Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Bersenevka. Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Bersenevka, in the Upper Gardeners Church of St. Nicholas on Bersenevka

Address: Bersenevskaya embankment, 18-22

Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (Trinity Life-Giving) on Bersenevka was built in 1657. on the site of the former wooden one, like the house church of the Duma clerk Averky Kirillov, next to his chambers. The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was originally called Trinity, after the main altar, and later received its now more well-known name, after the chapel of St. Nicholas.

Since ancient times, the area on the banks of the Moscow River bore two names - Bersenevka and Verkhnie Sadovniki. The name Bersenevskaya embankment has two versions of origin: either from the old name of the gooseberry - “bersenya” - which was grown here in the Sovereign Gardens, or from the name of the boyar P.N. Berseni-Beklemishev, who carried out complex, special assignments under Ivan III, such as an embassy to the Crimean Khan and the Polish king, but fell out of favor and was executed under Vasily III. Under the Romanovs, the estate on Bersenevskaya Embankment was granted to the “sovereign gardener” Kirill, whose grandson, Averky, became the Duma clerk. Under him, the famous chambers and the church with the main altar of the Trinity were built. The luxurious chambers with a stone lower part and a wooden upper part had a “hanging garden” and a gallery connecting them with the temple. The owner of the chambers, Averky Kirillov, in 1682. was killed in the Kremlin during the Streltsy riot and was buried in the northern vestibule of his church. His wife is also buried there. After Averky Kirillov, the house went to his relative, clerk Kurbatov; under him, the building was rebuilt, in all likelihood, by the architect Mikhail Choglokov, who built the Sukharev Tower. No documents have been preserved confirming this, but the architect served under Kurbatov. Since 1756 the chambers were transferred to the treasury, and the Senate archive was placed in it, and later the Senate couriers were housed there, which is why the building received the name “Courier House”. Alexander II transferred the chambers to the Moscow Archaeological Society. During Soviet times, the Central State Restoration Workshops were located in the chambers of Averky Kirillov.

The current church was built on the site of the former wooden St. Nicholas Church, which stood where already in 1390. St. Nicholas Monastery on the Swamp was listed. Wooden temple in 1625 written down as “The Great Wonderworker Nicholas behind the Bersenya Lattice” - that is, behind the night outpost, which Bersenya-Beklemishev watched - from him this name was assigned. In 1656-1657 a new stone church was erected. Initially it was a quadrangle with a small refectory and a bell tower; the old refectory adjoins the temple not from the west, as is usually the case, but from the north; the entrance to it is designed as a massive porch with pillars-egg-boxes, the porch arches are decorated with “weights”. From the west there was a descent into the lower chamber of the temple. The “fiery” completion of the main volume with rows of kokoshniks with a keeled top is unusually good. The drums of the five chapters of the temple are also framed with kokoshniks and decorated with arcature with “melons”. The central drum is light. The facades of the building are richly decorated: the window frames, the columns, the wide frieze, and other decorations are made in the style of Russian patterning and, despite all their splendor, do not give the impression of heavy, excessive decoration; on the contrary, they give the temple a festive, elegant look.

In 1775 from the west, a new spacious refectory in the classicist style was added to the quadrangle of the temple, which greatly distorted the original appearance of the building. The refectory itself is a good, solid example of classicism, but next to the elegant patterned church it seems completely inappropriate. The strict lines of the refectory: simple pilasters, smooth pediments devoid of decoration, windows without frames - contrast sharply with the main volume of the temple. During the War of 1812, the temple burned; after the fire it was renovated and re-consecrated. In the 1820s. The old bell tower was demolished, and a new one was built only in 1854.

During Soviet times, the temple operated until 1930, when it was closed at the request of the Central State Restoration Workshops located in the chambers of Averky Kirillov. After the closure, representatives of the workshops applied for the demolition of the bell tower, which interfered with good lighting in the chambers. The entire church was also threatened with demolition: B. Iofan, the author of the famous unrealized House of Soviets project, petitioned for this. In 1932 The bell tower was demolished, but the church was left, despite the proximity of the House on the embankment. In 1958 The museum research institute is located within the walls of the temple.

In 1992 Divine services were resumed in the church, and a Sunday school and library are now open.

This is the correct name for the temple, which everyone habitually calls “St. Nicholas on Bersenyovka.” It stands on the Bersenevskaya embankment of the Moscow River opposite and is part of the complex.

It is curious that the construction of the temple coincides in time with the construction - 1656-1657. It is obvious that the customer of the new stone church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity was Averky Kirillov. This is probably why in many Soviet sources (for example, “Architectural Monuments of Moscow”) it is considered to be the house temple of the Kirillov family. Later sources indicate that there was a cemetery around the temple. From this the conclusion suggests itself that the church was not a house church, but a parish one. In addition, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Bersenyovka, like many other churches in Moscow, was built on the site of an ancient wooden church from the late 14th century.

Church of St. Nicholas on Bersenyovka is so close to that at the end of the 17th century there was a covered passage connecting the temple with the chambers. It is logical that the noble Kirillov family considered it their home church. Averky himself and his wife are buried in the northern vestibule of the temple.

At the end of the 18th century, a new classicist refectory was added to the Church of St. Nicholas. It looks completely alien in comparison with the church, made in the traditional Russian patterned style of the mid-17th century.

Northern facade of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Bersenyovka.

Until 1932, the temple complex also included a bell tower.

An old photograph of the Church of St. Nicholas on Bersenyovka with a bell tower from N.A. Naidenov’s album. Photo from the site http://oldmos.ru/old/photo/view/20391

It was demolished at the request of employees of restoration workshops; they cited the fact that the bell tower prevented proper lighting of the workshops. Currently, a temporary wooden belfry has been erected on the south side of the church.

