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Church of the Deposition of the Robe (Church of the Deposition of the Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos, Church of the Deposition of the Robe) is an Orthodox church on the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin, consecrated in honor of the Deposition of the Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos in Blachernae. It was built in 1484-1485, served as a chapel for the Moscow metropolitans, and with the establishment of the patriarchate, it became the home church of the patriarchs.
The church was built in 1450 as a house church
of the Moscow metropolitans. Saint Jonah ordered the foundation of a
church at his court in memory of deliverance from the invasion of the
Horde Prince Mazovsha, which occurred near Moscow on July 2, 1451 (June
19, 1451), on the day of the celebration of the Deposition of the Robe
of the Mother of God.
In 1472, the temple burned down along with
the courtyard. By order of Metropolitan Gerontius, it was rebuilt in
1484-1485 by an artel of Pskov craftsmen who built the Cathedral of the
Annunciation. The new one-domed Church of the Robe was consecrated in
August 1486.
After the Great Fire of 1547, it was restored by
Metropolitan Macarius. In the second half of the 16th century, the
northern and western white-stone portals of the temple were replaced
with brick ones, similar to the portals of St. Basil's Cathedral. In
1589, after the establishment of the patriarchate in Rus', the temple,
located next to the royal court, became the house church of the Russian
patriarchs.
The church suffered in 1612 during the occupation of
the Kremlin by the Polish-Lithuanian garrison under the command of
Stanislav Zolkiewski. By 1624, it was repaired, after which they
arranged and consecrated a chapel in the name of St. George. In the same
year, the church was again damaged by fire and was rebuilt in 1627. At
the same time, a group of craftsmen led by the icon painter Nazariy
Istomin Savin created a new iconostasis.
In 1644, under Patriarch
Joseph, the church was rebuilt: slit-like windows gave little light, so
he ordered “to add windows for light, trim slopes and walls, even at the
royal doors.” The walls were painted with frescoes, which were created
by masters Ivan Borisov, Sidor Pospeev and Semyon Abramov. The murals
depict Christ, prophets and kings, scenes from the life of the Mother of
God. Joseph also gave the temple two candlesticks.
After the
construction of the new Patriarchal Palace and the Church of the Twelve
Apostles in 1635-1636, the Rizopolozhenskaya was handed over to the
sovereign, connecting it with the Terem Palace with a staircase.
Metropolitans and patriarchs entered the church from their courtyard
through the north porch. In the second half of the 17th century, the
western and northern porches were transformed into closed galleries and
a chapel of the Caves Icon of the Mother of God was built in them, in
which the icon of the same name was located. On the miniature of 1673,
the church is depicted with an onion dome and a hipped roof. Somewhat
later, a staircase leading to the chapel was built on the south side,
which burned down in a fire in 1682, along with the roof and icon icon
case.
By 1722, the church was dilapidated,
water flowed through the roof - by 1730, frescoes began to crumble from
dampness. Funds were not allocated either for repairs or for firewood
for heating the temple.
During the Trinity fire of 1737, the
temple was badly damaged: the roof burned down, the miraculous image
burned. In the same year, an iron kiot was made for the icon, and
another brick-thick closed vault was erected over the church vaults. The
following year, for safety, the church and the dining tent that was with
it were covered with iron instead of a plank, retaining the same colors
- a green dome, a red roof. The work was carried out under the guidance
of architect Ivan Michurin.
In 1812, during the occupation of
Moscow, the church was looted and desecrated: utensils, icons were taken
out, salaries were robbed. It was re-consecrated in 1813. The subsequent
major repairs, which included repairing the roof, replacing floors and
door panels, painting the corridor and porch, were carried out in
connection with the construction of the Grand Kremlin Palace in
1838-1849. In 1855, the old wall painting was restored, and the
following year the renovated church was consecrated. In the 19th
century, the chapel of Our Lady of Pechersk, dismantled during
restoration work in the 20th century, was attached to the western wall.
By the beginning of the 20th century, services in the church were
performed twice a year: on May 4 (April 21) - on the day of Our Lady of
the Caves and on July 2 (June 19) - on the temple holiday.
