Resurrection Cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery

The Resurrection Cathedral consists of four interconnected parts. Actually, the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ is the four pillar cross-domed church , ending with a chapter. An underground church adjoins the cathedral on the east side in the name of Saints Konstantin and Elena (or the Konstantin-Eleninsky church), which is deepened by 6 m. From the south there is a bell tower destroyed in 1941 (fragments of the first tier with an aisle of All Saints have been preserved), restored to the restoration process, which began in 2011. The western part of the cathedral is the rotunda , erected over the chapel of the Holy Sepulcher.

Nikon's Plan

Nikon's idea was to repeat the Temple of the Resurrection in Jerusalem , the drawing and model of which were even specially brought to Moscow. The plan in the plan corresponds to the measurements of the Jerusalem temple given in the "Proskinitaria" of Hieromonk Arseny , the layout of individual rooms was repeated.

The place was also not chosen by chance. Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich , having visited the village of Voskresensky, said: “... the place is sia ... It’s beautiful near the river, like Jerusalem.” However, the 12th century Jerusalem temple seemed too modest to the patriarch. He ordered to decorate the cathedral being built in accordance with the high dignity of the Russian patriarchate and the tastes of his time. The decoration of the New Jerusalem Cathedral consisted of multi-colored tiles , of which entire iconostases are stacked in the interior, and outside there are platbands , portals that complete the walls of the cornice belt. The Resurrection Cathedral was founded on September 1, 1658.

1658-1666. Construction by Nikon

Under Patriarch Nikon, the construction of the cathedral was almost completely completed on a draft; the cathedral itself was brought to the vaults ^[2] . Three churches were consecrated in it: Nikon's favorite place of ministry is the upper Golgotha; the church of St. John the Baptist and the Assumption of Our Lady located below it.

The bulk of the complex was a huge half-ton , moving at the second floor into a cylinder crowned with a brick tent . Adjacent to it was the main four-pillar temple, completed by a powerful chapter, 29 chapels were arranged (and initially they were supposed to 365 - according to the number of days in a year). From the east adjoins the Underground Church of Constantine and Helena, buried 6 meters deep in the ground. The southern facade of the central part was adjoined by a seven-tiered bell tower with a clock and fifteen bells (the largest - five hundred pound Resurrection). Its upper tiers resembled the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great , the lower tier occupied the All Saints chapel.

The architects of the cathedral were Moscow masters Averky Mokeev , Ivan Belozer and others, and the tiled decoration was done by the hands of Belarusians from Kopysi and Mstislavl - Pyotr Ivanov Zaborsky , Ignatius Maximov.

Nikon's exile in the Ferapontov Monastery stopped work in New Jerusalem for 14 years. By decree of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of December 22, 1667, master builders (total 31 people) from the Resurrection Monastery were transferred to the Armory .