B. Iofan, a Soviet architect, the author of the unrealized project of the Palace of Soviets on the site of the destroyed one, sought the demolition of the Church of St. Nicholas on Bersenyovka itself, but, thank God, they either did not have time to destroy it, or did not consider it necessary.
Since 1958, the temple housed the premises of the research institute of museology. Worship services resumed in 1992.

Most often we approach the temple from the embankment and immediately see the northern part of the church with an elegant porch. Let's raise our eyes up and admire the five-domed temple.

The central drum is beautifully decorated with a triple row of arcature.

The top row of the arcature is continuous, the two lower ones have breaks, this is the so-called dissected row of the arcature belt.

Arcatur (from German Arkatur, French arcature - a row of arches) - a series of decorative false arches on the facade of a building or on the walls of interior spaces. The main type is the blind arcature (blind arcade). Such an arcature consists of parts that are superimposed on the surface of the wall. The arcature can also be dissected and continuous. The latter can take the form of an arcature belt or frieze, complemented by columns on brackets. This version of the arcature solution was typical for the temple architecture of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality.

The quadrangle of the temple on the outside is decorated with two rows of kokoshniks. This is a pillarless temple, so there are no mosquitoes on it. The bottom row of kokoshniks is decorated with applied rhombuses and snakes. In the top row we will see twisted rollers, intercepted with bundles, sockets.

The celebration of decoration continues on the northern wall. Three large windows are decorated with intricate finials.

Now let's look at an interesting porch. It adjoins a small gallery-porch.

The various architectural elements of the temple are distinguished by their bright colors. The painted details of the porch immediately attract attention. The outer keel-shaped ridge of the arch and the semi-columns on the sides, the hanging stone or “melon” are highlighted in pink, and the contour of the double arch is outlined. The arc above the entrance is highlighted in green, and the capitals of the semi-columns are highlighted in yellow. Below, on the bases and capitals of the jug-shaped pillars, there are splashes of blue paint.
It is interesting that in old black and white photographs the temple appears to be either monochrome (white) or two-color. (The lower pictures are taken from the site sobory.ru http://sobory.ru/photo/178223)

The barrel-shaped roof of the porch is unique and has no analogues in Moscow stone architecture. The barrel-shaped roof of the porch is clearly visible from some distance.

Because of the barrel-shaped covering, it was necessary to build a keel-shaped roof for the porch.
Inside, the remains of the painting are barely visible above the door.

The porch is adjacent to the gallery-porch. She is also very dressy. On the north side, the large arched windows of the gallery are framed by flies with tiles.

The tiles are well preserved.

The presence of double-headed eagles on the tiles testifies to the public service of the main investor of the temple, Averky Kirillov.

On the eastern wall of the gallery we see the same details as on the northern one.

On the left apse, the small window differs from the two neighboring ones - there is no bolster around it, and there is no triangular top, as on the central and right small windows. Most likely, these details have been lost.

Three large windows on the apses are elegantly framed by semi-columns with beads, which rest on brackets. Decorations in the form of jugs are placed in the center of the triangular finials.

To view the upper part of the eastern wall, it is better to step back a little.

We have already examined the rows of keel-shaped kokoshniks on the northern wall. Their top row here is much simpler compared to the front north side.

The upper part of the quadrangle along the entire perimeter is highlighted with a fancy cornice.

The eastern wall is divided by double semi-columns.

Let us once again pay attention to the five chapters. The heads of the church are seated on high drums. In the lower part they are decorated with keel-shaped kokoshniks. The central drum is light; it has narrow long windows cut into it. The four side drums are deaf. Their walls are decorated with a row of arcature-columnar belts.
The details of the east wall are mostly painted bright pink with small splashes of blue, green and yellow.

Let's pay attention to two small domes above the apses of the church. They were erected over two chapels in the name of St. Nicholas and St. Theodosius the Great.

The southern side of the quadrangle is also very elegant. The upper level windows are especially interesting here. Particularly intricate is the middle window, with a double frame on the sides, divided by a hanging stone, and a fancy triple finial.

The keel-shaped tops of the side windows repeat the shape of the zakomara.

A spacious classicist refectory was added to the western wall of the church in the first quarter of the 19th century (1823).

Refectory chamber of the Church of St. Nicholas on Bersenyovka. Northern façade.

On its western wall there are saints depicted, their names written next to their faces.

On the left is St. Mark of Ephesus, on the right is St. Archbishop Gennady. On the left is St. Joseph of Volotsky, on the right is St. Maxim the Confessor.

The external restoration of the refectory is not yet completed.

I was not able to enter the temple; it was closed in the middle of a weekday. The original decorations in the church have not been preserved. On the official website of the temple there are photographs of especially revered icons. http://bersenevka.info/sanctuary.shtml

Embankment Chambers

In addition to the church and the chambers themselves, the estate of Averky Kirillov included the so-called Embankment Building or Embankment Chambers. Initially, at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, a number of buildings for a clergy and an almshouse appeared on the border of the church site. After the fire of 1812 they were dismantled and combined into one knowledge. Since the building was lengthened, the passage arch in it is located asymmetrically.

