We go to the 13th century, to ancient Moscow and visit the patriarchal courtyard.
A bit of history
The residence of the bishops of Sarsky and Podonsk was formed here in the 13th century in the form of a monastery. In 1991, this place became the farmstead of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’.
The name Krutitskoye comes from the word «krutitsy». This was the name of the high banks of the Moscow River. And here was the village of Krutitsy, quite lively because the roads to Ryazan and Kolomna went through it. And in the 13th century, a monastery was erected here in honor of Saints Peter and Paul. The place was very picturesque, on the banks of the river and with stunning views. Therefore, a bishop’s house was built here. The first bishop of Krutitsa was Valaam the Greek, a Greek bishop.
In the 14th century, the monastery became the farmstead of the Sarai and Podonsk bishops. By the middle of the 16th century, bishops were the main assistants to the Moscow high priests. It is a well-known fact that members of the militia of Minin and Pozharsky stopped at the cathedral of the Krutitsy metochion to swear to liberate Moscow, since the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin at that moment was captured by the ongoing Russian-Polish war (1605-1618). In 1612, when the Poles retreated, the Assumption Cathedral in the Krutitsy Compound was completely destroyed and looted.
In the 17th century, during the reign of Metropolitan Paul III, the courtyard experienced its dawn. The Metropolitan’s house was built, a garden was arranged, several new buildings were built, a new cathedral was laid and a library tripled. A scientific center was organized here, sacred scriptures were translated. It is known that there were dungeons in the cellars of the monastery, in one of which Archpriest Avvakum, a well-known Old Believer and opponent of the church reform organized by Patriarch Nikon, was imprisoned.
The courtyard buildings suffered several times. They were badly damaged during the fire of 1737, when many household and temple buildings were destroyed. Many buildings beyond repair were later demolished.
During the war of 1812, churches were badly damaged, some of the paintings on the ceiling in the Church of the Resurrection were miraculously preserved. They even wanted to dismantle it and issued such a decree, but the diocese, through the emperor, stopped this process and it was decided to restore the church, although part of it was rebuilt.
The next ruin occurred during the revolution of 1917, the wall paintings were painted over, and a few years later the temple was rebuilt into a residential building of dormitories of the Moscow military district.
Only in 1947, the Committee for Architecture began a project to restore the monuments of ancient architecture, and the Krutitsy Compound began to revive again. True, in Soviet times it did not carry its original mission. The Glavkniga was located here, there was a house of culture, restoration workshops of the Society for the Protection of Monuments and even one of the departments of the State Historical Museum. And only after the collapse of the USSR, the courtyard began to return to the possession of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Krutitsy courtyard in modern times
And what of these ancient buildings has survived to our time?
Assumption Cathedral
Bell tower
Wall transition
front gate
Were under reconstruction and covered with a fence
Metropolitan Chamber
Cross Chamber
Also under reconstruction and almost all in scaffolding
Embankment Chamber
Drying and command chambers
Several surviving old houses located along Krutitskaya street.
Here is such a walk through history almost in the center of Moscow. Friends, please express your opinion about this article by commenting and liking, I will be very grateful to you! Thanks to
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