1682-1694. Building Completion

With the accession to the throne of Fedor Alekseevich, the situation changed. Aunt of the tsar, Tsarevna Tatyana Mikhailovna , from childhood told the young tsar about the affairs of Patriarch Nikon, his friendship with the tsar, about the salvation of the tsar's family by the patriarch during the plague of 1656. In 1678, Fedor Alekseevich visited the Resurrection Monastery, where he found a striking building, unfinished and in complete disrepair. Surprised by the depth and strength of the patriarch’s plan, Fyodor Alekseevich, upon returning to Moscow, turned to Patriarch Joachim with a request to consider the Nikon case, but was refused, motivated by the non-jurisdiction of the Moscow patriarch of the decisions of the cathedral with the participation of representatives of ecumenical patriarchs (despite their dubious status). Fedor Alekseevich appealed directly to the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople with a similar request for clemency of Nikon. The patriarch in a special message granted Nikon forgiveness and returned all rights, including the right to remember at services as a patriarch. At the same time, preparations were underway for the monastery to begin construction work; 24 monasteries with their estates were attributed. However, neither Nikon nor Fyodor Alekseevich was destined to see the cathedral completed - the patriarch died on the way from exile not far from Yaroslavl on August 6, 1681 and was buried, according to his will, in the southern aisle (Truncation of the head of John the Baptist) of the Cathedral of the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery. Less than a year later, on April 27, 1682, Tsar Fedor Alekseevich died. Thus, the construction had to start without the main inspirer and author of the cathedral’s design. This affected the quality of spatial solutions. Instead of the mighty octagonal chapter , so characteristic of all the buildings of the Holy Patriarch, a relatively small cylindrical chapter appeared. Instead of a high wooden tent, a brick was built, for which the rotunda's ring supports were strengthened, which looked like very thick pillars with slit-like openings between them. The rotunda from a spacious hall with rather slender columns turned into a space literally “forced” by disproportionately thick pillars (still preserved in this form). The brick tent got quite squat outlines with a very gentle “half-headed”. In general, the new completions were close to those existing then in the temple of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem itself. The tent of the New Jerusalem Temple, whose base diameter was 23 m and a height of 18 m, was the greatest technical achievement of its time. The building with three rows of windows was covered with “marble scales” (possibly imitation of marble made of tiles ^[3] or shingle painted with marble with oil paint ^[4] ). The tent was crowned by a copper gilded half-head. In the center of the rotunda is the main shrine - the chapel of the Holy Sepulcher ( Kuvukliya ) - a rectangular tent decorated with tiles. She repeated the chapel of the Jerusalem temple, changed after 1808.

On January 18, 1685, the new cathedral was solemnly consecrated in the presence of Tsars Ivan and Peter and co-ruler of Tsarevna Sophia by Novgorod Metropolitan Cornelius . Immediately after the consecration, instructions were given to measure and describe the “great stone church”. The drawing of the cathedral, made according to the results of measurements together with a wooden sample taken from the monastery, was ordered to provide Prince Vasily Golitsyn with the Ambassadorial Order ^[5] . From 1682 to 1706, construction of chapels along the model of the Jerusalem temple continued in the church, and for five of them, even under the patriarch, tiled iconostases were created.

The collapse of the tent of the rotunda in 1723 and the first estimates of what happened

In June 1723, Archimandrite Lavrenty (Gorki) received a message from the Holy Synod : “... the stone tent that over the Holy Sepulcher fell and fell into the lower choirs, and the remaining walls in many places sat down to the ground ...” ^[6] . Mass casualties were avoided thanks to a happy coincidence - on the day of May 23, 1723, when the collapse occurred, the Ascension Day was celebrated , and all the ministers and parishioners were on the mountain called Eleon, east of the monastery.

Despite the seriousness of the incident, the Synod did not take any measures. Only in 1726 was Peter Eropkin sent to the monastery, determining that the tent collapsed due to the foundation under which the ground sank in some places. In the fall of 1726, a fire broke out in the temple, which until then had been uncoated, destroying the roofs and other wooden parts of the cathedral. The following year, 1727, the cathedral was examined by the architect T. Usov.

In 1730, Moscow soldiers, under the supervision of Captain Vorotnikov, began dismantling the collapsed tent and rotunda. When the tent fell, the chapel in the center of the rotunda, imitating the Holy Sepulcher , was almost not affected; From this circumstance, modern researchers have concluded that the collapse was not due to the weakness of the foundation ^[7] .

Finally, in 1731, the Synod demanded that the Senate send an architect to solve the issue of rebuilding the cathedral from St. Petersburg, since at that time only one Christopher Conrad was working in Moscow, busy with the building of the Zeikhaus ^[6] .

1731-1744. The activities of the architect I.F. Michurin

The analysis of the rubble from the destroyed tent, which began in October 1730, was completed in April 1732. Then, according to expenditure books, the actual restoration work began.

In June 1731, the management of the restoration work was transferred to Ivan Michurin , who, returning from Holland, where he studied lockwork , foundation work and garden planning, asked the Senate to determine it “with the building designated in the Resurrection Monastery” ^{[8] [6]} . Initially, Michurin proposed dismantling the damaged wall to the foundation in order to preserve other walls, but this plan met with resistance from the archimandrite ^[6] .

