Church of Simeon the Stylite behind the Yauza. Temple of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya Temple of Simeon the Stylite on the Yauza schedule

The temple is located in the Tagansky district, (Nikoloyamskaya street, no. 10). The main altar was consecrated in honor of St. Simeon the Stylite; chapels in honor of Nicholas the Wonderworker, in honor of St. Demetrius of Rostov. On September 1, 1598, on the day of memory of Simeon the Stylite, Boris Godunov officially ascended to the throne. In the same year, to celebrate the day of his crowning, Godunov founded a new church. The wooden church of Simeon the Stylite was built in 1600. In 1657, the Simeon Church was already mentioned as a stone one. In 1731, parishioners of the temple began its reconstruction at their own expense.

According to temple records, the St. Nicholas chapel was consecrated in November 1731. Only two years later, in October 1733, the main altar was consecrated in honor of the Monk Simeon the Stylite. In 1763-1768, at the expense of cloth manufacturer A.I. Malenkov based on the project by I.M. Nazarov, a new refectory was built with chapels of St. Nicholas and Demetrius of Rostov. In 1785, a church fence with a gate was built, which has survived to this day. In 1789 a new bell tower was built. In 1792, with funds from S.P. Vasiliev and I.R. Batashev, construction began on the temple, which has survived to this day with significant changes. Ivan Rodionovich Batashev was the owner of mining and metallurgical plants in the Nizhny Novgorod, Tambov and Vladimir provinces. Simultaneously with the construction of the church, he also carried out the construction of his new city estate here (since 1878, the estate building has been occupied by the Yauzskaya Hospital). The possible author of the temple project could be the talented Moscow architect Rodion Kazakov.

The construction of the temple was not easy. In 1798, the dome of the almost completed building collapsed, damaging the walls. By 1812, construction was completed and the temple was ready for consecration, which this time was prevented by the French who captured Moscow. During the great Moscow fire, the temple was looted and the new iconostasis burned down. As a result, the consecration of the new Church of Simeon the Stylite took place only in 1813. In 1847, according to the design of the architect N.I. Chichagov, a new iconostasis was made. By 1851, he also created iconostasis for the side chapels. Located on Tagansky Hill, the huge Simeon Temple was visible from afar. It was built in the style of classicism. A high rotunda rose above the quadrangle with porticoes. They looked very harmonious due to the high gates of the quadrangle and the high windows of the rotunda. The dome of the temple was decorated with round windows - lucarnes and a thin drum with a small dome. In subsequent years, renovation of the temple continued. In 1851 the refectory was rebuilt. In 1863, the parish of the Simeon Church acquired a new large bell weighing 418 pounds (6847 kg). To accommodate it, a new three-tier bell tower had to be built. The bell tower, partly replicating the main volume of the temple in its decor, was built according to Kozlovsky’s design.

At the end of the 1920s, there was a threat of closure of the Simeon Church. Its then rector, Archpriest Nikolai Benevolensky, wanting to save the shrines of the temple, transferred the miraculous temple image of St. Simeon the Stylite and the especially revered icon of St. Demetrius of Rostov with a particle of relics (18th century), to the neighboring Church of the Intercession (on Lyshchikova Hill), located on the opposite side Nikoloyamskaya street. And after the closure of the Simeon Church in 1929 (according to other sources, 1926) he himself went to serve there. In the winter of 1979, in memory of the previously closed Simeon Church, an additional altar was consecrated in the main altar of the Church of the Intercession in honor of the Monk Simeon the Stylite. After the closure of the Simeon Church, the temple building was converted into institutions. The two upper tiers of the bell tower were dismantled, leaving only the lower part with half-columns. The main volume of the temple was divided into 7 floors. In place of the high gates of the quadrangle and the windows of the rotunda, additional windows were broken. After these transformations, the temple building lost its harmony, since the rotunda now looks disproportionately high in relation to the quadrangle. Initially, the building of the Simeon Church was occupied by the Moscow Institute for Advanced Training of Engineering and Technical Workers of the Moscow City Executive Committee. And since 1965, the City Training Center of the Department of Personnel and Educational Institutions of the Moscow City Executive Committee has been located here. In 1995, services were resumed in the Simeon Church. In a solemn atmosphere, the especially revered icons of St. Simeon the Stylite and St. Demetrius of Rostov were returned to the temple. .

