The Church of the Presentation, or, as it is also called, Vvedenskaya, was built by local landowners Photius and Peter Salov on the site of an ancient wooden church. This is the only surviving monument of the ancient Petro-Paul (Petrovsky Monastery), founded in the second half of the thirteenth century. It was rebuilt several times in the 19th century. In 1930, the heads of the temple and the bell tower were dismantled, and later an extension was made to the west. The walls and vaults of the building are made of large bricks, plastered on the outside, plastered on the inside, the extension is wooden. According to the project by V.N. Gorodkov monument was restored in 1987-1988. During the study, hidden under the later roof, the remains of a very spectacular ancient completion of the church were discovered, which consisted of three types of kokoshniks, which were mentioned in the documents. “This completion, together with other architectural details,” noted Vasily Nikolaevich, “allows us to classify it as an architectural monument of Moscow in the last quarter of the 17th century, which influenced the creation of the architectural image of the Bryansk Vvedenskaya (now Peter and Paul) Church.”
The oldest monastery of the Bryansk region - the Petro-Paul Monastery of the city of Bryansk - can be compared with the cornerstone of the Orthodox faith on Bryansk land.
The monastery was founded in 1275 and for centuries was revered by believers, especially due to the presence in it of the Holy relics of its founder - the Reverend Prince Oleg of Bryansk, who combined the service of a statesman with monastic asceticism, and, having retired from reign, took care of his people through prayer and alms. Under Empress Catherine II, the monastery was deprived of all estates and lands, gradually fell into decay and was abolished in 1830. However, at the request of the city Bryansk society and the petition of local merchants Ivan and Kozma Semykin, who donated funds for the restoration of the monastery for widows, girls and orphans, the monastery was restored as a women's monastery with the rights of a hostel.
The Bryansk philanthropists, the Mogilevtsev brothers, did a lot for the monastery. By 1917, the Peter and Paul Monastery had two churches - the cathedral of the Entry of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Temple and the gateway of the Holy Prophet Elijah, seven stone buildings with a wooden top (including a hospice house and a hospital) and 30 wooden wings-cells. The farm was large and consisted of an orchard, a farmyard, meadows, land plots and forest lands. There were handicrafts, icon painting and embossing workshops, and a parochial school. There were about 200 sisters in the monastery at that time.
In June 1923, the monastery was closed. A workers' club was set up in the Elias Church, then a cinema named after Demyan Bedny. In the mid-70s, this temple was destroyed, and the Bryansk Hotel now stands in its place. The Vvedensky Church was plundered and occupied by the provincial archive. The fence and almost all the buildings of the monastery, including the fountain built by the Mogilevtsev brothers, were destroyed. The building of the monastery hospital, which is occupied by a skin and venereal disease clinic, and several cell houses have been preserved. From the cemetery, where famous residents of the city were buried, only a few graves survived. It is unknown where the shrines of the monastery are located: two wooden carved images of St. Nicholas and the same image of the Great Martyr Paraskeva.
In 1944, parish services were resumed in the Vvedensky Church. In the early 30s, with the blessing of Bryansk Archbishop Daniel (Troitsky), the relics of the Venerable Prince Oleg were found and re-buried under the Altar of the Vvedensky Church in order to avoid desecration by the godless authorities.
Bryansk. Church of the Introduction. XVIII century
Church of the Presentation (Peter and Paul Church) Bryansk, Kulkova St. 14
The only surviving monument of the ancient Peter and Paul Monastery, founded in the second half of the 12th century by the Bryansk prince Oleg Romanovich
Artist E. Sakalo-Kondrashova, paper, watercolor
Church of the Presentation, beginning 18th century Located in the mountainous part of Bryansk above a steep cliff. The only surviving monument of the ancient Peter and Paul Monastery.
The Vvedenskaya Church was erected at the expense of the Salov landowners as a cathedral church in 1702-05. A pillarless temple with a hipped bell tower.
The liquidated temple on Bolshaya Lubyanka.
- Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Temple (Lipetsk region) - in the village of Vvedenka, Khlevensky district, Lipetsk region.
- Church of the Entry of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Temple (Voronezh) - an 18th-century temple in Voronezh.
- Church of the Presentation (Kargopol) is an 18th-century temple in the city of Kargopol, Arkhangelsk region.
- Vvedenskaya Church (Oryol) is a liquidated Oryol temple.
- Church of the Presentation (St. Petersburg) - liquidated St. Petersburg church.
