“What is given by God’s Providence must be fulfilled and obeyed...

The current appearance of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Zvonary was created by the famous 18th-century architect Karl Blank, although the temple itself was founded in the 15th century, during the reign of Ivan III the Great.

The first church on the site of the temple was wooden and was known as the Church of St. Nicholas of Bozhedomsky - adjacent to it was the so-called “poor house”, a small building where the bodies of dead beggars, wanderers, found drowned people and other unfortunates were taken. The church at the “poor house” suffered from fires several times, until after the mid-17th century it was rebuilt in stone.

The St. Nicholas Church received the name “in Zvonary” a little later, when guards of the Moscow Kremlin churches and masters of bell ringing, including those who served at the Ivan the Great bell tower, began to settle in these places.

The construction of the next stone church building was financed in the second half of the 18th century by Count Ivan Vorontsov, whose estate was located nearby. Vorontsov entrusted the development of the project to Karl Blank. The construction of a new building in the Moscow Baroque style continued until 1781. With minor changes made after the War of 1812 and at the beginning of the twentieth century, this version of the building has survived to this day.

Under the Soviets, the temple was closed in the 30s and turned into a warehouse. Later, one of the departments of the Moscow Architectural Institute was located in its premises. In the mid-90s, the restoration of the temple began, and a couple of years later it acquired the status of a courtyard of Pyukhtitsky convent, located in Estonia.

Currently, the temple has several chapels, one of which is consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker; after the main altar, the temple is called in honor of the Annunciation Holy Mother of God. The most revered shrines of the temple are the icons of the “Assumption of the Mother of God” and the icon of the Mother of God “Seeking the Lost.” The temple building is protected by the state as a cultural heritage site.

Total 36 photos

How I love the old Moscow streets, which have not suffered much loss of their original appearance after the difficult Luzhkov and later times, when many streets of the center of Moscow look like varnished decorations, devoid of soul and having lost their unique originality. The same cannot be said about Rozhdestvenka. Despite major renovations to some of its main historical buildings, it has retained its former warm, natural appearance. Rozhdestvenka is one of the oldest streets in Moscow, which led from Sofiyka (Pushechnaya Street) to the Nativity Monastery. Now, for the most part, it is quite deserted, since traditionally there are practically no retail outlets on it at present.

One of the striking architectural dominants of Rozhdestvenka Street is the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Zvonary, which will be discussed. This temple cannot be ignored. His sweeping, elevated, slender forms are pleasing to the eye and downright inspiring. Next under the cut is a curious and interesting story this church.

02.

The first church on the site of the modern one appeared during the time of Ivan the Terrible. Then there was a wooden church of St. Nicholas the Pleasant, which was called St. Nicholas of Bozhedomsky, since there was a “wretched house” attached to it, where people who died an unfortunate death were taken for burial. Later, when all the “poor houses” were transferred to the outskirts of the city, the temple became the parish church of the Kremlin settlement of bell-ringers and began to be called “Nikola in the Bell-ringers”. You can read about “poor houses” on my Taganka page.
03.

The settlement of Kremlin bell ringers and watchmen of Kremlin churches was formed on the left bank of the Neglinnaya in the 15th century and existed until the 17th century, adjacent to the vegetable gardens of the nearby Mother of God Nativity Monastery. Only forty-eight bell ringers served at the Ivan the Great bell tower. They were led by the bell ringer. In Rus', by the way, the position of a bell-ringer was often combined with the duties of a sexton, as well as a church watchman. This settlement was located north of modern Zvonarsky Lane.
04.

Zvonarsky Lane

This temple was first mentioned in written sources in 1619. The first stone church was built in 1657, and since 1677 the temple has been called “St. Nicholas in Zvonary”.
05.

In 1762, by order and at the expense of Count I.I. Vorontsov, a new stone church was built next to his city estate (now the Moscow Architectural Institute is there). Some researchers suggest that the temple built by Vorontsov included the old building of the St. Nicholas Church. Ivan Illarionovich Vorontsov was a senator, actual chamberlain and president of the Patrimonial Collegium in Moscow. His brother Mikhail Illarionovich participated in the palace coup, as a result of which Elizaveta Petrovna became empress. The Empress never forgot the Vorontsov brothers and generously presented them with money, ranks and her favor.
06.

Elizaveta Petrovna married her second cousin Maria Volynskaya to Ivan Illarionovich, and he thus became related to the royal house. Vorontsov rose to the rank of lieutenant general and already under Catherine II, taking advantage of the manifesto on the freedom of the nobility, he retired. He moved with his family to his Voronovo estate and only occasionally returned to Moscow.
07.

The author of the church project was the famous Baroque architect Karl Blank. Construction of the temple lasted until 1781. The church, built in the Baroque style with a slight influence of classicism, is a tall octagon on a quadrangle elongated from north to south, with a dome and a small traditional onion dome. It is decorated with carved white stone decor, the octagon is decorated with capitals on the corner pilasters, as well as large platbands decorated with seraph heads.
08.

09.

Most likely, St. Nicholas Church was considered the home church of the Vorontsov counts. This explains its small size. The main altar was consecrated in honor of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There were three chapels in the temple - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Beheading of the Venerable Head of John the Baptist and Demetrius of Rostov.
10.

In this form, the temple has survived to this day, having undergone minor changes - after Patriotic War 1812 - two porches and a stone fence were redone, a new two-altar refectory and a bell tower in the classic style were added.
11.