The
church was damaged during the shelling of the Kremlin in 1917. A year
later, like other Kremlin churches, it was closed. In 1918, a committee
was created for the preservation and disclosure of monuments of ancient
painting, headed by Igor Grabar. Thanks to him, a restoration group
began work in the Kremlin cathedrals under the leadership of the
department for museum affairs under the People's Commissariat of
Education. In 1920-1922, under the leadership of Ivan Rylsky, the
covered staircase from the southern porch to the Caves Chapel was
dismantled, the white-stone portal and hewn windows were restored. The
northern and western entrances were restored in 1932 by Dmitry Sukhov.
As a result of restoration work led by Lev Arkadyevich Petrov, which
began in the 1950s, it was possible to restore the appearance of the
17th century church by removing late layers in painting made in the 19th
century, restoring the ancient form of the iconostasis. In 1965, a
museum was opened in the church. Around 1980, the chapter was gilded.
In the early 1990s, the temple was handed over to the Russian
Orthodox Church, and in 1993 services were resumed on patronal feasts.
As of 2018, the northern gallery of the church is used as an
exhibition space, where wooden sculpture of the 15th-19th centuries from
Moscow, Novgorod, Rostov and the monasteries of the Russian North,
examples of church art: images of saints, icons, crosses and other
reliefs are presented. There are about 80 exhibits in the collection.
By the 20th century, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe
underwent many reconstructions and acquired its current appearance as a
result of lengthy restoration work.
The four-pillared,
single-domed three-apse temple stands on a high basement. The walls have
keeled ends, the altar ledges are decorated with an arched belt. Apses
are lowered - their cornice is on the same level with the decorative
belt of the main volume; this technique is a characteristic feature of
the Pskov architectural school. Columns vertically dividing the facade,
arches on the apses, portals and pediments, a helmet-shaped gilded dome
give lightness to the appearance of the church. Above the frieze there
are windows in strict architraves. The transition to the light drum was
solved without sails - the intersection of the central duct vaults was
cut through by a cylindrical drum of the light dome. The drum is placed
on an octagonal pedestal, which corresponds to the Pskov tradition.
Outside, the walls are divided into strands with shoulder blades. The
central section and the zakomara crowning it are much wider and higher
than the lateral ones. On the south side, a perspective portal with
columns with extensions - melons and sheaf-shaped capitals has been
preserved, to which a high porch leads. On three sides, the church is
decorated with a frieze of terracotta balusters and ornamental slabs.
This decorative element is similar to that used to decorate the apses of
the Annunciation Cathedral and the Spiritual Church of the
Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Apses, in addition to the frieze similar to the
main volume, are also decorated with decorative semi-columns with
sheaf-shaped capitals, on which keel-shaped arches rest. On the central
zakomaras of the northern, western and southern facades, shallow
niches-kiots are arranged; they are formed by semi-columns with keeled
arches, while the lateral "shutters" of the arches overlap the halves of
the archivolts.
The interior of the church is notable for its
stylistic unity: the iconostasis, wall paintings and decoration belong
to the same historical period - the first half of the 17th century.
The walls are decorated with frescoes made in 1644 by the royal icon
painters Ivan Borisov, Sidor Pospeev and Semyon Abramov. Most of the
mural is made up of compositions on the theme of the feast of the Praise
of the Most Holy Theotokos. The painting of the two upper tiers is
dedicated to the life of the Mother of God, the two lower ones - to the
Akathist to the Mother of God. The temple image "The Position of the
Robe of the Mother of God" was made by Nazariy Istomin. Russian princes
(Boris and Gleb, Andrei Bogolyubsky, Alexander Nevsky and Daniil
Alexandrovich) are represented on the southern pillar, and eight Moscow
metropolitans are represented on the northern pillar. The chandelier of
the 17th century has been preserved in the temple.
Most of the icons of the iconostasis were made in 1627 by an artel of masters under the direction of Nazariy Istomin. The Royal Doors were originally located in the Cathedral of the Savior on Bor. After its dismantling in 1932, the gates were transferred to the Church of the Deposition of the Robe. To the right of them is the temple icon “The Position of the Robe and Belt of the Mother of God”, next to it is the image of the Tikhvin Mother of God. In the center of the deesis row is depicted "The Savior on the throne", on the left - the Mother of God, on the right - John the Baptist, the archangels Michael and Gabriel, the apostles Peter and Paul, Basil the Great and John Chrysostom, metropolitans Peter and Jonah. Above are the twelve main church holidays, even higher - the prophetic series. Above the local row there are icons-spinners of the 16th-17th centuries. Near the iconostasis, candles from the 17th century, called “skinny” ones, have been preserved; these are cylindrical wooden candlesticks painted with colored paints.