- Church of the Entry (Solikamsk) - the temple of the former Transfiguration Convent in Solikamsk.
- Church of the Entry of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Temple (Spirovo) - in the village of Spirovo. Volokolamsk district, Moscow region.
- Vvedenskaya Church (Kursk) is a temple in the Zheleznodorozhny district of the city of Kursk.
- Church of the Entry of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Temple (Turgenevo) - a temple in the Tula region.
- The Vvedenskaya Church is the cathedral church of the revived Peter and Paul Monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church in Bryansk.
- Vvedenskaya Church is an Orthodox church in the village of Pet, Ryazan region.
- The Vvedenskaya Church is an Orthodox church of the Beijing Spiritual Mission at the Handaohezi CER station.
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Excerpt characterizing the Vvedenskaya Church
Prince Andrei hastily, without raising his eyes, rode away from the doctor’s wife, who called him a savior, and, recalling with disgust the smallest details of this humiliating scene, galloped further to the village where, as he was told, the commander-in-chief was.Having entered the village, he got off his horse and went to the first house with the intention of resting at least for a minute, eating something and bringing into clarity all these offensive thoughts that tormented him. “This is a crowd of scoundrels, not an army,” he thought, approaching the window of the first house, when a familiar voice called him by name.
He looked back. Nesvitsky’s handsome face poked out from a small window. Nesvitsky, chewing something with his juicy mouth and waving his arms, called him to him.
- Bolkonsky, Bolkonsky! Don't you hear, or what? “Go quickly,” he shouted.
Entering the house, Prince Andrei saw Nesvitsky and another adjutant eating something. They hastily turned to Bolkonsky asking if he knew anything new. On their faces, so familiar to him, Prince Andrei read an expression of anxiety and concern. This expression was especially noticeable on Nesvitsky’s always laughing face.
-Where is the commander-in-chief? – asked Bolkonsky.
“Here, in that house,” answered the adjutant.
- Well, is it true that there is peace and surrender? – asked Nesvitsky.
- I'm asking you. I don’t know anything except that I got to you by force.
- What about us, brother? Horror! “I’m sorry, brother, they laughed at Mak, but it’s even worse for us,” Nesvitsky said. - Well, sit down and eat something.
“Now, prince, you won’t find any carts or anything, and your Peter, God knows where,” said another adjutant.
-Where is the main apartment?
– We’ll spend the night in Tsnaim.
“And I loaded everything I needed onto two horses,” said Nesvitsky, “and they made me excellent packs.” At least escape through the Bohemian mountains. It's bad, brother. Are you really unwell, why are you shuddering like that? - Nesvitsky asked, noticing how Prince Andrei twitched, as if from touching a Leyden jar.
“Nothing,” answered Prince Andrei.
At that moment he remembered his recent clash with the doctor’s wife and the Furshtat officer.
-What is the commander-in-chief doing here? - he asked.
“I don’t understand anything,” said Nesvitsky.
“All I understand is that everything is disgusting, disgusting and disgusting,” said Prince Andrei and went to the house where the commander-in-chief stood.
Passing by Kutuzov's carriage, the tortured horses of the retinue and the Cossacks speaking loudly among themselves, Prince Andrei entered the entryway. Kutuzov himself, as Prince Andrei was told, was in the hut with Prince Bagration and Weyrother. Weyrother was an Austrian general who replaced the murdered Schmit. In the entryway little Kozlovsky was squatting in front of the clerk. The clerk on an inverted tub, turning up the cuffs of his uniform, hastily wrote. Kozlovsky’s face was exhausted - he, apparently, had not slept at night either. He looked at Prince Andrei and did not even nod his head to him.
The most famous Vvedenskaya Church in Moscow, distinguished by its glorious history, was located on Bolshaya Lubyanka in front of the gray house at the corner with the Kuznetsky Bridge, next to the ridiculous monument to Vorovsky. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by the Bolsheviks and was included in the sad list of churches destroyed at the very beginning of the Soviet era - one of the first in Moscow.
The area where the church stood, according to legend, is the oldest in the Mother See. Once upon a time, the entire territory between the current Bolshaya Lubyanka and Sretenka was called Kuchkovo Pole. And as if it was here that the possessions of the legendary boyar Kuchka were located, executed by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky for inhospitality and harsh temper: he took the rich villages of Kuchka for himself and founded in their place the city of Moscow, named after the main river. And in Moscow’s “gray old days”, for a long time, the death penalty of political criminals took place on Kuchkovo Pole.
