptation of the Architectural Complex of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery” of 1975, developed in collaboration with N. V. Kamenev. In the earlier draft, it was proposed to restore the helmet-shaped head of the cathedral, the covering of the cathedral by the kokoshniks , the initial covering of the apse , etc., then in the later draft these proposals are not. The "limited" restoration of the cathedral was considered more appropriate "with the elimination of the roughest later layers", "with the maximum revealing of the artistic features of the interior while preserving the later outbuildings, the chapters of the 18th century and the sloping roof".

Since 1957, the repair and restoration work in the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery was conducted by the Vologda SNRPM, which since 1971. entered the association "Rosrestavratsiya". During this time, the following main repair and restoration works were carried out on the Assumption Cathedral and porches:

1. partial vertical layout of the cathedral;
2. the ancient form of the town-like completion of the drum windows and the “shoulders" of their openings were restored;
3. a window was restored in the forms of the 17th century on the western span of the southern facade of the cathedral;
4. a wooden floor has been laid in the northern porch;
5. the cross of the head of the cathedral was restored;
6. conservation work was carried out on the head of the cathedral;
7. replaced with copper sheets the old iron covering of the roofs of the quadrangle, the altar , the northern and partially western porch;
8. whitewashing of the facades of the cathedral and the northern porch;
9. the later opening was laid from the altar of the cathedral to the chapel of Vladimir, on the site of which an ancient niche was restored.

Since the late 1960s, work on the research and restoration of the iconostasis and monuments of ancient icon painting originating from the Assumption Cathedral was carried out by a group of VNIIR experts led by O. V. Lelekova. Since 1970, the unveiling of the mural paintings of the Assumption Cathedral and the associated set of restoration measures were systematically carried out by a team of restoration artists from the Rosrestavratsiya association, headed by IP Yaroslavtsev. By 1981, the mural painting of the head and drum of the cathedral was completely restored.

In connection with the ongoing restoration work, numerous items of decorative interior decoration (icon cases, lamps, etc.) were transferred to storage in the museum's storerooms.

The Assumption Cathedral is a treasury of monuments of easel and monumental church painting of the XV — XVII centuries. Among them are the iconostasis , internal paintings of the cathedral and the northern porch. A collection of works of decorative art is noteworthy.

The five-tier iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral of the XVIII century has almost completely reached our days. The ancient icons of this iconostasis have long been fragmented. Of the 60 surviving icons of the XV-XVIII centuries, 33 were in Kirillov, and the rest - in the Russian Museum , Tretyakov Gallery and the Museum named after Andrei Rublev . In early April 2009, the last part of the icons was returned to Kirillov.

Assumption Cathedral on the plan of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery