Church of the Annunciation in Peter's Park. Information about the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Petrovsky Park Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Petrovsky Park schedule
Indeed, the first mention of the local possessions of the Petrovsky Monastery dates back to 1498, then they were very impressive in size, reaching the borders of the village of All Saints and the modern line of the Riga Road. After 1678, the village of Petrovskoye appeared near these lands, when the grandfather of Peter I, boyar Kirill Poluektovich Naryshkin, bought the neighboring village of Semchino from Prince Prozorovsky, and it became known as Petrovskoye (future Petrovsko-Razumovskoye). After the Streltsy riot of 1682, a patrimonial church was erected in it in the name of the holy apostles Peter and Paul in honor of the namesake of the owner’s grandson, Tsarevich Peter, which gave the name to the Naryshkins’ new land - the village of Petrovsky. Whether the name of the former monastic lands was imprinted in it, or whether it became the full namesake of the neighboring property of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery - there are two main opinions of scientists on this issue.
The first says that these were “namesake” neighbors, two different properties with the same name “Petrovskoye”, but with different origins of the name. One, which was in the Petrovsky Park area, came from the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery. Another, the future Petrovsko-Razumovsky - from the local Peter and Paul Church or even on behalf of the august grandson of the owner of these places, on whose name the church was consecrated. Various assumptions were made that Peter I was allegedly born here, or that Naryshkin named his domain Petrovsky after the birth of the prince.
According to another opinion, the village of Petrovskoye was united, in the old days of enormous size, at different ends-wings of which different settlements arose - Petrovskoye itself, Petrovsko-Razumovskoye and Petrovskoye-Zykovo. So many variations of the same name with different prefixes leads to the idea that they are all parts of one big whole. The emergence of these settlements with the same name in the first part, but with different endings, was due to the fact that by that time the once deserted territories of the large monastic estate began to be populated and receive their new “additional” names. This version is supported by the fact that the village of Petrovskoye-Zykovo (on the territory of which Petrovsky Park was laid out), founded at the end of the 17th century, definitely belonged to the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery - both at that time and after the secularization of 1764. Previously, it was called only Petrovsky, and then it imprinted the name of the Zykov boyars, who served Peter I and developed this village.
One thing is certain - the village of Petrovskoye appears in documents after 1678: this means that it appeared precisely under the Naryshkins, who could, naming their new possession, pay tribute to the Petrovsky Monastery: perhaps Peter’s grandfather built a church that echoed the name of the Moscow High -Petrovsky Monastery.
So, one version is that all these villages (Petrovskoye, Petrovskoye-Semchino, Petrovsko-Razumovskoye, Petrovskoye-Zykovo) are different wings of one ancient property, the village of Petrovskoye, which arose in the 17th century from the lands of an ancient monastic site, in the first part of whose name lies one and the same “root”, especially since they are all very close. The second version does not connect Petrovskoye and Petrovsko-Razumovskoye, considers them different in origin and name, “namesakes” in name, and traditionally derives the name of Petrovsky Park and the traveling palace on behalf of the local landowner - the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery.
The history and appearance of Petrovsky Park was greatly influenced by its location: on the approach to Moscow, near the main state road of Russia, which connected Moscow and St. Petersburg at the beginning of the 18th century. That is why the traveling Petrovsky Palace was built on these lands, where the last stop of the royal train for rest before Moscow was built, when the august persons came to the mother throne for the coronation or celebrations. Previously, wooden traveling palaces stood in the village of Vsekhsvyatskoe, in the area of modern Sokol, but over time, a grandiose, majestic, and solemn structure was urgently required. And the reason for its construction appeared. In 1774, on the Khodynka field, near the site of the future palace, celebrations were held in honor of the conclusion of the victorious Kuchuk-Kainardzhi peace with Turkey. And for the “festivities,” the architect Matvey Kazakov built temporary entertainment pavilions here in the “Turkish style,” symbolizing the conquered enemy fortresses.
The place attracted the attention of Empress Catherine II, who personally arrived for the celebrations. Pleased with the past celebrations, she ordered Kazakov a stone palace, with architecture based on these pavilions, both in honor of the victory won and as a monument to the glory of Russia and its soldiers. The palace, ready by 1783, had two wings in the form of fortress walls with towers in the fashionable Gothic-Moorish style. As the writer M. Zagoskin put it about it, it was “a beautiful building of Moorish architecture, converted to European customs.” The palace has two facades: one, the front one, faces the road, the second faces the park, sometimes called Petrovskaya Grove, since Petrovsky Park itself appeared later. The name of the Petrovsky Palace also causes disputes among historians: it is traditionally believed that the palace was named so because it was built on the former property of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery. Others believe that these were pasture lands, that is, outlying lands of the mysterious village of Petrovskoye. The third version is based on a legend connecting the name of the palace with the name of Peter the Great, and it has real grounds: the name of the palace definitely came from the name of the Petrovskoye locality, but its choice specifically for the name of the palace symbolized the continuity of the reign of Catherine II with the undertakings of Peter I.
Catherine herself first stayed in this palace in 1787, and, according to legend, sent off the guard, saying that she would spend the night under the protection of her people. And as if all night long huge crowds of ordinary people wandered under the dark windows, protecting their empress’s sleep from the slightest rustle: “Don’t make noise, don’t disturb the peace of our mother.” A stop at the Petrovsky Palace became a tradition and did not stop even when the railway appeared, connecting the Russian capitals. The first sovereign to stay in this palace before his coronation was Paul I; he really enjoyed organizing military reviews and divorces here. And he was followed by Alexander I and Nicholas I, during whose reign the main page in the history of the Petrovsky Palace and Petrovsky Park began.
It was this palace that determined the creation of Petrovsky Park and the entire surrounding prestigious area, where ceremonial uniformity corresponding to the imperial palace was required. Already at the end of the 18th century, country houses of the nobility - princes Golitsyn, Volkonsky, Apraksin - began to be built near the palace. Here in 1827, in one of the houses that belonged to Sobolevsky, Pushkin was escorted to St. Petersburg. But the time of the famous dachas in Petrovsky Park was still ahead. In the meantime, in 1826, they were waiting here for the coronation of Emperor Nicholas I. The palace was in disrepair after Napoleon, although the French emperor liked it, who even gave receptions there and consulted with the milliner Madame Aubert-Chalmet about the abolition of serfdom in Russia. The invaders set fire to the palace so that its dome collapsed, mutilated the surrounding area, but remembered it only for the coronation of the new sovereign. Having examined the palace, Nicholas I ordered its restoration and the establishment of a luxurious regular park here, a Moscow Versailles for festivities and to improve the area around the palace - a decree was issued in 1827.
The construction of the huge Petrovsky Park of 94 hectares was entrusted to the English (according to other sources, Scottish) architect Adam Menelas and gardener Fintelman. According to the plan, maple and linden alleys were supposed to radiate from the palace in three rays, and in the Maslovka area there was supposed to be a park with bridges and a pond, with English paths, coffee houses, baths and a summer theater. That is why Petrovsky Park became a favorite place for festivities of the Moscow aristocracy and intelligentsia; Pushkin, Lermontov, S.T. Aksakov and many others visited here. It was forbidden to have taverns and inns here, and the public simply walked in the Neskuchny Garden or in Maryina Roshcha. Senator A.A. was assigned to manage the construction. Bashilov, head of the Moscow Commission on Buildings, whose name the local Bashilov streets now bear. It was he who turned Petrovsky Park into a famous place: when the word “park” was written or spoken in Moscow, it was about Petrovsky Park. But the senator was remembered for his special brainchild - the famous “voxal” with which Bashilov crowned the creation of Petrovsky Park. This was the name of the gardening “entertainment” that came from England: a wooden building with galleries for public recreation, where visitors for five rubles were treated to theatrical performances, dances, restaurants with dinners, concerts, balls, games, billiards, reading rooms and even fireworks. Bashilov thought out his establishment very well - his book “Exposition on the construction of a station in Petrovsky Park in Moscow” with a dedicatory inscription: “To His Highness Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin from the establishment of the station of Senator Bashilov, 1836, Dec. is preserved in the Pushkin library. 3 days". It is known that Pushkin composed an epigram on him. Voxal Bashilov, built in 1835 according to the design of architect M.D. Bykovsky, who later brought the Ivanovsky Monastery back to life, had its predecessors in the form of the Grog station in Neskuchny Garden and Medox in the Taganskaya part, but by that time not a trace remained of them. So in the first half of the 19th century it was a one-of-a-kind establishment.
Life here became particularly hectic after Emperor Nicholas I issued a new decree in 1836 on the distribution of land from Tverskaya Zastava to Petrovsky Park for country dachas, with the requirement that the houses have a good architectural appearance and face the road. The facades had to be previously approved by the Commission for buildings, and the same M.D. Bykovsky developed standard designs for country houses in Petrovsky Park, but in a wide variety of options, from Gothic to Moorish style.
This was not new. The word “dacha” arose during the time of Peter I, when he ordered the allocation (“give”) of land near Peterhof for development, which would ennoble the ceremonial palace area. The public in Moscow was also supposed to be an elite one, which was capable of carrying out such a thing. However, here “dacha” meant almost the same as under Peter I.
The houses in Petrovsky Park were built to “give soft loans,” that is, to encourage gave government five thousand rubles for reconstruction. The dachas in Petrovsky Park were the most fashionable in old Moscow, something like the modern Rublevo-Uspenskoe Highway. There was also a huge property of Bashilov himself, who later gave it to Tranquil Yar for a restaurant. Here were the dachas of the writer M. Zagoskin, the actor Mikhail Shchepkin, the dachas of the princes Shcherbatovs, Trubetskoys, Apraksins, Baryatinskys, Golitsyns, Volkonskys, Obolenskys, Tolstoys, Talyzins and Naryshkins.
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
Local dacha owner Anna Dmitrievna Naryshkina founded the Annunciation Church here in the first half of the 19th century. Here, at the dacha in Petrovsky Park, her thirteen-year-old granddaughter Anna Bulgari died, and before that she buried her only daughter, Countess Maria Bulgari. The woman, in grief, vowed to build a church on the site of the girl’s death and in 1842 submitted a corresponding petition to St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow and Tsar Nicholas I. Anna Dmitrievna was the wife of a chamberlain and had land leased from the Moscow Palace Office, and promised to move her dacha at an appropriate distance from the new temple, donate 200 thousand rubles for its construction, provide utensils, contribute another 10 thousand for the maintenance of the priests and provide them with housing.
The location for the temple was very suitable for its potential parishioners. Even earlier, the caretaker of the Petrovsky Palace reported that local summer residents would like to have their own parish church here. After all, the closest were only the temple in the village of Vsekhsvyatskoye and the Church of St. Basil of Caesarea on 1st Tverskaya Yamskaya, to which the summer residents of the St. Petersburg highway were assigned. Both churches were located at a considerable distance from Petrovsky Park. And the owners of dachas already in 1835 asked to build them a summer tent church - only for the dacha season - in the backyard of the Peter the Great's Palace. Then the emperor did not allow this to be done, and the summer residents lived here temporarily and could not form a full-fledged parish. The new temple being built by Naryshkina would have eliminated all these difficulties, but it turned out to be a rather difficult path.
Firstly, this area near the palace was under the special control of the palace department. Under Nicholas I, the Petrovsky Palace became not only Putev, but also a country imperial residence, with the corresponding status. Any little thing had to be coordinated for a long time and often received permission from the emperor himself. Secondly, the question of parish suddenly arose. The potential local parish, as it turned out, officially belonged to the All Saints Church (on Sokol), and its rector objected to the construction of a new church for the sake of preserving his parish and maintaining the church unsparingly. Naryshkina received a refusal from the Moscow Spiritual Consistory, where they also pointed out to her that the funds allocated by her were not enough for the proper maintenance of the temple, and the lands of the Palace Office could be developed only with its permission. And then Naryshkina turned to the sovereign himself, who allowed the construction of the temple in the same year of 1843. It was prescribed to pray in it for the temple builder and her family.
Now clergy had to be appointed for the temple and, after consecration, a parish should be determined. To build a temple near the imperial palace, according to the decision of the Consistory, a particularly experienced architect was required. The first to be appointed was the famous Evgraf Tyurin, the architect of the Epiphany Cathedral in Elokhov and the Tatyana Church of Moscow University. His project involved the construction of a temple-copy of the Peter's Palace - a temple with two bell towers, galleries and a huge dome, which was not allowed by the emperor, since the church had nothing to do with the Peter's Palace other than its location. And the architect of the Annunciation Church was Fyodor Richter, director of the Moscow Palace School of Architecture, who participated in the construction of the Grand Kremlin Palace. It was he who restored the chambers of the Romanov boyars on Varvarka, for which he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, III degree, and for the work “Monuments of Ancient Russian Architecture” he was awarded a diamond ring.
However, the emperor also rejected Richter's first project. The architect designed it based on the ancient Moscow Church of John the Baptist in Dyakovo near Kolomenskoye: the pillar-shaped bell tower was crowned with a huge parabolic dome. In the next project, which was approved in St. Petersburg, the dome was made of a tent, and the dome of the temple itself was made of a traditional Moscow onion. In addition, the temple became two-story: the Annunciation throne was consecrated on the second floor, where there was no heating - services were held there in the summer. In his altar there was a large icon “Prayer for the Chalice”. And in the lower tier they built chapels in the name of the Venerables Xenophon and Mary and their children and Simeon the God-Receiver and Anna the Prophetess - on the name day of the temple builder. In addition to the project itself, Nicholas I even approved the version of the carved iconostasis, and after the august approval, the architect could not change a single detail during the work.