In 1510, Grand Duke Vasily III settled the transported Novgorodians and Pskovians here in order to weaken the hostility of these previously independent “republican” cities towards Moscow. From them came the ancient name of this area - Lubyanskaya, which the Novgorodians gave it in memory of the streets of their hometown - Lubyanitsa. (In old Moscow, for a long time, the current Bolshaya Lubyanka was called Sretenskaya and was the beginning of Sretenka from the center.)
According to another version, luboks, so popular in Russia in Rus', were sold here - cheap lubok paintings, or there were bast shops in which they made carts and sleighs covered with lubok and sold them right away. Or in some “bast huts” they sold vegetables and fruits here.
The Vvedenskaya Church was more connected with Pskov. Its old name “in Pskovychi” is due to the fact that the temple was erected here by those same settlers from Pskov and also because the first Pskov courtyard was located here.
One way or another, this church was only built by the personal decree of the Moscow sovereign Vasily III, who ordered either to rebuild the stone (!) church that was already standing here for the settlers, or to build a new one.
And he built it in 1514-1518. not a Moscow or Pskov master, but the Italian architect Aleviz Novy, builder of the Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin, the Baptist Church in Zamoskvorechye and the Vladimir Church on Ivanovskaya Gorka - all three to the highest order. This means that in the construction of the Lubyanka church, the Moscow government had its own political plan in order to pacify the residents of the disgraced cities and establish official relations with them.
And in 1551, the Church of the Presentation even became one of the seven Moscow cathedrals established by the authorities to resolve the spiritual affairs of each of the seven church forties into which Orthodox Moscow was then divided by the Stoglavy Cathedral - the Kremlin, Kitaigorod, Zamoskvoretsky, Prechistensky, Sretensky, Nikitsky and Ivanovo. The clergy, numbered among the Sretensky Forty, have since turned here to the Vvedenskaya Church with various petitions.
This church became famous for the fact that in the first half of the 17th century it was the parish church of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, and it was in it that from 1612 until the construction of the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square there was the miraculous Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which saved Moscow during the war with the Poles.
Prince Dmitry Pozharsky lived directly opposite the church, in the miraculously preserved chambers (house no. 14) on Bolshaya Lubyanka, and then, in his time, on Sretenskaya Street. Back in the 19th century, local historians searched for his house for a long time, and when they discovered that the Lubyanka chambers were the prince’s permanent residence, and not just a Moscow property that belonged to him, it was a whole historical sensation.
Soon after the death of False Dmitry II, known by the nickname "Tushinsky Thief", the Poles who were in Moscow were waiting every hour for a popular uprising and were preparing for defense - the squads of the first people's militia were already approaching Moscow. The first battle was expected on Palm Sunday - March 17, 1611, but it broke out two days later and, according to legend, by pure chance. As if the Poles began to beg Moscow cab drivers to help them drag heavy cannons onto the towers of the Kitai-Gorod wall. They refused, and a squabble began. Foreigners, who did not understand the Russian language, decided that this was the beginning of a popular uprising, and attacked the Russians with weapons first.
Then the battle began. It was especially strong in the White City, where crowds of people who had managed to arm themselves rushed towards the Poles. Military men under the command of Prince Pozharsky came to the aid of the townspeople: he pushed the Poles back to Kitai-Gorod and set up a fortification near the Church of the Entry near his house - a “small fort,” something like a barricade. But that day the prince was severely wounded and taken away from the battlefield to be healed on his estate. Having recovered from his wounds, in 1612 he, together with the Nizhny Novgorod merchant Minin, led the Second Russian Militia.
And the miraculous Image of the Mother of God was sent from Kazan to Prince Dmitry Trubetskoy, the leader of the first people's militia. Having kept the Kazan Icon for some time, Trubetskoy released it back to Kazan. Along the way, the icon arrived in Yaroslavl on the same day when the troops of the Second Militia led by Prince Pozharsky arrived there from Nizhny Novgorod. “Such an unexpectedly blessed meeting,” as one ancient Moscow historian called this event, was taken as a good omen, and they decided to take the icon with them back to Moscow - where it remained forever.
