Church of St. Nicholas Galeiskaya was built in 1735. It is located
in Vladimir on Nikolo-Galeyskaya street. In ancient times, this
place was a wooden temple, mentioned in the annals of the 12th
century. According to N. And Voronin, on the spot where this church
stood, there used to be a pier. The wooden church of St. Nicholas
the Wonderworker behind the scree in Galea is also mentioned in the
patriarchal books of 1628.
In 1732, on the site of a wooden
church, at the expense of Ivan Grigoriev Pavlygin, a wealthy
townsman, coachman, they began to build a new stone church, which
was consecrated already in 1738. In the same year, a warm chapel was
added to the church in honor of Saints Gregory the Theologian, Basil
the Great, John Chrysostom. In 1880, the church was repaired,
buttresses were arranged and underground walls were brought under
the foundation of the bell tower.
The Nikolo-Galeiskaya
Church is located in the old southern part of the city of Vladimir
behind urban development dating back to the late 19th - early 20th
centuries among wooden houses. There is practically no free space
from the south and west of the church, so there is almost no
panoramic view of the temple from these sides.
The church
looks much better from the northeast, where the street on which the
church is located descends steeply. The best point for its review is
the floodplain of the Klyazma River.
Today, the St. Nicholas
Church consists of an old building, a chapel adjoins its southern
side, and a three-tiered high hipped bell tower adjoins its western
side. The old building includes an altar apse, the main volume and a
refectory with a porch, to which a tent is attached. In the spatial
and volumetric composition of the temple, a strictly proportional
ratio of various volumes is emphasized. In the overall composition,
the main volume stands out especially, since the altar apse and the
refectory are significantly underestimated in relation to it, and
the three-tiered bell tower. In the overall composition of the
temple, its tiering is emphasized, each volume has its own shape and
height. The main volume of the building is a three-light high
quadrangle on an octagon, covered with eight slopes and ending with
an octagonal three-tiered drum with an onion dome.
In plan,
the main volume is a square; on the eastern side, it is adjoined by
a one-part powerful altar apse, which occupies almost the entire
width of the quadrangle. The altar is semicircular in plan, covered
with a conch. The apse is high and spacious. The transition to the
octagon from the quadruple was made using two-stage tromps. The
vault of the main volume is closed, octagonal. The room of the altar
apse is connected to the main volume with the help of an arch, and
the refectory - with three arches, while the central middle arch is
higher and wider than the two side ones. Now arched openings are
laid. The refectory is covered with a closed four-tray vault with
trays that come from the arches. Above the central arch, which
connects the refectory and the main volume of the temple, there is a
stripping, corresponding to the stripping on the other wall, above
the arch, which connects the refectory and the vestibule. The
windows of the octagon, quadrangle and the main volume will be
filled with wooden shields.
The general solution of the
decoration of the temple is distinguished by expressive plasticity,
in which there are echoes of the pattern of the 17th century. The
window architraves of the main volume of the temple end with a
three-centered arch. On the upper tiers of the drum there is a row
of tiled tiles.
The arches of the first bell tier are
displaced to the east. The curb that runs at the base of the chime,
together with the cornice curb, creates a harmonious symmetry.
The spatial and compositional solution of the temple, the
general design of its decor bring the temple closer to typical
examples of Suzdal architecture of this period, namely, the Church
of the Beheading of John the Baptist. The temple was built on lime
mortar of red brick.