The temple was solemnly founded on the Feast of the Annunciation in 1844. It was consecrated already in 1847, but only the upper church. It was arranged magnificently, generously, with silver, gilding, enamel, velvet, and had no shortage of utensils or liturgical books. In addition, for the maintenance of the temple, Naryshkina transferred 25 thousand rubles in banknotes to the treasury of the Moscow Board of Trustees. The clergy were appointed from the Church of St. Joachim and Anna on Bolshaya Yakimanka. However, the beautiful temple, designated for the Nikitsky Forty of Moscow, was declared... unattended.
The point was as follows. After the consecration of the temple in the same year, 1847, Naryshkina turned to the Consistory with a request to determine the parish of the newly built church from local summer residents living near it. The request was refused in order to avoid the ruin of the parish of the All Saints Church. The Annunciation Church could accept under its canopy any believer who wished to enter it, but at the same time not have its own permanent parish. Naryshkina, without losing her spiritual strength, persuaded the summer residents of Petrovsky Park to write a petition for permission to be registered in the parish of the newly built church - after all, these were very eminent people. More than thirty signatures were on this petition, but it turned out that most of those who signed lived here temporarily, for the summer season, and many of them, like Prince Obolensky, found it even more convenient to go to the Vasilyevsky Church on Tverskaya. As a result, the issue was resolved peacefully and in favor of the new temple. The parish was formed from summer residents who signed Naryshkina’s petition and had previously been parishioners of the All Saints Church. The servants of the noble summer residents of Petrovsky Park and soldiers from the Khodynsky Field barracks were also assigned here, to the Annunciation Church. And those who lived on the Petersburg highway remained in the parish of Vasilyevskaya Church.
The fate of the Annunciation Church was influenced by its proximity to the imperial palace. Very soon after the consecration, the first repairs were made to the church due to the fact that in 1856 they were expecting the coronation of Emperor Alexander II, and a palace was being prepared for him. It is known that the Petrovsky Palace was the favorite place of residence of Alexander the Liberator. As usual, without security, every morning he walked along the alleys of Petrovsky Park with his dog. Under him, by the way, it was allowed to admit everyone into the palace to inspect it, except for those days when the imperial family stayed here, and these excursions were free.
And after the next renovation of the temple at the beginning of the twentieth century, unique wonderful bells appeared on its bell tower with images of the Holy Trinity, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Bogolyubskaya Icon of the Mother of God, St. Nicholas, the holy righteous Simeon the God-Receiver and Anna the Prophetess, and the Venerables Xenophon and Mary.
"RED LEAVES, GRAY EARTH"
Marina Tsvetaeva wrote so figuratively about Petrovsky Park. The era of capitalism, which began after the Great Reforms of Alexander the Liberator, changed both Petrovsky Park and the parish of the Annunciation Church. In the second half of the 19th century, Petrovsky Park remained a favorite place for both summer cottages and entertainment, only now other summer residents and other entertainment appeared here. Here the rich, merchants, industrialists and other new capitalist nobility began to build villas - they brought their entertainment here in the form of restaurants with gypsy choirs and revelries. The first of all to settle near Petrovsky Park was the famous restaurant “Yar”, which occupied the former property of Senator Bashilov back in 1836; Gogol especially loved to dine here. Among the merchants, “Yar” was most popular; later, the next most famous “Strelna” and “Mauritania” appeared, which ended up on the pages of Leskov and Leo Tolstoy.
However, Petrovsky Park itself was still intended for Sunday festivities, with carriage rides and tea parties. Even aeronauts floated in hot air balloons over the expanses of Petrovsky Park and jumped with parachutes, entertaining the people. In the pre-reform era, the “elegant public” still walked here - in the evenings, when there was less dust, they rode horses and in carriages, showed off outfits and decorations, right down to the coachman’s clothes. However, the aristocrats had already begun to be noticeably crowded out by a simpler public - townspeople, peasants and, most importantly, merchants of all stripes.
