In honor of which the Assumption Cathedral was built. Assumption Cathedral - a historical and architectural masterpiece of the Moscow Kremlin

Simple, but at the same time majestic temple is an example of cathedral architecture. This is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Moscow. For several centuries it was the cathedral church of Russia.

From the history of the Assumption Cathedral

Archaeological finds have shown that at the place where the Assumption Cathedral is now located, at the end of the 12th century there was a wooden church. And at the end of the 13th century, the son of Alexander Nevsky Daniel built on the very high point The Moscow Kremlin is a stone temple, which became the first stone building in Moscow. In 1326, Metropolitan Peter gave the idea to Prince Ivan Kalita to build a new church. The cathedral was solemnly laid on August 4, 1326. In the northern part of the church, Peter himself made a tomb for himself. The temple was built for a year, but it did not live to see the consecration of the temple on August 25, 1327. Since that time, the shrine served for almost 150 years.

In 1472, when the church was completely dilapidated, it was decided to build a new larger church. The Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir was taken as a model. But it was decided to build a new temple both wider and longer. The construction was carried out under the guidance of masters Krivtsov and Myshkin. But the job was not completed. May 20, 1474 the temple collapsed. One of the reasons is the earthquake that took place in the capital, and perhaps the masonry mortar was too thin. The temple lay in ruins for almost a year. Ivan III invited the architect Aristotle Fioravanti from Italy. From 1475 to 1479 the construction of the temple was carried out. As it should be according to the canons of Orthodoxy, the temple was built with five domes, six pillars and five apses. Made from white stone. Some of the structures are made of bricks. Like other buildings in Moscow, the temple burned several times. Therefore, it has been restored many times. In 1547, after a fire, by decree of Ivan Vasilyevich (the Terrible), the domes were covered with gilded copper sheets. The relics of Metropolitan Peter were transferred to the golden shrine. In the same year, the first wedding was made to the kingdom of Ivan IV. This is where the coronation took place. Russian emperors. In 1624, the vaults of the temple were strengthened. In the XIV - XVII centuries. the heads of the Russian church, the metropolitans and patriarchs, were buried there.

During Patriotic War 1812, many valuables were transported to Vologda. And what remained in the temple was looted by Napoleon's soldiers. Thus, only the shrine of Metropolitan Jonah remained from the tombs of the saints. In 1911-1915. the restoration of the shrine was carried out under the guidance of the architect I. Mashkov. In August 1917, the All-Russian Local Council of the Orthodox Russian Church was opened here. He made a decision to restore the patriarchate in Russia. After the revolution in 1918, the temple was closed. Since 1955, the temple has been operating as a museum. Since 1991, the State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve "Moscow Kremlin" has been included. Here, with the blessing of the Patriarch, divine services are held on certain holidays.

Architecture of the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin

The construction of the church was carried out for especially solemn ceremonies. Therefore, both the architecture and decoration of the temple correspond to the festive atmosphere. The architect Aristotle Fioravanti did not just repeat the image of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir. In his creation, the trends of Byzantine and Romanesque, Gothic and Russian art are felt. He combined these styles in such a way that the new Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin appears to us as a temple of the entire Russian state. The temple is built of small blocks of white stone and is solid. The chronicle notes that the building looks "like a single stone." The pillars of the temple are round. Contemporaries marveled at his "majesty and height, and lordship and space." Inside the temple we feel space and breadth. And good lighting uplifts the mood and creates a festive atmosphere.

Decoration of the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin

Wall paintings, icons and various utensils in the temple are works of art of world significance. As the chronicler noted, people who came to the temple and seeing its beauty felt "like standing in heaven."

The temple is famous for its paintings. They were originally executed in 1482-1515. The church was repainted in 1642-1644. The existing painting was made by 150 artists headed by the tsarist masters Ivan and Boris Paisein and Sidor Pospeev. Architecture and murals created a vault in the form of the sky. In the chapters we see images of God. At the top of the walls are illustrations of the Gospel. In the next two tiers - the Life of the Mother of God. In the lower part - images of the seven Ecumenical Councils. FROM west side we see the composition "The Last Judgment." Believers understand that they will have to answer for a righteous and sinful life. Numerous figures of martyrs are depicted on the round pillars. The famous icon painter Dionysius took part in the painting of the temple. Painting is represented by 249 plot compositions and 2066 individual figures.