At the heart of the Embankment Chambers is the bell tower of the church of 1690 with a passage arch and the gate church of the Kazan Mother of God. It was dismantled in the 18th century and a new one was built, which also has not survived.
From the river side, on the Embankment Chambers, you can see platbands repeating the forms of the 17th century. They have nothing to do with the original details of the 17th century; they are late stylizations in the spirit of Russian patterns.
Let's continue our acquaintance with Moscow churches of the 17th century:

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Literature:
“Architectural monuments of Moscow. Zamoskvorechye." M., “Art”, 1994
“Forty forties”, vol. 2 Compiled by P.G. Palamarchuk, M., 1994
I.L.Buseva-Davydova, M.V.Nashchokina, M.I.Astafieva-Dlugach “Moscow. Architectural Guide". M, Stroyizdat, 2001
P.V. Sytin “From the history of Moscow streets”, M., 1952

Many people are probably familiar with the red building on Bersenevskaya Embankment in Moscow. Next to it stands an elegant church. These are the chambers of the Duma clerk Averky Kirillov, one of the few surviving civil buildings of the 17th century in Moscow, and the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Bersenevka in Verkhniye Sadovniki. Now they are lost next to the colossus of the House on the Embankment, and it is hard to believe that in the past these chambers were among the largest and most luxurious in Moscow.

I had the opportunity to visit here on an excursion and see those rooms that are not accessible to “the person on the street.”

* Tour organizer:

View of the chambers of Averky Kirillov from the Patriarch's Bridge. Behind them rises the bulk of the “House on the Embankment”

The main (northern) facade of the chambers of Averky Kirillov, mid-17th - early 18th century

History and architecture of the chambers of Averky Kirillov

The site where the chambers of Averky Kirillov now stand, in the 15th century, apparently belonged to the Beklemishev boyars. One of them, Ivan Nikitich Bersen-Beklemishev, a diplomat and statesman during the reign of Ivan III and Vasily III, was a supporter of “old times and grandfathers.” For open disagreement with Vasily III, in the winter of 1525 he was executed on the Moscow River.

The word "bersen" means "gooseberry". It is believed that it was in honor of Ivan Bersen-Beklemishev that the Bersenevskaya embankment got its name, where he blocked the street from “dashing people” by installing a bersenevsky lattice.

After his execution, ownership passed to the treasury. According to one of the Moscow legends, the next owner was Malyuta Skuratov. Indeed, until 1917, in guidebooks to Moscow, this house was often designated as the chambers of Malyuta Skuratov with the Skuratov-Belsky house church. Here Malyuta “dishonored his victims” and raged together with Vasyutka Gryazny, the royal jester and executioner. They say that somewhere here there is an underground passage to the other side of the Moscow River, to the Kolymazhny Dvor and the Chertory stream. It is difficult to say where is truth and where is fiction.

Then these lands were received as a gift by the “sovereign gardener” Kirill. In the place where the Vodootvodny Canal and the island are now located, he laid out a beautiful “sovereign garden”. And here at that time there was already a manor house, a church and a cemetery for parishioners with it.

The first documented owner of the estate is the “Moscow guest” (i.e. merchant) Averky Kirillov (1622-1682). He owned numerous shops in Moscow, lands with peasants, and salt mines in Solikamsk. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich attracted the talented merchant to the sovereign service, elevating him to the rank of “Duma clerk”, in charge of several orders. In fact, at that time he determined the entire economic policy of the Russian state.

In 1656-1657, Averky Kirillov, based on previously existing buildings of the 15th-17th centuries, built chambers and a church connected by a passage. In literature one can often find the statement that the church was a “house” church, but in fact it was a parish church.

St. Nicholas Church on Bersenevka and the chambers of Averky Kirillov, connected by a passage. Reconstruction

Initially, the chambers were a rectangle stretched from east to west. On the white stone basement (“treasury”) there was a wooden superstructure. In the basement there are four rooms with transverse vestibules between them. As the cultural layer grew, the basement, which was once the first floor, went into the ground and now looks more like a semi-basement.

Canopy of the first floor (basement)

The living quarters were located in a wooden superstructure - in Rus' it was considered unhealthy to live in stone premises. Similar wooden buildings burned repeatedly and were then rebuilt again.

♦ Reconstructions of Russian residential buildings can be seen in the article

In the first quarter of the 17th century, the chambers were renovated. To increase the area of the room, the south-eastern white stone wall was dismantled down to the foundation and then a new one was built. As a result, the building acquired an asymmetrical L-shape.

In 1656-1657, two brick floors with vaulted rooms were erected above the “treasury”. The chambers were adjacent to external porches that led to the second floor.

In the north-western corner of the basement, an internal staircase leading to the second, main floor has been preserved.

The most elegant room in the house was the Cross Chamber, which is located in the southeast corner of the building. The windows of its eastern wall face the St. Nicholas Church. It served as a reception room.

Framing the door to the Cross Chamber: before and after restoration

In the center of the vault of the Cross Chamber, a carved white stone “castle” has been preserved - a foundation stone with an image of a cross and the date of construction. The inscription on it reads: “This holy and life-giving cross was written in the year 7165, the same year and this half was corrected”. The Calvary cross inside signifies the owner of the house’s commitment to the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon.

On April 20, 1665, the chamber of Averky Kirillov was visited by the Dutchman Nicolaas Witsen (1641-1717), politician, cartographer, entrepreneur and future burgomaster of Amsterdam. In his diary he left the following entry:

I visited Averky Stepanovich Kirillov, the first guest, who is considered one of the richest merchants. He lives in the most beautiful building; it is a large and beautiful stone chamber with a wooden top. In his courtyard he has his own church and bell tower, richly decorated, a beautiful courtyard and garden. The situation inside the house is no worse; the windows have German painted glass. In short, he has everything you need for a richly furnished home: beautiful chairs and tables, paintings, carpets, cabinets, silverware, etc. He treated us to various drinks, as well as cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, nuts and transparent apples, and all this was served on beautiful carved silver, very clean. There was no shortage of carved cups and cups. All his servants were dressed in the same dress, which was not customary even for the king himself.

At that time, above the third, stone floor, there was another wooden floor, which was surrounded by a walkway. There was also a “hanging garden” here. The brick facades of the building with white stone inserts and polychrome tiles were very elegant.