So in the summer, rulers went to Petrovsky Park, in winter sleighs with a conductor, and in 1899 the first electric tram went here from Strastnaya Square, so many people wanted to walk in Petrovsky Park and live here in their dachas. Shortly before the revolution, there was even a project to build a ground metro line here. In addition to festivities and restaurants, the Moscow public was still attracted by the theater and the long-lived voxel: pianist Anton Rubenstein made his first public performance here, Franz Liszt played music here, and A.F. appeared on its stage in 1863. Pisarev - he played the role of the character Ananias in his own drama “Bitter Fate”. And in 1887, the famous actress Maria Blumenthal-Tamarina made her debut here in a play based on the novel by Dumas the Elder. Only at the end of the 19th century was the completely dilapidated station demolished, and the Palace Department willingly handed over the lands of the park for new dacha development. Pisemsky himself, I.S. Turgenev, and even the “forgiven” Decembrists who returned from exile in the late 1850s, who were forbidden to live in Moscow, now lived in the dachas here - among them was Ivan Pushchin, a friend of Pushkin.
The park itself was slowly falling into disrepair, trees were not planted, alleys were not maintained, there was no lighting, since the palace department did not pay due attention to it. However, the local population grew, and at its expense the parish of the Annunciation Church greatly increased. In 1904, at the expense of parishioners, it was rebuilt with a significant expansion - now the temple could accommodate up to two thousand pilgrims. At the same time, the revered ancient Bogolyubskaya icon of the Mother of God appeared here. The temple was painted again only in 1917, and then its interior was finally formed. Alexander Dmitrievich Borozdin, the chief artist of the icon-painting workshop of His Imperial Majesty, worked on the painting, in whose house Elder Aristocles, recently canonized, often visited.
Borozdin executed the original plafond of the “Annunciation” in the main church, and copied for one of the chapels the rare image “The Sermon of Jesus Christ in a Boat”, compiled by an unknown artist, and also reproduced the composition “God the Son” by V. Vasnetsov - all this was destroyed. The life of Borodin, who was arrested on the third day after the outbreak of war in 1941 on charges of anti-Soviet agitation for “strengthening religious influence among the working people,” also ended tragically. There is a legend that he was denounced by the false metropolitan A. Vvedensky himself, the head of the renovationist schism, with which Borozdin was also familiar. A year later, Borozdin died in Saratov prison - and his funeral service took place in the Annunciation Church only in June 1998, when the temple itself was returned to believers.
And at that time, life around the renovated temple also changed a lot. The famous villa of Nikolai Ryabushinsky “Black Swan”, built for the “naughty” tycoon by architects G. Adamovich and V. Mayanov, has survived to this day: in the booth instead of a dog there was a tame leopard, and peacocks and pheasants walked around the garden. Nearby, Shekhtel built a dacha for I.V. Morozova. Here was also the country villa of the Swiss watchmaker William Gabu, the main competitor of Bure and Moser. He founded his watch company in Moscow in 1868 with a store on the prestigious Nikolskaya Street, which was extremely popular among Muscovites. The poet Velimir Khlebnikov and the composer Sergei Rachmaninov lived in Petrovsky Park, who, as a student at the conservatory, was recovering here in his father’s house after a serious illness.
And on the current street on March 8, since 1903, there was the famous psychiatric clinic of Dr. F. Usoltsev, who set it up in a home style for gifted patients: they were here in the position of guests of the doctor’s family. The most famous of them was M. Vrubel, who painted a portrait of Bryusov here. The artist V.E. was also here. Borisov-Musatov, who visited the wife of a close friend and also painted a portrait from life here, according to legend, borrowed colors from Vrubel. (In Soviet times, the Central Moscow Regional Clinical Psychiatric Hospital was established on the basis of the Usoltsev Clinic).
One of the first animal shelters opened in Petrovsky Park itself. Basically, old horses, sick and crippled, and all those who were abandoned by their owners lived out their lives here: here they were not only fed, but also looked after and provided with medical care - a full-time veterinarian served at the shelter.
However, all this had an adverse effect on the park - more and more of it was cut down for construction. And the popularity of Petrovsky Park as a place for Sunday relaxation and walks began to decline by the beginning of the twentieth century. Only in 1907 did the Tsar forbid the palace department from distributing the lands of Petrovsky Park for dacha development, where they overlooked the Petersburg Highway.
Near these places one of the first ominous signals of the coming revolution sounded. In 1869, revolutionary Sergei Nechaev organized the brutal murder of Ivanov, a student at the Petrovsky Agricultural Academy, for refusing to unquestioningly obey him. This high-profile murder took place in the academy park and, having thundered throughout Russia, ended up on the pages of Dostoevsky’s novel “Demons,” where Nechaev became the prototype of Peter Verkhovensky. This happened not in Petrovsky Park itself, but in another, main wing of the ancient village of Petrovsky, which later became known as Petrovsko-Razumovsky.
