Church of the Trinity in Nikitniki (Церковь Троицы в Никитниках) was constructed in 1635 by the wealthy Russian merchant Grigoriy Nikitnikov, hence the name of the church.
Back in the 16th century, there was a wooden church in
the name of the holy martyr Nikita. In the 1620s, it burned down, and by
order of the Yaroslavl merchant Grigory Nikitnikov, who lived nearby, a
new stone church in the name of the Holy Trinity was built in 1628-1651.
Sources mention construction work in 1631-1634 and 1653. As to which of
these dates should coincide with the construction of the surviving
church, there is a discussion among scientists.
The southern
aisle of the temple was dedicated to Nikita the Martyr, and the revered
icon of this saint from the burnt church was transferred to it. It
served as the tomb of the temple builder and members of his family. At
the beginning of the 20th century, the northern facade, where there was
a porch symmetrical to the southern one, was distorted by extensions.
Since 1654, the main shrine of the temple has been the list of the
Georgian Icon of the Mother of God, made in connection with the
deliverance of the capital from pestilence. On the occasion of the 250th
anniversary of this event, a special chapel was consecrated in the
basement of the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God (1903, architect
Viktor Verigin). From here came the old name of Nikitnikov Lane -
"Georgian", which was changed to the current one in 1926.
The
Russian rulers did not bypass the church with their attention either.
Alexey Mikhailovich presented two copper chandeliers with double-headed
eagles as a gift. One of them hangs under the main vault, the other,
smaller, in the Nikitsky aisle. In April 1900, the temple was visited by
Nicholas II with his wife, while the emperor personally ordered what
updates should be made in it.
In 1920 the temple was closed for
worship and in 1934 transferred to the State Historical Museum. In
1923-1941, the Simon Ushakov Museum operated here, since 1963 - the
Museum of Old Russian Painting. In the post-war period, it was closely
built up with modern office buildings that have nothing to do with the
historical context.
In 1991, it was decided to return the church
to the Russian Orthodox Church, now services are held in the basement of
the church. The rector of the temple is Archpriest Arseny Totev (since
1999).
Although the customer was a merchant from
Yaroslavl, the architectural design of the church has nothing to do
with the huge four-pillar churches of the Yaroslavl school. On the
high basement, where the merchants kept their goods, there is a
pillarless quadruple, covered with a closed vault. The church is
crowned with five purely decorative cupolas (of which only the
central one is illuminated), resting on two tiers of kokoshniks. On
the northern and southern sides, side chapels adjoin it with similar
hills of kokoshniks and one cupola. In the western part of the
temple there is a porch with a gallery, to which on the north side
adjoins a grandly decorated, high tent of the bell tower, and on the
south - a porch defiantly placed on the roadway of the alley, also
decorated with a small tent.
The walls of the temple are
richly decorated with white stone carvings. Several different types
of platbands are used. Tiles are actively used. An analogy to these
decorative solutions can be found in the Terem Palace; it is
possible that this is the work of one artel.
The church has preserved a multi-figure, dynamic
painting, created based on the Dutch engravings of the Bible by P.
Borcht. Made in 1652-53, probably by the best masters of the Armory -
Iosif Vladimirov (the icon "The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the
Apostles" is one of the few icons accurately attributed to him), Simon
Ushakov and others. Their authorship also belongs to the icons of the
local row of iconostases of the main temple and the southern aisle. The
use of frescoes in the interior is an almost exceptional example in
ordinary Moscow architecture of the 17th century. The white-stone
portals with lace-patterned arches were also originally painted.
For this church, Simon Ushakov painted the icon "The Tree of the Russian
Sovereigns" (now in the Tretyakov Gallery).
In the lower temple
there is a stone bowl for the blessing of water. Its lid weighs 80 kg,
while the whole bowl weighs 600 kg. It is made of a single stone, which
is called the "Jerusalem Rose". It is mined in quarries in the Holy
Land. The Kuvukliya of the Holy Sepulcher was also built from the same
material. It was on the Holy Sepulcher that the lid of Nikitnikov's
water-blessing cup, made by craftsmen in Jerusalem and presented as a
gift to the parish, was consecrated.
The temple in Nikitniki is replete with decorative details, which will form an architectural vocabulary of patterned and Russian style of the 19th-20th centuries. Late Moscow architecture will be characterized by intricately decorated architraves, arches with hanging weights, and extensive use of glazed tiles. According to the conclusion of P. A. Rappoport, “the picturesque asymmetric composition of the church, combined with its extreme saturation with decorative elements, made the monument, as it were, a model for Moscow churches of the subsequent period.”
Icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir (“Tree of the
Russian State”).
Icon "Annunciation with Akathist".
Miraculous
Georgian Icon of the Mother of God (the image became famous in 1654
during a pestilence)