This is probably what the chambers of Averky Kirillov looked like in the second half of the 17th century

During the Streletsky riot in 1682, Averky Kirillov, a supporter of the Naryshkins, was brutally murdered in the Kremlin. Kirillov’s mutilated body was dragged to Red Square, where a sign with the inscription was placed over the corpse: “He took great bribes and taxes and committed all sorts of lies”. Averky Kirillov and his wife Evfimiya Evlampievna, who briefly survived him, were buried in the family crypt under the northern porch of the St. Nicholas Church.

The new owner of the house was his son, Yakov Kirillov, Duma clerk. In the 1690s, an addition with a Red Porch was made to the east side of the building. It was decorated with jug-shaped pillars, giving the entire structure an elegant look.

On the wall of the eastern facade of the chambers you can see the built-up Red Porch

A similar extension, symmetrical to the east, appeared on the west side of the house.

Western façade of the chambers

The windows of some of the premises on the first floor, which previously faced the street, now face these new premises. At the same time, the passage between the house and the church was probably built.

The windows were framed by lush platbands. The floors were separated by interfloor traction. The house was crowned with an elaborate cornice. The outer walls were decorated with paintings, fragments of which were discovered on the southern façade.

After the death of Yakov Kirillov, ownership passed to the clerk of the Armory Chamber, the head of the Moscow magistrate A.F. Kurbatov, who married the widow of Ya.A. Kirillov. According to another version, Semyon Ivanovich Maslov became the new owner, and his coat of arms was preserved on the main facade.

In 1703-1711 the main house was rebuilt. Seven new stoves were built inside, decorated with Russian tiles from the early 18th century.

Jug, tiles and saber discovered during restoration work

A projection with a “tower” on the fourth floor was added to the middle part of the northern façade. Now the “teremok” rises above the building, but in the past it was part of the fourth, wooden floor. There is a version that its author is the Russian sculptor, painter and architect Ivan Petrovich Zarudny (1670?-1727), one of the creators of the famous Moscow.

Behind the tower, in the 20th century, the wooden vault that existed before was restored. A narrow staircase leads there. Next to it is a deep window.

Staircase to the wooden vault on the fourth floor and dormer window overlooking the roof

Room in the "teremka"

Window in the "teremka"

The entrance to the building was decorated with a richly decorated portal with a balcony above it (not preserved). There were once statues on pedestals in front of him. From the discovered fragments it can be judged that they could be similar to the apostles decorating the church in Dubrovitsy.

The third floor windows are framed by white stone frames with shells in tympanums. On the sides of the “teremka” there are volutes and bas-reliefs depicting flowers and fruits. All this gives the extension a pronounced character of Peter the Great's Baroque. If previously the main façade of the house was the southern one, now it becomes the northern one, facing the Moscow River.

"Teremok"

In 1746 or 1756 the chambers were transferred to the treasury. At various times, the Tavern office and warehouse, the Discharge-Senate Archive, the Moscow Treasury Chamber, and the Senate Courier Team were located here. The passage between the house and the church was dismantled.

By the middle of the 19th century, the chambers had become so dilapidated that it was decided to demolish them. However, thanks to the intervention of activists and the activities of the Imperial Moscow Archaeological Society, the building was preserved. By decree of Emperor Alexander II, the Moscow Archaeological Society became the new owner.

Chambers of Averky Kirillov in the possession of the Imperial Moscow Archaeological Society. The photo shows the bell tower of the St. Nicholas Church, demolished in 1932

Restoration work was carried out in 1870 and 1884. Later additions were dismantled. The largest room, the Cross Chamber, where the meeting room of the society was located, was painted “in the spirit of pre-Petrine times.” To highlight the restored areas, bricks with the following inscription were used: “Reproduced from ancient models by the Archaeological Society of 1881.”

Bricks (image reversed)

In 1923, the archaeological society was dissolved. In 1924, the Institute for the Study of Languages and Ethnic Cultures of the Eastern Peoples of the USSR was located on the ground floor. The second floor was transferred to the Central State Restoration Workshops, which were created and headed by the famous Soviet restorer and museum figure Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar (1871-1960). The Church of St. Nicholas on Bersenevka was also transferred to the management of the workshops.

Grabar headed the restoration workshops until 1930; two years later the workshops themselves were closed. The vacated building housed the servants of the “House on the Embankment” (Government House) built nearby. The tenants furnished the house in accordance with their own needs, without sparing the historical monument.

Lamp in the “teremka” from “House on the Embankment”

At the end of 1947, the chambers of Averky Kirillov were partially transferred to the Research Institute of Local History and Museum Work of the Committee for Cultural and Educational Institutions under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, which eventually received the entire building. The name of the organization eventually changed to the Institute of Cultural Studies.

In the 50-60s of the 20th century, large-scale restoration work was carried out in the chambers of Averky Kirillov. Unfortunately, over time, many unique decorative details were lost, and the work itself had to be completed in a hurry.

Modern staircase in ancient chambers

In 2014, the Institute of Cultural Studies was merged with the Russian Research Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage named after D.S. Likhachev. Now the chambers of Averky Kirillov are on a popular tourist route. Some of the premises are still occupied by an academic institute, while others periodically host exhibitions. However, the further fate of the chambers is unknown. According to some reports, they may leave the Russian Orthodox Church ().

Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Bersenevka in Verkhniye Sadovniki

According to chronicles, in the 15th century, on the territory of Verkhniye Sadovniki, as this area was then called, there was a wooden church of St. Nicholas in Peski, built on the site of an older small patrimonial monastery. In 1566, the temple was rebuilt and became known as Nikola Bersenevsky. Around 1625, “according to the promise of parish and various outsiders,” a stone church was built, the main altar of which was consecrated in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity. However, in everyday life the temple was still called Nikolsky.