The revolution opened a black page in the annals of both the Annunciation Church and Petrovsky Park.
It started pompously. Petrovsky Park was chosen for revolutionary sports: already in May 1918, the first track and field competition after the revolution took place here, as if on the eve of the construction of the Dynamo stadium in 1928 according to the project of A.Ya. Langman and L.Z. Cherikovera. In 1937, a pavilion of the metro station of the same name erected here, erected by architect Ya.G. Lichtenberg. It is noteworthy that all the mentioned architects erected their buildings in Moscow on the site of churches: Cherikover built a residential building on the site of the Chrysostom Monastery, Langman built the House of the Council of Labor and Defense (building of the State Duma of the Russian Federation) on the site of the Paraskeva Pyatnitsa Church in Okhotny Ryad, and Lichtenberg helped A.N. . Dushkin to build a pavilion for the Palace of Soviets (Kropotkinskaya) station on the site of the Holy Spirit Church. Petrovsky Palace in 1923 was transferred to the Air Force Engineering Academy named after. NOT. Zhukovsky and received a new revolutionary name - “Palace of Red Aviation”, which is believed to have been invented personally by Trotsky. The dachas were, naturally, liquidated, and the park itself was first brought into relative order, but since there were almost no healthy and strong trees left in it, a large part of it was cut down and the liberated territory was allocated for the construction of the Dynamo stadium. The remaining part of the park that has survived to this day is a small public garden compared to its former power.
Since the same 1918, Petrovsky Park became one of the most tragic places in Soviet Moscow - here, on the remote outskirts, KGB executions took place, especially after Fanny Kaplan’s attempt on Lenin’s life and the announcement of the Red Terror in September 1918. It was here that among the first to be shot was the new martyr, Archpriest John Vostorgov, the last rector of the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat on Red Square, who was canonized at the Jubilee Council, as was Bishop Ephraim of Selinga, who died with him. Former Minister of Internal Affairs N.A. was also executed here. Maklakov, former Chairman of the State Council of Russia I.G. Shcheglovitov, former minister A.N. Khvostov and Senator I.I. Beletsky. Before execution, they offered their last prayer to the Lord and came under the last blessing of the shepherds. Father John in his last word called on them to believe in God’s mercy and the coming revival of Russia.
And the Annunciation Church was closed presumably in 1934 and followed “their” Petrovsky Palace - its building was also transferred to the academy. Zhukovsky and built a warehouse in it, completely destroying the interior. Its last rector, Archpriest Avenir Polozov, then served in the church at the Danilovsky cemetery, where he himself rested in 1936. The barbaric destruction of the Annunciation Church continued after the war - alien tiers were built on, the domes and porch were broken, and the bell tower was used for... a hanging crane.
The Soviet government had its own plans for this picturesque area, partly echoing its pre-revolutionary history. We are talking about an experimental “art town” on Maslovka, built in 1930-1950 for artists. It was planned to build comfortable houses that would relieve talented residents from everyday problems, and the landscape of Petrovsky Park would inspire them to creativity. The main newcomer of the Soviet era in this area was the Institute of Aviation Medicine, which settled in the building of the former Mauritania restaurant. Here, domestic space biology and medicine were born, and they prepared the first flights into space for dogs, and then for humans. S.P. was also here. Korolev, and Yuri Gagarin.
A new page in the history of the Annunciation Church began in 1991, when the Air Force Academy vacated the building and it was returned to the Church: on September 29, the Divine Liturgy was held here for the first time. And then followed a long, painstaking restoration of the paintings and domes. Only in 1997, when the 150th anniversary of the temple was celebrated (from the date of Naryshkina’s petition), Patriarch Alexy II consecrated the temple, which had been brought back to life, with the full rank of bishop. Its main shrine was the icon of the Lord Almighty, the Ruler of the World, which is believed to have no analogues. It is much older than the Annunciation Church, and came to it by the Providence of God - young people brought to the temple three large dark boards, on which the Face of the Savior was visible in the iconography of the 19th century, but under it an earlier, huge image of the shoulder-length Savior was revealed, belonging to the type of icons of the northern letter mid-17th century. In the open Gospel, which the Savior holds, it is written: “Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom of Heaven prepared for you before the foundation of the world, for you hungered.” It is impossible not to quote the lines about this icon of one of our contemporary: “The image is unworldly and high in heavenly heights. The surprised gaze of the Savior from Heaven is fixed on us sinners.”
And on the feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 28, 1997, another shrine appeared at the temple: the granddaughter of Fr. Avenira Polozova brought the family icon of the Iveron Mother of God to the temple. The rector bequeathed it to be donated to the Annunciation Church when it is reopened for worship...
