Iberian Gate and Chapel aka Resurrection Gate (Moscow)

Iberian Gate and Chapel (Moscow)

Location: Red Square
Subway: Okhotny Ryad, Revolution Square

 

Resurrection Gates (Iversky Gates, until 1680 - Neglinensky, also Lion, Kuryatnye) - double passage gates of the Kitaigorod wall, located in the passage of the same name between the City Duma building and the State Historical Museum (SIM). They were first built in 1538 by architect Petrok Maly. Rebuilt in 1680. Demolished in 1931, restored in 1995 under the leadership of O. I. Zhurin.

 

History

Original gate

The Resurrection Gate was originally called Neglinensky. They were built in 1535-1538 on the banks of the Neglinnaya River. The construction was supervised by the architect Petrok Maly. Like the entire Kitaigorod fortress, the gate was designed for defense in a firefight. The initial volume of the gate in the lower part had two travel arches, above which there was a combat platform with wide half-teeth. Through the gates they entered Red Square from the side of the main Moscow street - Tverskaya. At night they were locked, and in the morning they were opened for passage to the shopping arcade. In 1556, King Philip of England gave Ivan the Terrible two lions, a cage with which was placed for public viewing near the gate, after which they were called Lions for some time. Also, the gates were called Kuryatny, according to V. Muravyov, because of the location on the kurye - the area near the riverbed. According to another version, the Kuryatnye Vorota got its name from the Kuryatny (Okhotny) Row, which, before the construction of the bastions in 1708 by Peter I, was located on the left bank of the Neglinnaya on the site of the Historical Museum.

From the gate through Neglinnaya, first a wooden bridge was thrown, and since 1603 a stone Voskresensky bridge 44 meters long and 10.5 meters wide. In 1612, militiamen led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky passed through the gates on their way to the Kremlin.

In 1632-1635, over the gates were arranged svetlitsy, connected by a passage with the Kremlin Palace [source not specified 928 days]. The gallery was used by the kings to monitor the entry of foreign ambassadors. The Czech traveler Bernhard Tanner, who visited Moscow with the Polish embassy in 1678, said that the processions were ordered to stop before entering so that the tsar could get a better look at them. In 1648, at the gates, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich met the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God, who had arrived from Athos. In 1669, a wooden chapel was built for her at the meeting place, after which the gates began to be called Iversky.

1680 gate
The gates were demolished and rebuilt in 1680 by decree of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, expanding the front rooms [source not specified 928 days] and building on two hipped towers crowned with double-headed eagles. The fortress machicolations were preserved in the lower part, while the upper part was decorated with architraves, balustrades, pinnacles, and mortise semi-columns. Icons written on boards were placed in the icon cases above the gate (above the gate closest to the Zemsky order: from the suburban side - the Resurrection of Christ, from the inside of the city - Sergius of Radonezh; above the other gates: from the suburban side - George the Victorious, from the inside of the city - Peter the Metropolitan). In the wall of the gate, a recess was made for the chapel, which was attributed to the Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery.

At the end of the 17th century, the Kitaigorod wall was partially dismantled, and in its place, administrative buildings were added close to the arches.

In the 18th century, under Peter the Great, the Resurrection Gate began to be used as a triumphal gate. In 1721, a solemn procession passed through them in honor of the signing of the Peace of Nystad, accompanied by the ringing of bells, the thunder of cannons and music. The king was met by representatives of the clergy, senators and generals.

The gates were damaged by the Trinity fire in 1737, after which they were restored under the guidance of the architect I.F. Michurin. In 1742, on the occasion of the coronation of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, they were decorated with 32 banners, 40 carpets, 500 bowls with burning wicks and 38 paintings by Ivan Vasiliev. In 1746 the chapel was rebuilt. In 1753, the Senate issued a decree to decorate the towers with decor similar to the decoration of the Triumphal Gates of the 1740s. The architect D. V. Ukhtomsky proposed to rebuild the Resurrection Gate into an 85-meter arch with 28 statues, but the project was not implemented. Instead, they were decorated with stucco, attached columns, vases, and sculpted busts.