The existing stone church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Bersenevka in Verkhniye Sadovniki was erected in 1656-1657, simultaneously with the chambers of Averky Kirillov. The main altar was consecrated in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity, the chapel - in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. In 1755, at the request of parishioners, a chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built on the left side of the refectory.

The church was heavily damaged by a fire in 1812, as a result of which the refectory collapsed. It was restored in 1817-1823 in the style of classicism.

The church building is a two-height pillarless quadrangle with a three-part lowered apse placed on a basement. The lateral divisions of the apses are crowned by two domes; in the past they housed chapels. The northern division is larger than the southern one and has a separate entrance from the gallery. A porch gallery and an elegant porch are attached to the northern façade. Under the porch was the tomb of the Kirillovs.

Eastern facade of the temple

The central head with a light drum is surrounded by four decorative heads, below which there are two rows of kokoshniks. The facades of the church are decorated with richly patterned profiled platbands, paired columns at the corners and tiles.

Colorful temple

The external design of the temple echoes the adjacent chambers of Averky Kirillov. Together with the previously existing passage between them, they formed a common front courtyard.

Detail of the northern façade of the temple

In 1694, along the border of the site along the bank of the Moscow River, a bell tower with a passage gate and the gate church of the Kazan Mother of God was built. Low buildings of the clergy and almshouses were built on both sides of it. In the 18th century they were renewed several times.

During the fire of 1812, the bell tower and the buildings nearby were damaged and after that gradually deteriorated until they were dismantled. In 1853-1854, a new bell tower was built to the west of the church, which was significantly damaged by the shock wave during the explosion of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on December 5, 1931 and was dismantled in 1932.

In 1871, a new building was built along the embankment, incorporating the remains of old buildings. Its windows are decorated with frames with simplified stylization of 17th-century forms. In the summer of 1941, St. Nicholas Church was converted into a storage facility for museum collections. The most valuable exhibits were hidden in the church basement. Now the church has been returned to believers, and services are regularly held there.

Chambers of Averky Kirillov and St. Nicholas Church on Bersenevka on the map

Address: Moscow, Bersenevskaya embankment, 20
Metro: Kropotkinskaya, exit to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, then cross the Moscow River through the Patriarchal Bridge; Novokuznetskaya, Tretyakovskaya, then towards Bersenevskaya embankment.

Today, finally, I fulfilled my long-standing intention to take a closer look at the temple, which is visible from the Patriarchal Bridge. I wanted to go there for a long time, but something didn’t work out.

And I walked around the area often, because I love Bersenevskaya embankment. I used to go specifically to smell the “chocolate spirit” of Red October. Now, of course, it’s a little different after all.

Nearby you can see another interesting building... In general, I decided that I needed to go, otherwise my legs had been carrying me past for so long... Several years, in my opinion.

Next to this building on Bersenevskaya embankment there is a passage to the territory.

Directly opposite the gate there will be this building.

It is quite cute and the color is pleasant to the eye.

Unless it requires restoration.

The area is quiet and deserted.

Lots of trees creating shade.

The only pity is that there were a lot of clouds in the sky.

And it’s a little cramped there in front of the entrance, so the building didn’t want to fit into the frame.

I had to dodge and remove it in parts.

And the temple is almost invisible from here.

Memorial plaque. Now the building houses the Research Institute of Culture, but before...
This house, known as the chambers of the Duma clerk Averky Kirillov, is a unique monument of the 16th–18th centuries, and its architectural history is closely intertwined with Russian history. In the immediate vicinity of the chambers there are several more interesting monuments of Moscow architecture - the Trinity Church, more widely known from one of its chapels as the Church of St. Nicholas on Bersenevka, and the city estate of the Smirnovs, from which a “residential building with chambers” has now been preserved. Today, thanks to these buildings, the architectural and spatial environment of the 17th–18th centuries, unusual for modern Moscow, has been preserved here.
Old Moscow legends, and after them many historians who wrote about the chambers, call Ivan Nikitich Bersen-Beklemishev (?–1525) one of the first owners of the site on which the chambers were later built, although no documentary evidence has been found for this. It is reliably known that in the middle of the 16th century. This land was already part of Streletskaya Sloboda.
Without any historical basis, the owner of the estate is also called the famous guardsman Malyuta Skuratov or the Duma nobleman Grigory Lukyanovich Skuratov-Belsky (?–1573), whose name is associated with the well-known atrocities of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. This legend, which also attributes to Malyuta Skuratov the construction of an underground passage to the other side of the Moscow River and even to the Kremlin, is perhaps explained by the fact that opposite the chambers, on Lenivka, there was a property that belonged to the Skuratovs.
There is no doubt only the fact that in the XV-XVI centuries. on this territory there was a residential building, which, presumably, was wooden on a stone basement: a white stone, dated by the restorers of the 15th century, is still preserved in the thickness of the walls of the north-eastern part of the building. It is also likely that the stone could have been reused, which was typical for the construction practice of that time; it is also possible that these are the remains of gravestones that could have been used during construction. In general, the construction of a building on this site, entirely built of stone (brick), earlier than the 17th century. seems unlikely to most researchers: the area here was low-lying, swampy, and with the existing level of construction technology, as well as before irrigation work, this was problematic.
The first documented owners of the estate were the three sons of Stefan (Stepan) Kirillov, of whom Averky Stefanovich (1622–1682) apparently became its sovereign owner in the 1650s. He was a very wealthy “Moscow guest” [merchant], the owner of numerous shops in Moscow and other cities, salt pans in Soli Kama, as well as lands with peasants. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich attracted him to public service and awarded him the high rank of Duma clerk. In 1677–1682 Kirillov headed the orders of the Great Treasury, the Great Parish, the State Order and the order of the Great Palace, largely determining the financial, trade and industrial policies of the state.
Averky Kirillov was close to the Naryshkins - relatives of Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, the mother of the future Peter I. During the Streltsy revolt of 1682 in support of Princess Sophia, Averky Kirillov, as a member of the opposing Naryshkin party, was brutally killed in the Kremlin, and memorial pillars were erected by the Streltsy on Red Square, on which his “guilts” were recorded as follows: “he took great bribes and committed all sorts of taxes and lies... Ruling the Great Parish by order, inventing from this, he imposed much heavier duties on salt and on all kinds of edible grubs...”.
In the “Building Book of Church Lands” for 1657 there is the following entry relating to the Kirillovs’ estate: “And in that vegetable garden, next to his Averkiev courtyard, his Averkiev palace was built again, and from the church land to that palace there are five fathoms [about 10 m]". At the same time, the buildings adjacent to the manor house began to acquire a modern appearance: almost simultaneously, at the expense of Averky Stefanovich, construction (reconstruction?) of the parish stone church began, the main altar of which was consecrated in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity.