During the war, the Vvedenskaya Church was burned and robbed by the Poles. Rumor attributed its restoration to Pozharsky himself: on October 26, 1612, immediately after the victory, the prince placed the Kazan Icon in his Vvedensky Church on Lubyanka, where it remained until the construction of the Kazan Cathedral was completed. And it was there, to Lubyanka, twice a year - on July 8, on the feast of the discovery of the Kazan image, and on October 22, on the feast of the victory of the Russian army and the miraculous salvation of Moscow - they went from the Kremlin with a procession of the cross.
And when the icon was solemnly transferred to the newly built Kazan Cathedral - Prince Pozharsky carried it in his arms from Lubyanka to Red Square - then in memory of the presence of the miraculous image in the Church of the Presentation, Patriarch Filaret organized a special religious procession for it to Lubyanka, and Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich the day before On the holiday I went to the Vvedenskaya Church for Vespers.
It is noteworthy that opposite its bell tower stood the courtyard of boyar Nikita Zyuzin, who subsequently suffered for having thoughtlessly decided to reconcile Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with Patriarch Nikon.
Prince Pozharsky himself put a lot of effort into the splendor of the Vvedensky Church: he donated to it a richly decorated copy of the Kazan icon in a gilded robe with pearls, and in the temple there was also an image of the Savior with the image of Saints Peter and Alexei, embroidered by the hands of one of the prince’s daughters.
The grateful Pozharsky placed the image of the Sign that belonged to him in the same temple, and a copy of it was placed on a stone pillar near his house. The great Moscow fire of 1737, called Trinity, because it occurred on Trinity Day, stopped near this pillar with the icon. This fire is notorious - it was in it that the Kremlin Tsar Bell died in a foundry pit.
Later, this pillar with the icon was included in the estate fence, and after the revolution, the icon was removed from it and transferred to the Church of the Presentation. There it was kept until the demolition of the temple.
And Pozharsky also built a chapel in the name of St. in the Church of the Presentation. Great Martyr Paraskeva Pyatnitsa - in memory of his first wife, who died in 1635. In this church, the patriarch himself performed her funeral service, and pre-revolutionary historians assumed that Pozharsky’s wife was buried here, and the Pyatnitsky chapel was founded and built over her grave.
And until 1771, famous and wealthy parishioners were buried in the Vvedenskaya Church. Among them were the descendants of Pozharsky and his brother-in-law, Prince Khovansky. Pozharsky himself died on April 20, 1642, the second week after Easter, and was buried in the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery.
And in 1722, according to a special decree issued by Peter the Great, the Feast of the Entry was included in the list of church and state holidays, on the days of which it was strictly forbidden to work (including government institutions, for example, public places) and trade. In this, Peter's policy developed a previously existing tradition: even under Alexei Mikhailovich, on Sundays and holidays it was forbidden to work, “judge” and trade - only the sale of food supplies and horse feed was allowed.
In the middle of the 18th century, the Vvedenskaya Church on Lubyanka was rebuilt by the architect Postnikov and the diligence of the parishioners. It was consecrated by Moscow Archbishop Platon (Levshin), the future famous metropolitan.
And during Napoleon’s invasion, in the former house of Pozharsky there was the estate of the commander-in-chief of the Moscow militia, the famous mayor of Moscow, Count F.F. Rastopchin, the author of popular anti-Napoleonic “posters”. They were hung near the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square along with caricatures of the French to maintain the spirit of Muscovites. Rastopchin is often considered the initiator of the Moscow fire of 1812.
General Bagration, mortally wounded on the Borodino field, was brought here to Lubyanka. This house ended up on the pages of Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”: in the courtyard of the estate, a reprisal by angry Muscovites actually took place against a young man named Vereshchagin, a merchant accused of aiding the enemy for distributing Napoleonic proclamations.
It was a confusing story. The Vereshchagin family had its own brewery in Moscow. The young merchant's son was extremely educated for that time, knew French and German and read foreign newspapers in Moscow coffee houses. Apparently, sometimes out loud.
At that time, Moscow was very afraid of French spies, and it quickly began that he was distributing from the Hamburg Gazette a translation of Napoleon’s proclamation, announced by the emperor in Dresden before his campaign in Russia.
On this charge, on June 26, 1812, Vereshchagin was arrested and sentenced to exile to hard labor in Nerchinsk. Before being sent, he was kept in the "pit" - a city prison.