Moscow is home to a large number of Orthodox churches and temples, some of which survived the mass closures and reconstructions under the Soviet Union, some of which were rebuilt later. The first is the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Petrovsky Park. You can find it in the north of Moscow not far from the Petrovsky Travel Palace - this is a church near the Dynamo metro station.
History of creation
The history of the temple began in 1841, when the actual chamberlain Anna Dmitrievna Naryshkina turned to Emperor Nicholas I and Metropolitan Philaret with a request: she wanted to build a temple near her dacha. Her dacha was located on the territory of Petrovsky Park, named after the palace. The latter was built in the second half of the 18th century and was the last stop when the imperial train entered Moscow.
After the war with Napoleon, the area around the palace was turned into a picturesque park, allocating 65 hectares of land for it. Thanks to its proximity to the imperial palace and convenient location, the place became popular for festivities, and in the first half of the 19th century, Russian aristocrats began to build dachas here.
Taking into account the need for a church near the dachas of the nobility, the emperor and metropolitan approved Naryshkina’s request. The project was ordered to the architect Tyurin, who had previously worked on the Kolomensky Palace, the reconstruction of the Alexander Palace and on Yusupov’s estate near Moscow. Initially, the temple was supposed to be two-tiered, with 2 bell towers and galleries. However, it was too similar in appearance to the Petrovsky Palace, and Nicholas I did not approve of it.
The project was handed over to Fyodor Richter, but the emperor rejected his first project as well. The architect proposed to build a building based on the Kolomna Church of John the Baptist - with a pillar-shaped column and a parabolic dome. Only the second project was accepted, and construction began in 1844, which was completed 3 years later. The money was allocated by Anna Dmitrievna. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the temple acquired new bells and an additional extension. The expansion was carried out with the money of parishioners. In 1916-1917, the artist Borozdin painted the walls and vaults.
There is no exact information about the fate of the temple during the Soviet years. Most likely, in 1934 it was closed and transferred to the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy. The documents indicate only the time from 1970 to 1990: a warehouse was located in the temple in which lifting equipment was stored, which is why it was necessary to dismantle part of the bell tower and remove the domes. The porch and fence were also damaged - the latter was replaced with a fence with barbed wire.
However, already in September 1991, the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Academy of the Patriarchate was opened. Repair and restoration were completed by the beginning of September 1997 - in time for the 150th anniversary of the temple.
Temple today
Today the temple is operational and belongs to the Moscow city diocese. It belongs to the All Saints Deanery, which unites the churches of the Northern Administrative District of the capital. The building is a cultural heritage site.
In addition to divine services, the temple conducts classes for children and adults:
Also at the temple there are a gymnasium "Svet" and an orphanage "Peacock", a military-patriotic school, a children's camp (Orthodox), a sobriety school, a sisterhood and a patronage service. Balls and theatrical performances are regularly held, in which parishioners take part, and pilgrim groups gather. There is also an Orthodox bookstore at the temple, where you can buy books, magazines, icons, fabrics and various utensils (rosaries, crosses, magnets, lamps, dishes and more).
Appearance
The temple was built in a traditional style, has one onion-shaped golden dome and a hipped bell tower. It has two floors; services are held on the second floor in the summer, since there is no heating there.
The temple immediately attracts attention unusual color: the outside is painted with coral paint, on which modest and elegant decorations and columns of white stone stand out. There are also several icons made in mosaic style outside.
The temple is surrounded by a fence consisting of white stone pillars and iron bars. Several trees grow inside and there is a lawn.
Schedule of services
On weekdays and Saturdays:
- at 8:00 - Divine Liturgy;
- at 17:00 - Vespers and Matins.
On Sundays and holidays:
- at 7:00 - Divine Liturgy;
- at 9:00 - Divine Liturgy;
- the day before at 17:00 - .
The park surrounding the Petrovsky Travel Palace was once much larger. Much of his heritage has been lost irretrievably, but a unique church has been preserved - a monument to the granddaughter who died early from an inconsolable grandmother.
In the 1820s, behind the Petrovsky Travel Palace on the Petersburg Highway, created by decree of Catherine II in 1775-1782, an extensive landscape park was laid out. It was named Petrovsky. The area quickly became popular with Muscovites who took walks here: a summer theater and a building for concerts, swings, gazebos, billiard rooms and other entertainment venues appeared. Also, part of the land of the new park was given to Moscow nobles for the construction of country dachas. Not far from the palace, the dacha of the chamberlain's wife Anna Dmitrievna Naryshkina appeared, who suffered grief in 1841: her granddaughter, Countess Anna Bulgari, died here. For this reason, she asked Emperor Nicholas I and Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow to allow her to build a temple in memory of her granddaughter on the site of her own dacha, which was granted.