in the XVI–XVII centuries. The main house of the estate was usually located inside the courtyard, and the main entrance to it, as a rule, faced the courtyard and had a decorative design. Reconstructions of residential buildings were often very chaotic in nature: houses were adapted to the new needs and needs of the owners, overgrown with porches and extensions, walkways were built on a stone foundation (on the vaults of the lower levels) and wooden premises were erected, which could also be attached to solid brick ones.

Apparently, they were rebuilt in the same way in 1656–1657. and the chambers of Averky Kirillov: above the brick basement (low ground floor, which now, thanks to cultural layers, looks like a semi-basement) two brick floors were erected. The upper level rooms could be partly wooden; all stone rooms were vaulted; in the northwestern corner of the house there was an internal stone staircase that connected the basement with the upper floors. As a result of these construction works, the main volumes of the building that exists today were formed.
The house received a rich decorative design: the eastern and southern facades are still decorated today with white stone platbands of various types, blades, and a complex crowning cornice. During restoration work, fragments of paintings were discovered on the southern façade facing the courtyard. In the building itself, on the second floor in the center of the vault of the main hall, a carved white stone “castle” was installed, or, as it is often called, a “mortgage stone”. This is a round slab with an image of the Calvary cross (which is why the room received the name Cross Chamber), located in the center of the circular inscription.

In the Census Books for 1737, the chambers are mentioned as the possession of Pyotr Vasilyevich Kurbatov (1672–1747), an assessor of the Foreign Collegium, who is believed to have been married to the widow of Yakov Kirillov. The assumption that P.V. Kurbatov already at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century. was an inhabitant of the chambers, seems very seductive: Kurbatov was one of the famous diplomats of the era of Peter I and was directly familiar with the European culture of his time. in 1698–1702 he was part of the famous Dutch embassy, traveled extensively throughout Western Europe, carrying out diplomatic assignments, and in 1708 became secretary of the embassy office. His son Pyotr Petrovich Kurbatov (1710/11–1786) was also in the diplomatic service and received the rank of full state councilor; he was also known as a writer, translator of Belisarius by J.-F. Marmontel (1769).

During the reign of Peter the Great, Russian cities began to acquire elements of European design, and in Moscow it was the chambers of Averky Kirillov that became one of the first civil buildings converted in the European style. The “Europeanization” of the appearance of the chambers transformed the northern façade of the building, facing the Moscow River. A large entrance projection was erected in the center of the facade with a spectacular fourth floor superstructure. A risalit also appeared from the west, which, together with the protruding volume of the “red porch,” formed a symmetrical composition of the facade, characteristic of European Baroque. The new entrance to the house was decorated with a massive but graceful arch with brackets; The entrance and western projections are decorated with white stone decor in the European style.
Volutes, carved garlands of flowers and fruits, baroque platbands made of white stone with shells in the pediments, a cartouche, and the complex, rich decor of the fourth floor still give the chambers extraordinary grace. As a result, a unique building arose, which has no analogues in domestic secular architecture. The new architectural design of the northern façade evokes images of European Baroque. However, the history of this transformation is mysterious: neither the architect nor the date of the new construction are known.
History of the house in the mid-18th century. not fully known. It is usually mentioned that from the late 1730s. the estate changes its owners, who presumably rent out the house to house government institutions. Thus, on the plan of D.V. Ukhtomsky (1755) it is shown as the property of A. Zinoviev. Apparently, in the second half of the 18th century. the estate nevertheless went to the treasury, in 1806 the building was renovated under the leadership of the architect A. Nazarov, after which the courier team was located in the chambers, and the house became known in Moscow as “Courier”. During the fire of 1812, Zamoskvorechye was burned out: all the wooden buildings burned down, the St. Nicholas Church burned down, its refectory and premises burned out, the bell tower was badly damaged... However, the building of the chambers was not damaged in the fire and fell into disrepair only in the 60s. XIX century