Source - wikipedia



The temple was built at the very end of the 16th century and since then has been rebuilt several times until it acquired its final architectural forms. Since ancient times, it has been customary in Rus', in memory of some important event, to erect churches in honor of the Lord's or Mother of God's feast or in the name of a saint whose memory fell on that day. On September 1, 1598, an event took place in the Muscovite kingdom that was very important and significant for his contemporaries, and in the history of the Russian State it marked a sharp turning point, a change of eras: the first elected Tsar of All Rus', Boris Feodorovich Godunov, was married to the Muscovite kingdom. Among the “coronation” events was, according to legend, an order to erect a temple in the name of the Monk Simeon the Stylite, whose memory is celebrated on September 1. Most likely, on September 1, 1598, the order was given to build the temple, and its construction, according to the historian of Moscow antiquities I. Snegirev, was completed in 1600.

Written sources about the foundation of the temple, its construction and the first decades of its existence have not survived. The first mention of the temple in written sources dates back to 1625; in the book of the Patriarchal Order it is written: Church of St. Simeon the Stylite, which is beyond the Yauza, according to the tribute salary of one ruble, on the 12th day of September that money for the current 133rd year (meaning 7133 according to the accepted calculation of years from the creation of the world at that time, which corresponded to 1625 after Christmas Christ) were taken in full, the money was paid by priest Titus. The next mention of the Simeon Church is contained in the scribe books for 1639: it speaks of permission to expand the church graveyard at the expense of the lands of deserted courtyards, which indicates the development of the church parish. In 1731, a new period began in the history of the temple, which is reflected in detail in historical documents. In May 1731, parish priest Pyotr Nikonov, on behalf of the parishioners, addressed Empress Anna Ioannovna with a petition, in which he asked for permission to build a new stone church to replace the already dilapidated building, which required repair and renovation. The most merciful permission was received, and already in October of the same year a new petition from the rector followed - for the consecration of the new St. Nicholas chapel, which took place on November 9. Two years later, in October 1733, the main summer church was consecrated by the archpriest of the Great Assumption Cathedral, Theodore Nikitin.

In 1752, a significant event took place in the Russian Orthodox Church - the incorruptible relics of St. Demetrius of Rostov were found, to which pilgrims of all kinds and ranks immediately flocked from all over Russia. Immediately after the canonization of Saint Demetrius, churches and altars began to be built everywhere in the name of the first saint of the Synodal period in the history of the Russian Church. Within a very short period of time, 12 thrones were consecrated in his honor in Moscow alone. The parishioners of the Simeon Church were not slow to follow this good example.

Captain of Architecture I.M. Nazarov, a parishioner of the Simeonovsky Church, developed a new plan for the refectory church, more spacious (the parish of the church had increased significantly by that time), with two side chapels, and promised to supervise the construction. The wealthy merchant A.I. Malinkov pledged to finance the construction of not only the temple, but also the bell tower. In the second half of 1763, construction began, which lasted more than 4 years. At the end of 1768, both chapels, richly decorated and equipped with everything necessary for worship, were consecrated. The construction of the bell tower was postponed for some reason. It was built only in 1789 at the expense of A.I. Malinsky. In 1785, the territory of the temple was surrounded by a stone fence. By the end of the century, the summer church with the main chapel in the name of St. Simeon the Stylite had become very dilapidated. At the beginning of 1792, priest Nikolai Feodorov, on the advice of wealthy parishioners of the church, submitted a petition to Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) to build a new cold church. The answer to the petition read: May God bless the holy work. The charter of sanctification was issued on March 10, 1792. May began construction of the temple. Suzdal master masons worked quickly and efficiently, and soon the walls of the temple rose to their full height.

The project envisaged the construction of a temple in the form of a rotunda with a high and powerful dome, the height of which was to correspond to the height of the pillar of St. Simeon the Stylite. However, due to a violation of construction technology, the almost completed church collapsed, severely damaging the refectory. We collected money again. This time, a new parishioner of the church took part in fundraising - one of the richest people of that time, factory owner I.R. Batashev, to whom the parish ceded part of the church land for the construction of his new house. This house became one of the largest and most luxurious houses in Moscow.