The temple has a rich collection of icons. Some of them were written for the churches of Moscow, the other for the churches of other ancient cities of Russia. The greatest shrine among the icons is the icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir. She was in Vyshgorod, then in Vladimir. In 1395, to protect against the invasion of Khan Tamerlane, she was transported by Vasily I to Moscow. Also here are such valuable icons as the Mother of God Hodegetria and "St. George", "Trinity" and others.

The huge iconostasis of 1653 occupies the entire wide wall temple. In front of it are places of worship. The royal is located at the left pillar. It is notable for the fact that the kings and queens, except for Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich, never got up here. The patriarchal seat is at the right pillar. At the patriarchal place, located on the right, you can see the staff of Metropolitan Peter made of ebony. Monomakh's Throne, made of walnut wood, is the third grand-ducal seat. It was created in 1551 for the first Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible. It is located opposite the south aisle. The carved plates depict the legend of obtaining prince of Kiev Vladimir Monomakh signs of royal power from the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh. The most valuable relic of Christianity is kept in the altar of the temple - one of the nails with which Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross - the Nail of Christ the Lord.

In the temple we also see monuments of decorative and applied art. Among the attractions is a silver chandelier with flowers and garlands weighing 328 kg, cast after the retreat of Napoleon's army in memory of the victory. An openwork tent for storing church relics, created in 1624 by craftsman Dmitry Sverchkov, is presented as an example of foundry. In 1625, a part of the allegedly authentic clothes of Christ, sent to Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich by the Persian Shah Abbas I, was placed in a tent, in a golden chest. entrance doors temples are called the Korsun gates. They are decorated with gold, which is why they are often called Golden.

Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin as a tomb

Since 1326, when Metropolitan Peter was buried in the church, the church became the tomb of the metropolitans, and later of the Russian patriarchs. There are 19 tombs in the temple. At the end of the 16th century, tombstones with white stone epitaphs began to be installed. Where high tents are erected, the holy priests are buried. The miracle workers Peter and Jonah, Philip and Hermogenes are buried in wooden shrines with metal plates.

Visiting Cathedral Square, you will see the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin - a unique museum under open sky, which stores the most valuable church relics.

Built in 1475–79 under the guidance of an Italian architect.

The main temple of the Russian state. The oldest fully preserved building in Moscow.

History

The first stone cathedral on the site of the current one was built at the beginning of the 14th century, during the reign: on August 4, 1326, the white stone Cathedral of the Assumption was laid on the site of the former wooden church Holy Mother of God in fulfillment of the wishes of the Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia Peter, who had moved to Moscow shortly before.

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Dormition Cathedral 1326–27 was the first stone church in Moscow. Archaeological studies have shown that it was a four-pillar, three-apse, three-fortified, one-domed temple, built on the model of St. George's Cathedral and in Yuryev-Polsky.

The temple was built in a technique characteristic of that time: masonry of roughly processed squares of white stone was combined with smooth-hewn elements of architectural decor. The temple was crowned with kokoshniks.

Under Ivan III, the temple ceased to correspond to the status of the cathedral of the growing centralized Moscow state. Probably, the temple intended for demolition was no longer repaired, and it became very dilapidated, which was reflected in the annals.

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In the summer of 1471, “Metropolitan Philip began to diligently think about building a new stone cathedral church in Moscow, because the old one, built by Kalita, was already threatened with destruction from antiquity and from many fires, its vaults were already reinforced, propped up with thick trees.”

The construction of a new cathedral of enormous size for that time was entrusted to Russian architects Krivtsov and Myshkin. The construction, begun in 1472, was not completed, since the temple, brought to the vaults, collapsed after an earthquake (“coward”), which allegedly took place in Moscow on May 20, 1474.

The chronicler testifies:

“be a coward in the city of Moscow and the church of St. Theotokos, it was already made up to the upper chambers, falling at 1 o'clock in the morning, and the temples were all shaking, as if the earth was shaking.

Ivan III invited the architect Aristotle Fioravanti from Italy, who, having completely dismantled the remains of the former structure, erected the existing building in the likeness of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir. The temple was consecrated on August 12, 1479 by Metropolitan Gerontius.

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The temple is six-pillar, five-domed, five-apse. It was built of white stone in combination with brick (vaults, drums, the eastern wall above the altar apses, eastern square pillars hidden by the altar barrier; the rest are round pillars are also made of brick, but lined with white stone).

The original paintings of the cathedral were made between 1482 and 1515. The famous icon painter Dionysius took part in the painting. In 1642–44, the cathedral was painted anew, but fragments of the original paintings have been preserved, which are the oldest example of fresco painting that has come down to us on the territory of the Kremlin.