Michurin measured the entire cathedral and drew up a project for its restoration, emphasizing in the explanation of the project that the building should be restored in the form, "... as before." He decided not to disassemble the foundations, the lower parts of the walls of the rotunda and the inner pillars of the first tier of the structure. Modern researchers attribute this to the fact that the reason for the collapse of the tent was not the weakness of the foundations. Probably, in the western part of the base of the tent, the rotunda broke the connection, as a result of this the tent completely moved first to the west and only then fell onto a two-tier gallery that went around the rotunda ^[9] .

In August 1732, Michurin announced in his message to the Senate that the walls of the rotunda had been restored to five arches of tents located in the outer wall of the building ^[9] .

In 1732-1738, according to the project of I. Michurin, the two lower tiers of the rotunda , the frames of the window openings, the basement and the floor cornices were restored, the interior of the second tier of the rotunda gallery decorated with tiles is restored. In 1738 and 1744, I. Michurin made a second estimate for the construction of the third tier of the rotunda and crowning the entire construction of the brick tent for 10,000 rubles. In 1744, work was suspended in connection with the departure of I. Michurin to Kiev , where St. Andrew's Church was built under his leadership (according to the project of B.F. Rastrelli ).

By order of I. Michurin, molds were made for new tiles, reproducing the original samples with a high degree of accuracy.

1749-1762. Archimandrite Ambrose and the Restoration of the Cathedral

The revitalization of restoration activity in the late 1740s was associated with the appointment of Archimandrite Ambrose (the future metropolitan killed during the plague of 1771 in Moscow) to the monastery. Ambrose was associated with the government circles of St. Petersburg, achieved a visit to the monastery in 1749 by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna and instant allocation of the amount calculated even in the estimate of I. Michurin, necessary to complete all restoration work in the cathedral.

Initially, Archimandrite Ambrose proposed the restoration of the cathedral in the channel outlined by I. Michurin, for which it was planned to attract J. Flegner and entrust him with the task of restoring the ceramic decoration, but this task was not realized due to the death of Flegner in 1749.

In 1749, several more tent restoration projects were completed. One of the projects was compiled by the students of I. Michurin, architects D.V. Ukhtomsky and A.P. Yevlashev . The project involved the dismantling of the lower tiers of the building restored by Michurin and the construction of a completely new rotunda. This was motivated by the fact that "... the old foundation ... all hesitated." However, one should take into account the nature of the special knowledge of I. Michurin, who studied in Holland, a country with very difficult construction conditions (loose soil and a high level of groundwater), the construction of locks and especially the methods of building foundations . With all this knowledge, I. Michurin did not shift the old foundation; on the contrary, he erected new parts on it and assumed the construction of a stone tent. It is likely that Ukhtomsky and Yevlashev tried to get rid first of all of the bulky pillars of the first tier, which were disfigured by applications at the end of the 17th century, because of which the passages between them looked like narrow slots (they exist now in this form). Almost simultaneously, the Synod received a proposal from the Moscow artillery architect Moshkop (in the Russian way Moshkov, probably originally Muskopf) about the construction of an iron tent. The advantage of this project was the lack of the need to break any existing parts of the building. The synod was most suited to the projects of Michurin and Muskopf, since they fit into the allocated amount of 10,000 rubles. However, architects Ukhtomsky and Yevlashev insisted on the need for relocation of foundations. By decree of Elizaveta Petrovna, the projects of Michurin, Ukhtomsky-Yevlashev and Muskopf were sent to the chief architect B.F. Rastrelli, who was to make a final decision on which project to take as a basis for further work. However, Rastrelli sent engineer Vincenzo Bernardazzi and Gesel of architecture Carl Blanc to the monastery with the order to measure the constructed parts of the rotunda and assess the quality of the foundations. Blank and Bernardazzi noted the poor condition of the foundations, based on decayed piles driven into the sand. Rastrelli created his project for the restoration of the rotunda and the construction of a brick tent after the building is dismantled and new foundations are built. Estimates for the project were not drawn up; the estimate of the Ukhtomsky-Yevlashev project for 30,000 rubles was taken as the basis. The implementation of the project was prevented by the reluctance of the Synod to allocate any sums in excess of the empress appointed by the empress 10,000 rubles, as well as the obvious desire of archimandrite Ambrose not to break the already restored parts of the building. In 1754, Archimandrite Ambrose approached Rastrelli with the idea of ​​erecting a wooden tent covered with roofing iron, by analogy with the tent existing in the Jerusalem temple . In 1754, Rastrelli created the second project for the restoration of the rotunda with the preservation of existing parts and the erection of a wooden tent. In 1755, preparatory work began, and in 1756-1759 a wooden tent was erected according to the project of engineer V. Bernardazzi. The tent repeated the general outlines of the stone tent, but it was already a work of Baroque architecture. Fifteen windows were arranged in the new third tier of the rotunda, and twenty windows were in each of the three tiers of the tent. The construction made the strongest impression inside. Due to the large number of windows, the whole room was flooded with light. The interior was decorated with baroque carvings and stucco. The rotunda choirs and window spaces were filled with paintings on 100 biblical subjects, made in the workshop of the artist and future abbot of the monastery N. S. Zertis-Kamensky . This unique construction of 18th century Russian architecture lasted until 1941. By definition of Igor Grabar :