 

In the first half of the 18th century, the assay laboratory of the Mint was located in the gate chambers. In 1775, the university printing house, rented in 1779 by journalist Nikolai Novikov, occupied the premises.

In honor of the celebration of peace with the Ottoman Empire and the conclusion of the Kuchuk-Kaynarji agreement in 1775, the gate was decorated with symbolic paintings, among which were images of Saturn with an hourglass and a scythe, Mercury, Minerva and others. In 1782, the Iverskaya chapel was built in stone according to the project of M. F. Kazakov. In 1801, it was decorated with gilded copper pilasters and garlands; an angel with a cross was installed on the roof.

In the 19th century, the archives of the Provincial Administration were kept in the premises of the Resurrection Gate. At the beginning of the 20th century, Emperor Nicholas II signed a decree transferring the building to the jurisdiction of the State Historical Museum, but due to revolutionary events, it was not implemented.

In 1917, the Iverskaya chapel and the gates in Voskresensky passage were used as a defensive line from the Bolsheviks. A year later, a decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On the removal of monuments erected in honor of the tsars and their servants, and the development of projects for monuments of the Russian Socialist Republic" was issued, signed by Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Anatoly Lunacharsky. Following the decree, on May 1 of the same year, Voskresenskaya Square was renamed Revolution Square. In the early 1920s, the gate was restored and handed over to the State Historical Museum.

 

Demolition

On the night of July 28-29, 1929, the Iverskaya Chapel was demolished in connection with the redevelopment of Red Square, and a sculpture of a worker was installed in its place. The Iberian icon was transferred to the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Sokolniki. Two years later, on the orders of Joseph Stalin, the Resurrection Gate was also dismantled, as they interfered with demonstrations on revolutionary holidays. To the protests of architects and cultural figures, Lazar Kaganovich, the first secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party, replied: “And my aesthetics requires that columns of demonstrators from six districts of Moscow simultaneously pour into Red Square.” The monument was demolished without architectural supervision, the specialists managed to make only a “blind” measurement without opening and photographing. In 1936, the passage through the territory of the destroyed gate was renamed Historical.

 

Recovery

In July 1988, Mosinzhstroy and Mosvodokanalstroy repaired underground utilities and pavement in Istorichesky proezd. Restoration work was associated with the approaching 71st anniversary of the October Revolution. After the workers removed the surface layer, employees of the Moscow archaeological expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, who were conducting research on the territory of the Mint, stopped the repair work, stumbling upon the foundation of the Resurrection Gate. The remains of the structure consisted of three elongated pylons with quarters and passages between them, laid in line with the Kitaigorod wall, lined with white stone blocks in the basement. Archaeologists and volunteers managed to find log cabins of the 13th century, ceramics, decorations, building materials of the 14th-17th centuries. At the end of the reconstruction, the pit was filled up, the foundation was mothballed, preventing the specialists from completing the research.

In 1993 the passage was renamed Voskresenskiye Vorota passage. In 1994, the Moscow government decided to restore the historical appearance of this territory. To do this, the Spetsproektrestavratsiya Institute, headed by architect-restorer Oleg Zhurin, re-examined the foundations. The Resurrection Gates were reconstructed in the form they acquired at the end of the 17th century, and the Iberian Chapel - in the form of the end of the 18th century. A year later, the grand opening of the Resurrection Gate and the consecration of the chapel by Patriarch of All Rus' Alexy took place. A new image of the Iberian icon was made for her, copied by the icon painter Luka, hieromonk of the Xenophon Monastery, from the original. The gate was handed over to the State Historical Museum.

After the restoration, the passage of the Resurrection Gate again became pedestrian. For this reason, heavy military equipment during parades stopped entering Red Square from both sides of the State Historical Museum.