Church of the Savior on the Sands description and photos - Russia - Golden Ring: Rostov the Great (Topic)

Church of the Savior on the Sands description and photos - Russia - Golden Ring: Rostov the Great. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photos and a map showing the nearest significant objects.

Photo and description

The Church of the Savior on the Sands, or the Transfiguration Church, was erected as the cathedral church of the Spaso-Pesotskiy Knyaginin monastery.

The Spaso-Pesotsky Convent was founded in the 13th century by Princess Maria, the wife of the Rostov prince Vasilka. The princess herself was buried under the Spassky wooden church in 1271. Perhaps this church stood on the spot where the stone cathedral now stands. It was built in 1603, judging by the inscription of the temple. In the middle of the 17th century, the building was rebuilt, but researchers have not yet figured out how much the reconstruction affected it.

In 1764 the Knyagin's monastery was abolished, its churches were transferred to the Yakovlevsky monastery, which from that time began to be called the Spaso-Yakovlevsky ... The monastery was not able to maintain such a large number of temples, and most of the buildings of the former nunnery were dismantled. Only the cathedral church of the Transfiguration of the Savior has survived.

The five-domed, large church is erected on a high basement, its facades look somewhat strange, which indicates later changes. Most likely, only two lower tiers remain from the original cathedral, since it is noticeable that the blades dividing the facades somewhat do not coincide with the blades located in the upper part of the building. According to the description of the Yakovlevsky monastery, given at the beginning of the 20th century by A.A. Titov, in his book, next to the Transfiguration Church in the 13th century, another was added - in honor of the great martyr George. Both churches were located on the top floor and were connected by a porch; there was also a tent-roofed bell tower among them; there were tents on the lower floor. St. George's Church, bell tower and porch were broken in the 19th century. The remaining Transfiguration Church was covered with iron. A stone staircase led to the porch from the south. The floor was covered with bream.

The interiors of the temple are not rich; icons - without frames, the stone iconostasis was decorated with alfresco painting of the 17th century. The temple was restored in 1890 under the rector of Amphilochius. The painting on the walls of the church and porch consists of images of the Apocalypse.

After the restoration in 1879, a "warm" chapel was arranged in the lower part of the church in honor of Sergius of Radonezh, using charitable funds allocated by the Rostov peasant Rulev. The Monk Amphilochius, the abbot of the Yakovlevsky monastery, is buried in this side-chapel. The tomb was built by Soldatenkov, Lyapin and Titov. It consisted of a white marble slab on which lay four marble books symbolizing the works of the rector.

The architecture of the Transfiguration Church has much in common with the churches of the Borisoglebsk Monastery in Borisoglebsk and the Rostov Kremlin. In this connection, researchers believe that it could have been built by the same masters who erected the Rostov and surrounding churches under the famous Metropolitan Ion Sysoyevich and after his death.

The external design of the cathedral, despite certain discrepancies in the decor of different tiers , beautiful and directed upward. Decorating the upper part of the main volume of the building, arcature-columnar belts, drums under the heads, apses give grace and lightness to a rather massive building. The central light drum and two tiers of windows make the interior of the church festive and bright, especially when combined with picturesque frescoes. The gallery has preserved ceramic inserts to this day, on which there are images of horsemen, battle scenes, flowers.

Today the Spaso-Pesotskaya Church is located in some way on the outskirts of the Yakovlevsky Monastery. It is best seen from the observation tower, since the passage to the temple itself is closed.

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Topic: Church of the Savior on the Sands description and photos - Russia - Golden Ring: Rostov the Great.