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The temple suffered from fires many times, was repeatedly renovated and restored. After the fire of 1547, John Vasilyevich ordered that the top of the temple be covered with gilded copper sheets; the relics of Metropolitan Peter were transferred from a silver shrine to a gold one. In 1624, the vaults of the cathedral, which threatened to fall, were dismantled and rebuilt according to a modified pattern, with additional reinforcement with cohesive iron and with the introduction of additional girth arches.

In 1547, the wedding of Ivan IV took place here for the first time.

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In 1625, the Robe of the Lord, sent as a gift to Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich by the Persian Shah Abbas I, was moved in the cathedral.

During the Petersburg period, it continued to be the place of the coronation of all Russian emperors, starting with Peter II.

In 1812, the cathedral was desecrated and plundered by the Napoleonic army, although the most valuable shrines were evacuated to Vologda. Of the tombs of the saints, only the shrine of Metropolitan Jonah survived. The cathedral was re-consecrated on August 30, 1813 by Bishop Augustin (Vinogradsky) of Dmitrovsky.

Restorations of the Assumption Cathedral were carried out in 1895–97. architect S.K. Rodionov, in the 1900s by architect S.U. Solovyov, in 1911-1915 - by architect I.P. Mashkov.

On August 15, 1917, on the patronal feast, the All-Russian Local Council of the Orthodox Russian Church opened here, and in October it decided to restore the patriarchate in the Russian Church; On November 21 of the same year, Patriarch Tikhon (Bellavin) was enthroned.

Closed for access and worship in March 1918, after the government of the RSFSR moved to the Kremlin.

The last service before the closing of the temple was performed on Easter 1918 - April 22 (May 5); the divine service, which served as the initial basis for P. D. Korin’s painting “Departing Russia,” was led by the vicar of the Moscow diocese, Bishop Trifon (Turkestanov) of Dmitrov.

Modern status

Opened as a museum in 1955. In February 1960 transferred to the Ministry of Culture of the USSR. Since 1991, it has been part of the Moscow Kremlin State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve.

Since 1990, divine services have been held in the cathedral on separate days with the blessing of the Patriarch; called "Patriarchal Cathedral".

They say that every city founded in antiquity or in the Middle Ages has its own secret name. According to legend, only a few people could know him. The city's secret name contained its DNA. Having learned the "password" of the city, the enemy could easily take possession of it.

"Secret Name"

According to the ancient urban planning tradition, at the beginning the secret name of the city was born, then there was a corresponding place, the “heart of the city”, which symbolized the World Tree. Moreover, it is not necessary that the navel of the city should be located in the "geometric" center of the future city. The city is almost like Koshchei’s: “... his death is at the end of a needle, that needle is in an egg, that egg is in a duck, that duck is in a hare, that hare is in a chest, and the chest stands on a tall oak, and that Koschei tree, like its own eye, protects ".

Interestingly, ancient and medieval city planners always left hints. Love for puzzles distinguished many professional guilds. Some Freemasons are worth something. Before the profanation of heraldry in the Enlightenment, the role of these rebuses was performed by the coats of arms of cities. But this is in Europe. In Russia, until the 17th century, there was no tradition at all to encrypt the essence of the city, its secret name, in the coat of arms or some other symbol. For example, George the Victorious migrated to the coat of arms of Moscow from the seals of the great Moscow princes, and even earlier - from the seals of the Tver principality. It had nothing to do with the city.

"Heart of the City"

In Russia, the starting point for the construction of the city was the temple. He was the axis of any locality. In Moscow, this function was performed by the Assumption Cathedral for centuries. In turn, according to the Byzantine tradition, the temple was to be built on the relics of the saint. At the same time, the relics were usually placed under the altar (sometimes also on one side of the altar or at the entrance to the temple). It was the relics that represented the “heart of the city”. The name of the saint, apparently, was the very "secret name". In other words, if St. Basil's Cathedral was the "founding stone" of Moscow, then the "secret name" of the city would be "Vasilyev" or "Vasilyev-grad".

However, we do not know whose relics lie at the base of the Assumption Cathedral. There is not a single mention of this in the annals. Probably the saint's name was kept secret.

At the end of the 12th century, a wooden church stood on the site of the current Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. A hundred years later, the Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich built the first Assumption Cathedral on this site. However, for unknown reasons, after 25 years, Ivan Kalita builds on this site new cathedral. It is interesting that the temple was built on the model of St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky. It's not entirely clear why? St. George's Cathedral can hardly be called a masterpiece of ancient Russian architecture. So there was something else?