The chambers were saved from destruction due to dilapidation by the Moscow Archaeological Society (MAS), to which, at its request, the building was transferred in 1868. The Society was created in 1864 by Count Alexei Sergeevich and his wife Countess Praskovya Sergeevna Uvarov. The goal of the society was to study and preserve monuments of Russian antiquity, including from “distortion by repairs, additions and reconstructions.”
Members of the MAO not only studied, but also promoted the national cultural heritage; they are Panorama of Zamoskorechye. 1867 In the foreground - the house of Averky Kirillov and the Church of St. Nicholas on Bersenevka (enlarge the picture) introduced information about many hundreds of monuments into scientific circulation and contributed to changing public attitudes towards heritage in general.
The society's activities were not limited to Moscow, where its members carried out a public examination of urban planning projects for the historical part of the city: dozens of architectural monuments were saved throughout the country, including such masterpieces of Russian architecture as the white stone Church of the Intercession on the Nerl, the wooden Church of Lazarus of Murom (now located in Kizhi ), the Assumption Cathedral on the town in Zvenigorod, the White Chambers of the Rostov Kremlin and the walls of the Kolomenskoye Kremlin. The first of the saved monuments were the chambers of Averky Kirillov.
Following historical research in 1870 and 1884. under the leadership of architects A. Popov and N. Nikitin, restoration work was carried out with interior painting; The Cross Chamber, painted and decorated with stylized furniture, became the meeting place of the Society. In 1909, to study and preserve monuments of Moscow architecture, collections of the Old Moscow Museum began to be formed, which were stored in the Chambers. (Later, this collection moved to the Historical Museum, one of the initiators of the creation of which was Count Uvarov.) In June 1923, by order of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, the Moscow Archaeological Society was closed.

Since December 1924, the first floor of the chambers was occupied by the Institute for the Study of Languages and Ethnic Cultures of the Eastern Peoples of the USSR, and in 1925 the building housed the Central Restoration Workshops under the direction of I.E. Grabar. However, very soon radical transformations began in the quarter, which preserved the ancient architectural environment.
In 1928–1931 on the site of the ancient Wine and Salt Courtyard, a government house was erected (designed by architect B.M. Iofan), based on the novel by Yu.V. Trifonov, which received the name “Houses on the Embankment.” Accordingly, a dormitory for builders was set up in the chambers (1929), St. Nicholas Church was closed (1930) and transferred to restoration workshops, which, in turn, were closed in 1932. After the liquidation of the restoration workshops, apartments were set up in the chambers for employees of the Houses on the Embankment management ", which existed here until the end of the 1950s.
In June 1941, just before the start of the war, the Methodological Office of the Research Institute for Local History and Museum Work moved into the chamber building. In the summer of the same year, in the conditions of the outbreak of war, a joint “State Storage No. 2” was set up in the St. Nicholas Church and the refectory for the funds of the largest metropolitan museums. Packed in hundreds of boxes, the collections of the Historical Museum, the Museum of the Revolution, the Museum of the Peoples of the USSR and the Biological Museum were kept here. The most valuable museum relics were walled up in church basements. Written evidence has been preserved of how, through the efforts of the Institute’s staff, the chambers themselves were saved from fire as a result of being hit by an incendiary bomb.

For almost a century and a half, starting in the 1860s. researchers and architects do not give up hope of restoring the history and appearance of a unique monument, the past “living life” of which resists reconstruction. However, it was the “romantic nationalism” of the 19th century and especially the severe cultural losses of the Great Patriotic War that showed everyone (not only specialists, but also politicians) the value of the heritage and the need for its preservation and restoration. Already in 1942–1943. Measurements were taken of the chambers, and in 1946 - of the St. Nicholas Church, the premises of which were still occupied by the funds of Moscow museums. At the end of 1947, the building of the chambers was transferred to the Research Institute of Local History and Museum Work, which, however, shared it with the hostel for about ten years.
However, in 1953–1959. Restoration work was carried out in the Chambers, led by G.V. Alferova, a recognized expert in her field. Describing the state of the monument later, she noted the damage caused by the residents (who “cut out ancient connections, knocked out windows, broke new doors in the walls”), as well as the deplorable state of the white stone decor of the northern extension of the 18th century. Work under these conditions was carried out slowly, and, unfortunately, was interrupted due to the structural reorganization of the restoration business in Moscow. The work was completed in a hurry (1960–1963), the necessary research and recording were no longer carried out, but, apparently, distortions were made...

Today the building of the chambers of Averky Kirillov is a monument of history and culture of federal significance. The Russian Institute of Cultural Studies is located here, whose employees continue to research the monument. Among other things, this is obligated by the history of the house itself, which once again accepted under its arches people whose professional interests are connected with culture, history, and memory. This tradition was restored almost 100 years later, in the early 1960s, which can be seen as a kind of continuity in the sphere of tangible and “intangible” heritage.

Right from the entrance to the territory you can see a notice board, and on it there is a sign showing how to get to the temple.

It's called the Church of St. Nikola on Bersenevka.

Apparently, the parish is small, because few people came out after the evening service had just ended, but still life is quite active.

It is interesting that they serve here according to the “old rank”, i.e. exactly according to the one used by the Old Believers. In the ROC MP there are so-called “co-religionists”, i.e. Old Believers who are in communion with the Russian Orthodox Church, but at the same time preserve the old traditions so dear to their hearts. This parish does not seem to be formally one of the same faith, but the services follow the pre-Nikonian rite. The parishioners look like characters from a fairy tale. Mother was especially colorful with her rosary, but there was no way to take pictures unnoticed, and I didn’t want to embarrass them.

And as soon as we turned onto the path leading to the temple, this architectural miracle appeared before our eyes.

In general, there are no words.

I was amazed how for so many years I knew nothing about this church.

And if you look from here, it would seem that nothing special awaits.

In fact, it looks like a fairytale tower.

The manor building is quite beautiful.

For its time, it’s probably also a tower, but still it doesn’t reach the level of a church.