However, in the early morning of September 2, just before Napoleon entered Moscow, Rastopchin demanded the prisoner to his house on Lubyanka and shouted to the people crowding in the courtyard that Vereshchagin was “a traitor, a villain, the destroyer of Moscow” and was subject only to the death penalty. The quarterly guards guarding the house struck him with sabers, and the crowd tied Vereshchagin’s body to the horse’s tail, “seeing the voice of Napoleon in it,” as Rostopchin later wrote in his report to the Minister of Justice.
In 1826, Count Rastopchin was buried in the Vvedenskaya Church, and later an ordinary Moscow gymnasium was located in the famous house on Lubyanka.
In 1920, the ceiling collapsed in the refectory of the Church of the Presentation, but everything was restored. And already in 1924 the church was demolished as an “obstruction” to automobile traffic. Its decoration was transferred to the nearby Church of the Ascension of the former Varsonofevsky Monastery in the lane of the same name, but then that too was demolished.
On Lubyanka, on the site where the Vvedensky Church stood, Vorovsky Square was formed, and in the courtyard of the house where the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs then worked, on February 2, 1924, an ugly monument by the sculptor Katz was erected to the revolutionary - one of the rarest monuments of the early Soviet era in Moscow , which has survived to our time.
And there is still a parking lot on the site of the Presentation Church.
The current Church of the Presentation in Barashi is located on Podsosensky Lane near the Church of the Resurrection, which we wrote about on September 26 of this year.
In ancient times, there was a tract (area) “under the pine trees,” which gave the name to the lane, which was previously called Vvedensky after the church.
The area of Barashi itself was associated with the activities of the sovereign's servants. Since 1410, sheep settled here - this is the name of the tent-makers who carried tents during campaigns for the great princes, and then the kings, and knew how to set them up in the field. In Barashevskaya Sloboda there were state warehouses where the tents themselves and the materials for their manufacture were stored.
There is another version - the tenants of the land who had to pay rent for it were originally called lambs, and then, perhaps, the activities of tent workers were entrusted to them.
They built their parish church here. A wooden church on this site was first mentioned in 1476, which was then consecrated in the name of Elijah “under the Pine.” And in 1620, the Podsosenskaya church was already Vvedenskaya, with an Ilyinsky chapel, but still wooden. Next to it there was a chapel church in the name of Longinus Sotnik, who was considered the patron saint of the Moscow royal family - and the highest persons were present at the festive mass in the Barashevskaya Sovereign Settlement.
Apparently, this is why already in 1647 the Church of the Presentation was first rebuilt in stone, with chapels of Elijah the Prophet and Longinus the Sotnik. In the 60s of the 17th century, an elementary school was opened there, founded by priest I. Fokin at his own expense.
And soon, at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, a new reconstruction of the Church of the Presentation followed - then its current building was erected in the Naryshkin Baroque style. One hundred thousand burnt bricks were given to renovate the chapel of Longinus, consecrated already in 1698, and the main altar was consecrated in 1701.
The Podsosensky Church was closed in 1932 at the request of the Russolent factory team. And in the same year it was scheduled for demolition for the construction of a multi-story building on that site. Many icons from it were transferred to the storerooms of the Tretyakov Gallery, and the icon of the Mother of God “Softening Evil Hearts” from 1713 was sent to the Novodevichy Convent, at that time a branch of the State Historical Museum.
But for some reason the temple survived. In its basement, graves with ancient tombstones were preserved for a long time. And the old-timers said that in 1948, three skeletons with gold crosses on their chests and gold crowns on their heads were discovered here, walled up in a niche, which were immediately taken by the NKVD - clearly a fabulous legend of the Soviet era, in keeping with Moscow traditions: both mystery and gold , and walled-up skeletons, crowns, crosses...
In the 60s, the temple building housed... an electrical products factory, which greatly disfigured the appearance of the church. A century later, the slow restoration of the temple began, and in 1983 a cross was erected on its bell tower. Services are currently being held there.
Church of the Presentation in Kashira (Russia) - description, history, location. Exact address and website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.
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The elegant Vvedenskaya Church in Kashira was erected in 1802-1817. at the highest elevation of the coastal slope. It is rightfully considered the calling card of the city and the decoration of the ancient Khlebnaya Square (now Uritsky Square). As researchers note, this architectural monument of the 19th century has a rare compositional structure from the era of classicism. The bell tower is made up of extremely clear tiers that repeat each other in shape, as if they were strung on a vertical axis of decreasing parts, creating the impression of infinity.
