Constantinople Patriarchal Compound

Site Background and Construction

Presumably, the one-domed church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in Wrens , to which the territory of the courtyard belonged, was built in 1591. Moreover, on the plan of Moscow, the temple was first marked in 1597. The earliest mention of the site near the church dates from 1667 and is associated with the fire . It is known that in the 19th century the land was occupied by the clergy house , where priests lived. By decree of Alexander III of November 15, 1883, the church and the adjacent 675 fathoms of land were transferred to the Ecumenical Patriarchate to equip the Constantinople Compound. Under the leadership of architect Sergei Rodionov, the western building was erected in 1887, three years later they completed the construction of a middle building located behind the church, and by 1892 completed work on the northeastern wing of the courtyard. Buildings surrounded the church from the east and south, located along the perimeter of the site ^{[4] [5] [1]} .

The construction of the compound cost 160 thousand rubles, which were paid at the expense of the treasury . The new complex consisted of three-story buildings with basements with a total area of ​​about 3390 m² . In the courtyard there were single-story buildings for storing church supplies ^{[6] [7]} . The houses were occupied by the archimandrite , hieromonk and other ministers of the church. Part of the buildings was rebuilt as a tenement house and leased out ^{[2] [3]} .

The Constantinople Compound was completed in an Islamic style unique to Moscow ^{[1] [2]} . However, some researchers find the horizontal division of the facades characteristic of Russian architecture of the late XIX century. The platbands of the upper row of windows were enclosed in keeled openings and trimmed with Byzantine columns . The basement of the buildings was decorated with colored brick repeating the striped Byzantine masonry, and the main part of the walls was decorated with Muslim ornaments . Nevertheless, in the decoration of houses, ancient Russian motifs are also traced. So, the crowning entablature of courtyard facades is decorated with towns and curbs ^{[3] [8]} . The decor of the buildings reminded that a Muslim state was located on the site of the Byzantine Empire , but the Constantinople Compound continued to exist on Russian soil. Commemorative tablets in Russian and Greek were placed on the southern facade:

During the reign of Alexander III, a courtyard was opened at the Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim III , in the summer of 1883. The buildings of this monastery of Constantinople were erected in the Patriarchate of Dionysius V , under the first rector, Archimandrite Seraphim, in 1887-1892. The buildings were executed by the architect S. K. Rodionov ^[6] .

XX Century and Modernity

After the October Revolution, the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh continued to work for some time, but by 1922 it was closed and the compound was liquidated. The vacant buildings housed various institutions and communal apartments ^[3] . Divine services in the church were resumed only in 1991, and a year later part of the complex was transferred to the department of the religious education and catechesis of the Russian Orthodox Church . It is known that until 1999 an Orthodox lyceum and a school of spiritual singing existed on the territory of one of the buildings. However, in one of the buildings living quarters were preserved. In the 1990s, Flat was formed in this building - a community of artists living in rented and vacant apartments. At that time, apartment buildings and installations were often held in the building ^[9] . It is known that in the 2000s the non-residential building belonging to the department of the Russian Orthodox Church was restored through private donations ^[7] .

Despite government decrees of 1992 and 1997 that ordered the former courtyard to be freed from apartments and landlords, as of 2014, 11 families lived in the complex, and the bank part occupied the office. In the winter of that year, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church submitted an application to the Moscow Property Department for the privatization of non-residential buildings. Initially, the petition was denied, however, during court proceedings, representatives of the organization proved the object's involvement in religious property. They also turned to the Department of Housing Policy to transfer the remaining structure and resettlement of 56 apartments. It was supposed to carry out a large-scale reconstruction, during which it was planned to restore the roof , strengthen the foundation and floors. According to experts, at that time the residential part of the house was in disrepair and the cost of work could be about 220 million rubles ^[7] . It is included in the Red Book of Archnadzor (an electronic catalog of Moscow's real estate cultural heritage under threat), the nomination is disrepair. ^[ten]

In February 2013, there were reports in the media about a fire that occurred in the temple and courtyard. However, later, representatives of the Russian Emergencies Ministry denied this information, saying that the fire occurred in a neighboring building ^{[11] [12]} .

• Boulevard Ring. Walks in Moscow / I. Manevich - Moscow: White City, 2014 .-- 64 p. - ISBN 978-5-7793-2402-1 .
• Drozdov D.P. Historical Moscow. A fascinating guide to the center of our city . - Moscow: Centerpolygraph, 2013 .-- 428 p. - ISBN 978-5-227-04182-1 .
• Drozdov D.P. “Turgenevskaya”, “Tsvetnoy Boulevard”, “Pushkinskaya”, “Kropotkinskaya”. Pedestrian walks . - Moscow: Centerpolygraph, 2017 .-- 255 p. - ISBN 978-5-227-07551-2 .
• Zhdanov O. O. Guide to the streets of Moscow. Petrovka . - Moscow: Prospect, 2018 .-- T. 4 .-- 64 p. - ISBN 978-5-392-25307-4 .