The initial design of the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Petrovsky Park belonged to the architect, but was rejected by the authorities: according to it, the new two-bell church with galleries would turn into a smaller copy of the Petrovsky Palace. An alternative option was proposed by the architect F.F. Richter - it was brought to life in 1844-1847. The prototype of the Annunciation Church was the ancient Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist in Dyakovo, today located on the territory of the museum in Kolomenskoye - this type of temple is called “pillar-shaped”. The building was built on two levels: the octagon of the upper church was placed on the rectangular lower church in plan, ending with semicircular and triangular kokoshniks with one wide helmet-shaped head on a drum. At the same time, the edges of the upper church are cut through by long narrow windows reaching to the floor. Adjacent to the church from the west is a vast porch with two staircases, decorated in the Russian style and topped with a tetrahedral hipped bell tower.
In the upper church there was a main altar in the name of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, while in the lower one chapels appeared: the first - in the name of Simeon the God-Receiver and Anna the Prophetess, the second - in the name of the Venerable Xenophon and Mary. All names were given in honor of the patron saints of the temple builder, her late granddaughter and other relatives. In 1904, in a new extension to the lower church, an additional chapel was consecrated in the name of the Bogolyubskaya Icon of the Mother of God. In 1916‑1917, artist A.D. Borozdin re-painted the walls and vaults of the church.
The exact date of the cessation of services in the Church of the Annunciation has not been established; it happened somewhere in the mid-1930s. Petrovsky Park became the site of mass executions in 1918; later its territory was significantly reduced: the dachas were demolished, most of the land was transferred for the construction of the Dynamo stadium and other sports facilities attached to it. Converted into a warehouse, the temple came under the jurisdiction of the Zhukovsky Academy, located in the Petrovsky Travel Palace. The temple lost its completion and the interiors were also seriously damaged. Since 1991, services have been held in the Annunciation Church again; restoration work has returned it to its former appearance.
Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the 1830s, Petrovsky Park, where the shrine stands today, was a favorite place for festivities and recreation for Muscovites. Buying a dacha here was considered a great success.
One of the owners of the dacha in Petrovsky was Anna Naryshkina, the chamberlain’s wife.
When Anna Dmitrievna lost her daughter, and after some time her granddaughter, who died at her dacha in Petrovskoye, the woman wanted to build a church on this place, which reminded her of the sad events.
Naryshkina addressed the emperor with such a request. When permission was received, construction of the temple in Petrovsky Park began immediately.
History of the Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary
The architect E. Tyurin worked on the initial project.
The building of the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Petrovsky Park was planned to be built in two tiers, with two bell towers and galleries. But in this form, the building was very reminiscent of the Petrovsky Palace, which Nicholas I did not like.
The new project of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Petrovsky Park was already developed by the architect F. Richter.
Academician, professor, this man was widely known in architectural circles. Richter was one of the first to measure the best churches in Russia and study them.
The architect based the concept of his new project - the temple in Petrovsky Park - on a 16th-century building that he had once studied: the Church of John the Baptist.
Construction work began in 1844.
The building was erected entirely at Naryshkina’s expense. After 3 years, the church was built and its upper tier was consecrated.
In 1899, the painting of the Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary was updated, the iconostasis was covered with gold, and then consecrated again in July.
After the revolution, the history of the church turned out to be painfully predictable. However, it is not known exactly when the temple was closed - presumably in 1934.
For a long time the building was used as a warehouse for furniture and food. In the 50-60s. Crosses and domes are removed from the shrine, the porch and fence are dismantled, and a hanging crane is installed on the bell tower.
Revival of the temple in Petrovsky Park
In 1991, the Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary was returned to the Orthodox Church. In September of the same year, a liturgy took place in the dilapidated building for the first time in such a long time.
Restoration work began immediately.
Gilded domes soon began to rise above the temple, and mosaic images of the church’s saints appeared on the façade of the building. The porch was restored and a bell was installed on the bell tower. The wall paintings inside the church were restored, and a new iconostasis took its place.
In 1997, the anniversary year for the shrine, the thrones of the temple were consecrated again.
Today the temple is operational and its doors, as before, are always open to parishioners.
Address of the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Petrovsky Park: Moscow, Krasnoarmeyskaya, 2 (Dynamo metro station).