The upward thrust was “suspended” by construction in the 1860s. sixth tier with a clock and spire. The final tier of the bell tower with a clock is a gift to the Kashiryans from the Serpukhov fish merchant Alexander Fedorovich Pertsev, who kept shops in Serpukhov, Kashira, and Ozery.
In Soviet times, the temple did not escape a bitter fate: in the 1930s, the Vvedenskaya Church was closed. At the same time, the clock in the bell tower continued to run properly, as it was maintained by caretakers.
Restoration of the temple
In the 1960s, the temple housed a food warehouse. The use of the building for other purposes led to the loss of interior decoration and wall paintings. The roof of the refectory also fell into disrepair; the brickwork and white stone architectural decor on the facades of the building were partially destroyed. In the second half of the 1960s, project proposals for the restoration of this architectural monument were developed at the Moscow Regional Special Research and Restoration Production Workshop, and restoration work was carried out in the 1970s.
In 1991, the Vvedenskaya Church was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Divine services resumed there. Not long ago, the temple received a bright blue dome - a rich, sparkling gold one.
Practical information
Address: Kashira, st. Engelsa, 1/st. Sovetskaya, 16 (the temple is located at the intersection of two streets).
In the Basmanny district of the capital, on the corner of Podsosensky and Barashevsky lanes, there is the ancient Church of the Vvedenskaya, photos of which are presented in the article. Built and consecrated in honor of a memorable evangelical event - the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it has been inextricably linked with the life of Moscow and all of Russia for almost three and a half centuries.
Temple built in Barashevskaya Sloboda
There is reliable information about the temple, which was the predecessor of the present Vvedenskaya Church. A number of historical documents allow us to conclude that it was built and consecrated in 1647. In addition, it is known that in the mid-60s there was an elementary school at the temple, opened at his own expense by priest I. Fokin. It was located in Barashevskaya Sloboda exactly on the spot where the church discussed in our article is now located, and, therefore, was its predecessor.
In passing, we note that the settlement received its name from the ancient word “barashi”, which denoted the royal servants who were in charge of the manufacture, storage and installation of his tents. They also performed the duties of army quartermasters and, due to their large numbers, settled in a separate settlement. In addition to the Holy Vvedensky Church, another one was erected nearby - the Resurrection Church, which is also mentioned in documents of that era.
Construction and consecration of the existing church
In 1688, by order of Tsar Ivan V Alekseevich, preparations began for the construction of a new building for the Vvedensky Church. Economic documents have survived to this day, indicating that 100 thousand baked bricks were made for the construction of its walls, and many other materials needed for the project were also prepared.
Work on the construction of walls and roofs continued for a whole decade, and in 1698, that is, already during the reign of his half-brother, Emperor Peter I, the chapel of St. Longinus the Centurion, considered the patron saint of the reigning house, was solemnly consecrated. Another year later, the chapel of Elijah the Prophet was consecrated. The final decoration of the entire building was completed on October 11, 1701.
Architectural features of the temple
According to art historians, the Vvedenskaya Church, built in Moscow, is a striking example of the style that is commonly called Moscow Baroque. This is evidenced, in particular, by the abundance and nature of decorations used in the exterior decoration of the building. The creators of the temple decorated it with decorative kokoshniks crowning the walls, picturesque groups of columns located in the corners of the main quadrangle, as well as lush and very elegant window frames.
They also did not skimp on creating a huge number of small details that harmoniously fit into the overall appearance of the building. It is known that due to Peter I’s temporary ban on the use of iron in roofing work, the roof of the Church of the Presentation had a special covering made of colored tiles and white stone, which gave it a festive look. By 1770, it had become quite dilapidated, and since the ban had been lifted by that time, it was replaced with ordinary sheet iron.
Fire of 1737 and subsequent restoration work
One of the first disasters experienced by the temple was a fire that engulfed it in 1737 and caused significant damage to both the walls of the building and its interior decoration. During the restoration work, which lasted for several years, a new element was added to the overall architectural composition, which became a multi-tiered bell tower, which has survived to this day without significant changes. It is characteristic that in its appearance it is close to the bell tower of the temple erected in 1741 on Varvarka, one of the streets in the center of Moscow.
Repair and reconstruction of the temple, carried out in the first half of the 19th century
During the Napoleonic invasion and the associated fire that engulfed Moscow, the Church of the Presentation suffered significant damage, which is why, three years later, its restoration and reconstruction began, which lasted until 1837. During the work, which was led by the Moscow architect P. M. Kazakov, the shortcomings of the previous architectural project were taken into account.