The place on which the temple stands has been occupied by church buildings since ancient times. So, in 1390, the St. Nicholas Monastery on the Swamp was listed in this area, there was a wooden church there, called in the chronicle of 1475 “The Church of St. Nicholas on Pesku, called Borisov” (which indicates that it belonged to a rich votnik), and in 1625 referred to as “ The Great Wonderworker Nicholas behind the Bersenya Lattice” (in 1504, Moscow, as part of the fight against fires and crime, was divided into sections, one of which was ruled by the noble boyar I. N. Bersen-Beklemishev).
In the 1650s, the sovereign gardener Averky Kirillov began building an estate on the site of the abolished St. Nicholas Monastery. In 1657, by his order, a stone church of the Holy Trinity was built with a chapel in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Architecturally, this temple belongs to a new type of Moscow temple of the mid-17th century, founded by the construction of the Trinity Church in Nikitniki. It was built as a pillarless quadrangle with a bell tower and a refectory adjacent to the north. The temple is richly decorated, “ornamented” - the northern refectory is adjacent to a porch with pillars-“little pods” and arches decorated with “weights”. The main volume of the temple is completed with rows of kokoshniks with a keeled top; drums are also decorated with kokoshniks, also decorated with an arcature belt. The facades, window casings, columns and frieze are richly decorated. From the west there was a descent to the lower room of the temple, where the Kirillov family tomb was located. Later (apparently in the 1690s) a “red” porch with a walkway connecting the temple with the cross chamber of the Kirillov house was added to the church on the eastern side. In 1694, the chapel built by the widow of Yakov Averkievich Irina in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was consecrated. Irina Simeonovna also built a bell tower on the embankment, which is a two-tier octagon on a quadrangle, and ordered a 200-pound bell made by master Ivan Motorin. In addition, five more bells were donated, weighing from 115 poods to 1 pood 35 ¼ pounds. This bell tower was dismantled in 1871 and a two-story building was built in its place. In 1775, a refectory in the classicist style was added to the church from the west, which greatly distorted the original appearance of the church. The temple burned during the fire of 1812, after which it was restored and consecrated again. Instead of the burnt-out ancient refectory, a new one was built, in which two chapels were built - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. Theodosius the Kinoviarch. In the 1820s, the old bell tower was demolished, but a new one appeared only in 1854.

In 1925, the Central State Restoration Workshops were located in the chambers of Averky Kirillov, and in 1930 the temple was closed. In the 1930s, B. Ioffe, who planned the construction of an architectural ensemble in the constructivist style in this area, sought the demolition of the temple. In 1932, at the request of the restorers, the bell tower, which interfered with good lighting, was demolished, but the temple itself was abandoned. In 1958, the Museum Science Research Institute was located in the temple. Since 1992, prayer services to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker have been served every week in the conference room located in the church. Now the temple has been returned to believers, and there is a Sunday school and a library attached to it.

The temple has been perfectly restored.

It cannot be said that anything spoils it.

And it's very big. It's not so easy to capture the whole thing in the frame.

The porch enhances the resemblance to the tower.

Here you can read the name of the temple.

This is what the trim looks like below.

And the entrance is in this building. For some reason it is different in color.

There are pictures like this on the wall.

After admiring the temple, I went for a walk around the fairly spacious area.

There are flower beds there.

There is a well.

And the belfry. I would like to hear how they call.

And next to the temple there is a cross. There was probably once a cemetery here.
I don’t know if you have to take on an Old Believer appearance to enter, because you really want to see what’s inside.

Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Bersenevka (Russia) - description, history, location. Exact address and website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.

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If you cross from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to the other side of the river along the pedestrian Patriarchal Bridge, you can find yourself at a small 17th century church - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Bersenevka. It is always quiet in the church courtyard, and the atmosphere is strikingly different from the one that reigns near the main Moscow church.

The current church was built on the site of the former wooden St. Nicholas Church, which stood where already in 1390. St. Nicholas Monastery on the Swamp was listed.

The church forms a single ensemble with the chambers of the Duma clerk Averky Kirillov. Actually, the temple itself was erected on the site of the wooden St. Nicholas Church as a house church at the chambers. The main volume of the temple is completed by rows of kokoshniks, the facades of the building are richly decorated - the decorations give the temple an elegant look. The entrance to the old refectory is designed in the form of a massive porch. The new refectory in the classic style, built at the end of the 18th century, next to the patterned church does not look very harmonious.

The wooden temple in 1625 was recorded as “The Great Wonderworker Nicholas behind the Bersenya Lattice” - that is, behind the night outpost, which was watched by Bersenya-Beklemishev - and this name was assigned from him. In 1656-1657 a new stone church was erected. Initially it was a quadrangle with a small refectory and a bell tower; the old refectory adjoins the temple not from the west, as is usually the case, but from the north; the entrance to it is designed as a massive porch with pillars-egg-boxes, the porch arches are decorated with “weights”. From the west there was a descent into the lower chamber of the temple. The “fiery” completion of the main volume with rows of kokoshniks with a keeled top is unusually good. The drums of the five chapters of the temple are also framed with kokoshniks and decorated with arcature with “melons”. The central drum is light. The facades of the building are richly decorated: the window frames, the columns, the wide frieze, and other decorations are made in the style of Russian patterning and, despite all their splendor, do not give the impression of heavy, excessive decoration; on the contrary, they give the temple a festive, elegant look.

Actually, the temple itself was erected on the site of the wooden St. Nicholas Church as a house church at the chambers.

During Soviet times, the temple operated until 1930, when it was closed at the request of the Central State Restoration Workshops located in the chambers of Averky Kirillov. After the closure, representatives of the workshops applied for the demolition of the bell tower, which interfered with good lighting in the chambers. The entire church was also threatened with demolition: B. Iofan, the author of the famous unrealized House of Soviets project, petitioned for this. In 1932, the bell tower was demolished and the church was left, despite the proximity of the House on the embankment.

Practical information

Address: Moscow, metro station Kropotkinskaya emb. Bersenevskaya, 20.

Visiting is possible from Monday to Friday from 06.20 to 20.00.