From the point of view of the architectural type, the building was unparalleled and unique in all of ancient Russia. Its giant round hall with a wide gallery surrounding it, filled with light, with a boldly decided tent of cover, disappearing in height, also full of light and brilliance, sculptural and colorful robe of the cathedral walls - all this in an excellent synthesis made an amazing impression. The powerful Romanesque rotunda of Old Jerusalem, connected to the Russian tented fortress tower, and the baroque hall, unlimited in its perspective effects, of huge architectural strength, saturated with the radiance of light, sparkling gold, a sea of ​​sculpting and murals, merged in this cathedral outside Moscow into an unbelievable ensemble of unprecedented solemnity ...

- V.A. Chivilikhin. Memory. Book Two

1919-1941. The first period of the museum's existence

In March 1920, the Resurrection (from 1930 - Istrinsky ) Museum of History and Art was formed. The Resurrection Cathedral has become one of the main exhibits. During this period, the first studies of the elements of the initial ceramic decoration of the cathedral took place.

1941. War Destruction

On December 10, 1941, during the retreat after the two-week occupation of Istra (before 1930 - Voskresensk), German troops blew up the northern pylon and the western pair of domed pillars of the Resurrection Cathedral, as a result of which the tent, the Great Head and the bell tower collapsed. The main iconostasis with all the icons in the interior of the cathedral was destroyed by fire. In addition, the interior of the rotunda was significantly damaged.

The facts of the destruction of the New Jerusalem Monastery appeared in the indictment of the Nuremberg trials .

В январе 1942 года руины монастыря были обследованы бригадой работников Академпроекта. В 1942—1943 годах в мастерской «Академпроекта» под руководством Алексея Щусева на базе обмеров Фёдора Рихтера был создан первый эскизный проект реставрации собора. В 1944—1947 годах выпускники Московского архитектурного института Н. Любимова, И. Сахарова, М. Ковалева под руководством Петра Барановского провели обмеры керамического декора. В ноябре 1950 года на территории монастыря начались работы по разбору завалов и реставрации.

В 1952 году вышел «Проект генерального плана сохранения и реставрации памятника архитектуры Ново-Иерусалимского монастыря-музея» Барановского, где предлагалось восстановить собор в том виде, в котором он был в XVII веке, с сохранением «ценных особенностей», появившихся при проведении строительных работ XVIII века (в 1957 году идея восстановления «в характере XVII века» была отвергнута). Решение вопроса о восстановлении колокольни было отложено до полного изучения сохранившихся фрагментов. К 1957 году все работы, намеченные планом 1952 года (постоянно корректировавшимся), были проведены (в том числе укреплён аварийный юго-западный пилон), началось восстановление других сооружений на территории монастыря, необходимых для областного музея ^[10] .