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The model temple in Yuryev-Polsky was built in 1234 by Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich on the site on the foundation of the white stone church of George, which was built in 1152 when the city was founded by Yuri Dolgoruky. Apparently, some increased attention was paid to this place. And the construction of the same temple in Moscow, perhaps, was supposed to emphasize some kind of continuity.

The Assumption Cathedral in Moscow stood for less than 150 years, and then Ivan III suddenly decided to rebuild it. The formal reason is the dilapidation of the structure. Although one and a half hundred years for a stone temple is not God knows how long. The temple was dismantled, and in its place in 1472 the construction of a new cathedral began. However, on May 20, 1474, an earthquake occurred in Moscow. The unfinished cathedral was seriously damaged, and Ivan decides to dismantle the remains and start building a new temple. Architects from Pskov are invited for construction, but for mysterious reasons, they categorically refuse to build.

Aristotle Fioravanti

Then Ivan III, at the insistence of his second wife Sophia Palaiologos, sends emissaries to Italy, who were supposed to bring the Italian architect and engineer Aristotle Fioravanti to the capital. By the way, in his homeland he was called the “new Archimedes”. It looks absolutely fantastic, because for the first time in the history of Russia, a Catholic architect is invited to build an Orthodox church, the main church of the Moscow State!

From the point of view of the then tradition - a heretic. Why an Italian was invited, who had never seen a single Orthodox church, remains a mystery. Maybe because not a single Russian architect wanted to deal with this project.

The construction of the temple under the leadership of Aristotle Fioravanti began in 1475 and ended in 1479. It is interesting that the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir was chosen as a model. Historians explain that Ivan III wanted to show the continuity of the Muscovite state from the former "capital city" of Vladimir. But this again does not look very convincing, since in the second half of the 15th century, the former authority of Vladimir could hardly have had any image value.

Perhaps this was due to Vladimir Icon Mother of God, which in 1395 was transported from the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir to the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow, built by Ivan Kalita. However, history has not preserved direct indications of this.

One of the hypotheses why Russian architects did not get down to business, and an Italian architect was invited, is connected with the personality of the second wife of John III, the Byzantine Sophia Palaiologos. A little more about this.

Sophia and the "Latin faith"

As you know, as a wife to Ivan III Greek princess actively promoted by Pope Paul II. In 1465 her father, Thomas Palaiologos, brought her with his other children to Rome. The family settled at the court of Pope Sixtus IV.

A few days after their arrival, Thomas died, having converted to Catholicism before his death. History has left us no information that Sophia converted to the "Latin faith", but it is unlikely that the Palaiologos could remain Orthodox while living at the court of the Pope. In other words, Ivan III, most likely, wooed a Catholic. Moreover, not a single chronicle reports that Sophia converted to Orthodoxy before the wedding. The wedding took place in November 1472. In theory, it was supposed to take place in the Assumption Cathedral. However, shortly before this, the temple was dismantled to the foundation in order to begin new construction. This looks very strange, because about a year before that, it was known about the upcoming wedding. It is also surprising that the wedding took place in a specially built wooden church near the Assumption Cathedral, which was demolished immediately after the ceremony. Why no other Kremlin cathedral was chosen remains a mystery.

What happened?

Let's get back to the refusal of Pskov architects to restore the destroyed Assumption Cathedral. One of the Moscow chronicles says that the Pskovites allegedly did not take up the work because of its complexity. However, it is hard to believe that Russian architects could refuse Ivan III, a rather harsh man, on such an occasion. The reason for the categorical refusal should have been very weighty. It was probably related to some heresy. A heresy that only a Catholic could bear - Fioravanti. What could it be?

The Assumption Cathedral, built by an Italian architect, does not have any "seditious" deviations from the Russian tradition of architecture. The only thing that could cause a categorical refusal is the holy relics.

Perhaps the relics of a non-Orthodox saint could become a "mortgage" relic. As you know, Sophia brought many relics as a dowry, including Orthodox icons and a library. But, probably, we do not know about all the relics. It is no coincidence that Pope Paul II lobbied for this marriage so much.

If during the reconstruction of the temple there was a change of relics, then, according to the Russian tradition of urban planning, the “secret name” and, most importantly, the fate of the city changed. People who understand history well and subtly know that it was with Ivan III that the change in the rhythm of Russia began. Then the Grand Duchy of Moscow.