Gate Church of the Intercession Monastery of the Annunciation description and photos - Russia - Golden Ring: Suzdal (Topic)

Annunciation gate church of the Intercession Monastery description and photos - Russia - Golden Ring: Suzdal. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photos and a map showing the nearest significant objects.

Photo and description

The Church of the Annunciation belongs to the earliest structures of the Intercession Monastery, together with the bell tower and the cathedral (no later than 1515).

The Gate Church is a wonderful work of ancient Russian architecture. The architecture of this building is a combination of a fortress tower and a church. The two-span tower, which has a rectangular shape with a miniature, almost toy church standing on it, copies the shape of ordinary large cathedrals in its type. It has a central part (measuring 5x4 m), an altar and galleries, like a real large temple, from which perspective portals lead inside. In the south-eastern part there is a room intended for a separate throne. This side-altar is so small that it can barely fit two people. According to monastic legends, there was a prayer house for the Grand Duchess Solomonia, who was exiled to the monastery and named Sofia.

In the northeastern part there is a square room, which is separated from the central altar; it used to be connected to the gallery. It is a separate chapel with a throne in the name of the Archangel Michael. During the stay of the exiled Evdokia Lopukhina in the Suzdal Intercession Monastery, this chapel was broken and turned into a prayer room. This room housed her armchair, decorated with a coat of arms on the back and upholstered in dark green cloth (currently on display in the local museum). On the ceiling hung a Venetian crystal chandelier with a gilded inscription "Tsaritsina" (today also displayed in the museum).

Due to the arrangement of the prayer house, the interior of the church was redone, and the corner chapters of the chapels above the thrones were dismantled. The open arcades of the gallery were laid, and the gallery itself was divided into separate rooms. In the arch of the western part, there is a door connecting the church with wooden passages with the cell of nun Helen, the exiled queen. In the gallery for the installation of stoves, chimneys were punched for heating the premises intended for the stay of Moscow secret messengers.

The southern facade of the gateway Church of the Annunciation is decorated with rollers and a curb enclosed between them, as well as beads. It all resembles folk woodcarving. This is one of the first examples of the use of elements of folk art in the architecture of Suzdal.

The Church of the Annunciation is entirely the creation of local builders. The church is located in a chain of walls on the southern facade of the Intercession Monastery and faces Moscow, the "stromynka", the main Moscow road along which the road to Suzdal passed from the capital. On this road guests from Moscow came here. Ivan the Terrible traveled along it to celebrate the Intercession and bow to his ancestors, bringing here with him precious gifts that replenished the already rich sacristy of the Intercession Monastery.

Today the church has been restored to its original form according to the project of architect A. . Varganova.

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Topic: Gate Church of the Intercession Monastery of the Annunciation description and photos - Russia - Golden Ring: Suzdal.