Constructed: 12 century
The Cathedral in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of
the Holy Bogolyubsky Monastery was built in 1751-1758 on the site of
a former temple, erected, presumably in 1157-1158. At first, the
cathedral was the center of the Bogolyubov palace complex, most
likely in the last quarter of the 12th century it became a
monastery. The walls of the 12th century cathedral are preserved at
the level of three rows of stonework along the entire perimeter.
The cathedral was three-apse, one-domed, four-pillar. Round
columns, which are crowned with carved capitals, are painted like
marble. The pillars from the inside were met by flat shoulder
blades. The spacious and light interior of the building was
decorated with copper and gilding. The floor was of polished red
copper slabs (in the choirs - of glazed colored tiles with ornaments
and birds); zakomars and portals were covered with sheets of gilded
copper. The temple was decorated with frescoes (they were most
likely made in the 50s of the 12th century by Greek icon painters),
it was full of icons, books, fabrics, sacred vessels, etc.
Along the outside perimeter, the cathedral was enclosed by an
arcature-columnar belt characteristic of medieval Vladimir-Suzdal
temples, archivolts of perspective portals were decorated with
carvings with ornaments, the basement had an attic profile, the
walls were divided by intricately profiled pilasters with thin
semi-columns
In the tympans of the central zakomara,
according to G.K. Wagner, there were sculptural compositions made in
the technique of white-stone relief (their fragments were found
during archaeological excavations: images of animals and birds,
female masks; 3 lion images were mounted in the cathedral masonry).
The prince's guests and pilgrims compared this cathedral with the
temple of Solomon; the closest architectural analogue of the
cathedral is the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin on the
Nerl.
The luxurious decoration of the cathedral was most
likely plundered by the troops of the Ryazan prince Gleb, and then
by the Mongol-Tatar conquerors.
Under the abbot Hippolytus
(1684-1695), it was decided to part the narrow windows of the church
in order to insert glass later, then the choir was dismantled. As a
result of these rebuildings, the building of the cathedral began to
collapse, and, finally, in 1722 it collapsed, although the inventory
carried out in the monastery in 1767 reports that the vaults of the
temple collapsed in 1705.
In 1751-1752, a new Nativity
Cathedral was erected on the site of the old temple, which repeated
the cross-domed system of the previous temple. In 1752-1755, the
cathedral was painted and an iconostasis was installed in it. On
June 18, 1756, the temple was consecrated by Bishop of Vladimir and
Yaropolsk Platon.
In 1764, choirs were made in the Cathedral
of the Nativity of the Virgin, which were finally dismantled in
1802. In 1765-1766, the wall paintings of the cathedral were
restored. In 1802, due to the dilapidation of the painting on the
pillars and on the western wall, they were destroyed. Only in the
altar and in four hallmarks were the compositions preserved: the
Dormition, Introduction to the Temple, the Presentation of the Lord,
Christmas, on the walls of the central nave - images of the
Archangel Gabriel and the Mother of God.
In 1803, a new
three-tiered iconostasis was built, which was crowned with a carved
image of Christ's Resurrection. In 1804-1809, the floor of the
church was covered with limestone slabs. In 1892, the temple was
painted on the model of the Assumption Cathedral.
From the
choir of the cathedral to the second floor of the staircase, there
is a passage that is located above the arched passage and is a
rectangular room in the plan, illuminated by one narrow window -
from the east and two - from the west, and covered with a vault. The
interior painting, made in 1764, depicts the appearance of the
Mother of God to Prince Andrei, as well as scenes of the massacre of
him. According to legend, the passage played the role of the
prince's prayer room. At the bottom of the tower there is a spiral
staircase. The entrance to it is in the eastern wall of the tower,
and in the northern wall there is a pavement opening, which led to a
passage that does not exist now in the direction of the prince's
palace.
It is believed that on the north side of the Nativity
Church under the white-stone staircase there was a room where Andrei
Bogolyubsky was killed. At the southern and northern walls of the
cathedral, from the end of the 17th century, there were stone
porches, which were rebuilt at the beginning of the 19th century.
Initially, exactly the same porch was located from the west, but in
1809, instead of it, a chapel was arranged in honor of Prince Andrei
Bogolyubsky, the altar of this chapel was under the arch of the
passage. In the 17th century, a hipped-roof bell tower was erected
over the staircase tower.