In particular, to improve the illumination of the interior, several additional oval-shaped windows were cut into the walls of the building. The western part of the refectory vault was dismantled and re-laid, and inside it, two heavy quadrangular supports were replaced with light, round columns, with wide gaps left between them. In addition, a new iconostasis was installed, the author of the sketches was also the architect P. M. Kazakov. In this updated form, the Church of the Presentation existed until 1917, when the Bolsheviks’ rise to power led to the greatest tragedy in the history of Russian Orthodoxy.
In an atmosphere of militant atheism
Until the early 30s, the parish of the Holy Vvedensky Church continued its religious life, although it was repeatedly attacked by the city authorities. But in 1931 it was announced that, according to the wishes of the workers of the Russolent factory, the church should be closed, demolished, and the site it occupied was transferred for the construction of a multi-story residential building.
In those years, such acts of vandalism, which became quite commonplace, deprived Russia of many monuments of its cultural and historical heritage. The verdict was also signed by the Vvedenskaya Church in Barashevsky Lane. However, fate would have it otherwise. The church parish was abolished, but the building itself was not demolished. What caused this is unknown.
Perhaps the construction of a residential building on this site did not correspond to the general urban plan or sufficient funds were not allocated, but the church survived, and a dormitory was set up in it for the very workers who allegedly petitioned for its closure. A few years later, the God-fighting workers were evicted, and the vacated premises housed one of the workshops of the Moscow Electrical Products Plant until 1979.
Silent Treasure Keepers
A very curious case dates back to this period. In 1948, to install new equipment in the workshop, it was necessary to break through a wall. When the workers delved deeper into the thickness of the brickwork, a vast cavity was suddenly discovered in it, in which three human skeletons and many different gold items, including coins of royal minting, were found.
Who were the people whose remains rested for many years in the church wall, and who owned the treasures found there, remained unknown. At least information about this was not made public. The workers were ordered to keep quiet, which they did, fearing the undesirable consequences of excessive talkativeness. Only during the years of perestroika did this case become public knowledge, but even then it did not receive any convincing explanation.
The first steps towards the revival of the shrine
In 1979, the “Electrical Products Plant” moved out of the Vvedenskaya Church building, and the city authorities put it at the disposal of a research and restoration plant, which located its workshop in it. Thus, the well-known statement that “a holy place is never empty” found its real confirmation. We must pay tribute to the restoration scientists: unlike their predecessors, they not only did not destroy the temple building, adapting it to their immediate needs, but even bothered to restore it.
They began complex restoration work, as a result of which the domes that once crowned the side chapels soon returned to their places, and a cross appeared on the bell tower, which had disappeared from it many years ago. The building itself was covered with scaffolding, which was removed from it only in 1990, when the bulk of the work was completed and the Church of the Presentation regained its former appearance.
Temple returned to the ownership of the Russian Orthodox Church
The process of perestroika, which swept the country in the last decade of the last century and affected all areas of its life, radically changed the government's attitude towards religious issues. The return to the Church of movable and immovable property illegally taken from it has begun. Among other objects, believers received at their disposal the Vvedensky Church, which had been restored by that time. The schedule of services, which replaced official signs on its doors indicating the state institutions located inside, testified most eloquently to the changes that had come.
Current state of the temple
From now on, every day at 8:00 am its doors open to everyone who wants to attend the Divine Liturgy or special prayer services dedicated to various calendar dates. At 18:00, evening services are held there, on the eve of the holidays, accompanied by the reading of akathists. Parishioners learn about various kinds of unscheduled events from announcements posted at the entrance to the temple or on its website.
At present, not all the values that once belonged to the church community and were taken from it by the Bolsheviks have returned to their places. Many icons of high artistic value are still in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery. However, even today visitors can venerate such shrines as the miraculous image of the Kazan Mother of God, the icons of the Annunciation, the Presentation of the Lord and the relics of many Orthodox saints stored in the temple.
At the beginning of September 2015, by decision of the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate, the temple was provided to house the representative office of the Orthodox Church of Moldova, and Metropolitan Vladimir (Kantarian) of Chisinau was appointed its rector. Thus, being owned by the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, it is under the administrative control of the Chisinau-Moldavian Metropolis.
For everyone who wants to attend the services held there, we provide the address: Moscow, Barashevsky Lane, building 8/2, building 4.