Mosaic icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on the western facade of the church.
12.

13.

Mosaic icon of Metropolitan Alexy on the western facade of the church.
14.

In the mid-1880s, M.S. Mostovsky, the author of a monumental monograph on the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, carried out a major overhaul of the Church of St. Nicholas in Zvonary, using new painting and ornaments, photographs from the paintings of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The metal decoration of the church was made in the workshops of San Galli, Bandli, and Matthiessen. The church was famous for the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, called “Seeking the Lost.”
15.

16.

The Church of St. Nicholas in Zvonary was closed in 1933. After closing, it housed a warehouse, and later - the drawing department of the Moscow Architectural Institute, which was located in the former Vorontsov estate.
17.

The clergy and parishioners of the church love to tell a wonderful story that happened during the years of Soviet power. One old woman, who visited the temple just before its closure, risking her own life, managed to preserve the main shrine of St. Nicholas Church - the miraculous icon “Recovery of the Lost.” The old woman did not part with the icon even during the evacuation, and after the war she transferred the shrine to the Pukhtitsa convent, located not far from Tallinn.
18.

After the collapse of the USSR, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II proposed to the Pyukhtitsa Monastery to create a metochion in Moscow. And then a miracle happened! The abbess of the future metochion, Mother Philareta, of all the Moscow churches offered to her, chose the Church of St. Nicholas in Zvonary. It was then that they remembered the miraculous icon that was located here, which was solemnly returned to the temple. Now, like many years ago, it is the main shrine of St. Nicholas Church.
19.

The life of the Moscow courtyard of the Pukhtitsa monastery is described in an article by Moscow scholar Dina Myasoedova in the newspaper “Moscow Perspective”: “The first three novices from the Pukhtitsa monastery settled in the house next to the church on Rozhdestvenka, 13 in May 1994. It was they who began work on clearing and tidying up the territory of the temple, preparing it for restoration. Life was getting better gradually, Nikola in Zvonary “grew up” with parishioners who, along with the novices, were putting in order the chapels, future cells, outbuildings and internal church aisles, when the department of drawing of the Moscow Architectural Institute, located in the temple, finally moved out. The lion's share of the restoration work was paid for by the city. OJSC Mosremstroy took patronage of the temple back in 1994.”

This is the Epiphany Chapel. Used for the sacrament of baptism.
20.

21.

22.

23.

Today, the Church of St. Nicholas in Zvonary has been finally restored. The enlarged main volume, strongly elongated along the transverse axis, contrastsly emphasizes the slenderness of the octagon with a high dome. Large, richly drawn finishing details create a typical Baroque ceremonial image of the building. The eastern wall of the wide rectangular apse is located on the red line of the street. The altar part of the church looks like a residential building.
24.

Of course, the creation of the great K.I. Blanca has its own unique features. The high octahedron of the St. Nicholas Church seems to contrast with the massive base, and the plasticity of the lucarnes and the crowning dome is contrasted with the flat design of the octagon’s faces, which adds tension to the architectural masses. Today, another unique feature of the Church of St. Nicholas in Zvonary is the choir, which sings in a special Pyukhtitsa chant.

In contact with

Orthodox church, since 1996 belonging to the Moscow courtyard of the Pukhtitsa convent in Estonia. The building was built by the architect in 1762; the bell tower dates back to a later period.

Story

The church, which was mentioned in 1619 as a wooden one, subsequently burned several times and was restored with the help of parishioners, and since 1657 it is already mentioned as a stone one.

Then, when the Zvonarskaya settlement was formed on Rozhdestvenka, in which bell ringers and watchmen of the Kremlin churches settled, the church received the name “Nikola in Zvonary”, which was assigned to it in 1677.

NVO, GNU 1.2

In 1760, with the money of Count Ivan Illarionovich Vorontsov, who had a large estate nearby, construction of a new stone church began. The author of the project was the famous Baroque architect Karl Blank. Construction of the temple lasted until 1781.

The church, built in the Baroque style with a slight influence of classicism, is a tall octagon on a quadrangle elongated from north to south, with a dome and a small traditional onion dome. It is decorated with carved white stone decor, the octagon is decorated with capitals on the corner pilasters, as well as large platbands.

In this form, the temple has survived to this day, having undergone minor changes - after the Patriotic War of 1812, two porches and a stone fence were redone, a new two-altar refectory and a bell tower in the classic style were added, and restoration was carried out in 1900.

SergeyStepykin, CC BY-SA 3.0

In the 1930s, the temple was closed and converted into a warehouse; then there was the drawing department of the Moscow Architectural Institute located nearby.

SergeyStepykin, CC BY-SA 3.0 Moscow Church of St. Nicholas in Zvonary, Moscow courtyard of the Holy Dormition Pyukhtitsa stauropegial convent.

Story

The bell ringers and guards of the Kremlin churches and cathedrals were settled in a settlement (modern Zvonarsky Lane) near the city. They erected for themselves the Church of St. Nicholas of Bozhedomsky; in former times there was a poor house attached to it. In sources the church is mentioned from the city.

Shrines: the revered icon of the Mother of God "Seeking the Lost", the icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God.

Divine services: on weekdays (as scheduled) - Liturgy at 8.00, on Sundays and holidays Liturgy at 9.00, the day before - all-night vigil at 17.00. The monastic choir sings in the Pukhtitsa chant.