В 1956 году Барановский создал «Предварительный проект реставрации взорванных пилонов, соединяющих их арок и сводов». Строительные работы начались в 1957 году, и через 13 лет пилоны были восстановлены ^[11] .

В 1958 году вышел эскизный «Проект покрытия над ротондой Воскресенского собора Ново-Иерусалимского монастыря» с тремя вариантами покрытия для сохранения лепного декора ротонды, предложенными Барановским. Третий вариант предусматривал возведение над ротондой шатра на металлическом каркасе с деревянной обшивкой, который позднее мог стать основой для проведения восстановительных работ. По этому варианту леса должны были возводиться только в центре ротонды (над кувуклией , уцелевшей при взрыве), таким образом сохранялась возможность проведения исследовательских и реставрационных работ в помещении. Проект не был реализован, позднее (в 1970—1990-х годах) строительные леса занимали всю ротонду и препятствовали изучению и восстановлению внутреннего убранства ^[12] .

В 1975 году была возведена глава центральной части собора, керамический декор барабана главы восстановлен в 1984 году (проект Н. С. Любимовой). В конце 1980-х годов трестом «Мособлстройреставрация» была разработана документация на восстановление шатра ротонды с использованием металлоконструкций ^[11] . Барановский критиковал проектные решения восстановления шатра. По его мнению, высота его была на 2 м ниже творения Бланка, не сохранены формы основания ротонды, люкарны в шатре были слишком узки, чтобы пропускать достаточно света. Главной же ошибкой Барановский считал покрытие шатра листами железа, материала, подверженного коррозии. Реставрационные работы в соборе не окончены и по сей день.

• Акинин К. Об облике первоначального шатра Воскресенского собора Ново-Иерусалимского монастыря // Архитектурная наука и образование. Труды Московского архитектурного института. — М. , 2003. — Т. 3 . — С. 84—94 . — ISBN 5-274-01387-2 .
• Баранова С. И. Керамическая надпись из ротонды Воскресенского собора Ново-Иерусалимского монастыря // Никоновские чтения в музее «Новый Иерусалим». Comp. и науч. ed. Г. Зеленская. — М.: Северный паломник, 2002. — ISBN 5-94431-052-9 .
• Бугаева Т., Гришин В., Тэпфер Л., Чернышёв М. Новые исследования строительной истории Воскресенского собора Ново-Иерусалимского монастыря // Материалы творческого отчёта треста «Мособлстройреставрация». — М., 1984. — С. 28—34.
• Московский областной краеведческий музей в городе Истре: Путеводитель / Рец.: А. И. Комеч , А. С. Орлов . — М. : Московский рабочий, 1989. — 160 с. — 75 000 экз. — ISBN 5-239-00191-X .
• Новый Иерусалим и город Воскресенск. — М.: МОК ЦЕНТР, 2006. — ISBN 5-89934-074-6 .
• Тепфер Л. Э. Реконструкция Воскресенского собора Ново-Иерусалимского монастыря на конец XVII века // Никоновские чтения в музее «Новый Иерусалим». Comp. и науч. ed. Г. Зеленская. — М.: Северный паломник, 2002. — ISBN 5-94431-052-9 .
• Черненилова Л. Реставрация Воскресенского собора Ново-Иерусалимского монастыря. 1942—1994 годы // Никоновские чтения в музее «Новый Иерусалим» / Сост. и науч. ed. Г. Зеленская. — М. : Северный паломник, 2002. — ISBN 5-94431-052-9 .

• Акинин К. В. Большая глава Воскресенского собора по описи 1685 г., опубликованной архимандритом Леонидом
• Акинин К. В. Смета архитектора Ивана Мичурина 1744 г. как источник для реконструкции габаритов первоначального кирпичного шатра над ротондой Воскресенского собора
• Чивилихин, Владимир. Память. Книга вторая
• Воскресенский собор на сайте Храмы России
• On the Russian educational portal