The church was rebuilt in rough form at the very end of the century. It was built according to the same design according to which it was built for the first time. It is believed that this project originated from the workshop of the architect Rodion Rodionovich Kazakov. The finishing of the church took another 10 years, but when almost everything was ready for consecration, the invasion of Napoleonic troops began. At the end of 1812, the temple was badly damaged by fire and the atrocities of French soldiers. After Napoleon fled from Moscow, the temple servants returned to the ashes. The wooden houses of the rector and the clergy burned down, and the new beautiful temple turned into a blackened skeleton. It would seem that even the strongest in spirit and strong in faith could give up because of such ruin. By August 1813, the main temple was repaired and equipped with everything necessary at the expense of benefactors and ordinary parishioners. The restoration of the warm chapels dragged on until 1820, since they, much more than the summer church, were damaged during the fire and lost all of their interior decoration. The consecration of the Dimitrievsky chapel took place in December 1820.

In the 20-40s of the 19th century, no major work was carried out in the temple, but its beautification continued. In the 40s, they began to create a new iconostasis for the main temple. In 1852, cracks appeared in the ceilings of the warm church. When examining the floors, it was discovered that the beams had sagged and the floors had rotted. The need for major repairs was obvious, but the rector of the temple, on the advice of the elder A.P. Rusinov and the merchant Kh. Protopopov decided to build a new temple. By subscription, 18,000 rubles were collected among the parishioners of the temple. The petition addressed to St. Philaret said that the side-altar churches, built in 1768 with the diligence of parishioner Alexei Malinsky, are cramped and dilapidated - the wooden ceilings are unreliable, the beams have sagged significantly, the slopes have become rotten due to long-term use, the real walls of the stone vault cannot withstand, because even before a similar vault fell, and for this reason the ceiling was made of wood. The iconostases are also dilapidated and very scarce. To eliminate all these inconveniences and shortcomings, it was planned to build a new church, spreading it, as much as the terrain allows, in width by two fathoms (4.3 m) and in length by one fathom (2.1 m), to build an oven under the church, instead The ceilings are stone vaults, instead of the old meager iconostases there are new ones, with solid gilding. The author of the project was the same architect who designed the iconostasis of the main temple - architect N. Chichagov.

All planned work on the construction and arrangement of the new refectory church was completed in 1854. The minor consecration of both chapels was performed by Archimandrite of the Berlyuk Hermitage Venedikt. In 1863, honorary citizen of Moscow merchant Onisim Pimenovich Tyulaev and merchant Grigory Nikolaevich Voronin expressed a desire to donate a bell weighing 400 pounds to the Simeon Church. With the blessing of St. Philaret, a bell was cast, which cost 418 poods. The walls of the bell tower were strengthened for the new bell.
Until the end of the 19th century, work continued on beautification and reconstruction of the temple. The reconstruction project was drawn up by the parishioner of the temple, architect Rozov. The arch separating the warm church from the cold one was cut out, additional thermal passages were installed, the floor in the cold church was lowered by two steps and brought down to the level of the floors in warm churches. The iconostases were re-gilded, and the altar in the cold church, which had by that time become dilapidated, was replaced. All work was completed in 1899, and the Church of St. Simeon the Stylite entered the new century completely and soundly built.

The interior decoration was consistent with its majestic appearance. All the icons in the lower tiers and many of those placed in the upper tiers of the iconostases were decorated with rich silver vestments made by the best Moscow craftsmen. The most revered was the miraculous image of the heavenly patron of the temple - the Venerable Simeon the Stylite. There were no ancient icons in the temple. The revered shrine of the temple was a small equal-pointed silver cross, which contained particles of the relics of St. Basil the Great, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Moscow Saints Alexis and Jonah, St. John the Merciful, Martyr Theodore Tyrone, St. Anthony the Roman, Martyr Irene, Barsanuphius of Tver, and Great Martyr Catherine. The cross was embedded in an icon, which was carried out at religious processions. The church was also decorated with paintings.

At the time of the construction of the temple in the name of St. Simeon the Stylite, Zayauzye, populated mainly by craftsmen who lived in settlements named after the occupation of their villagers: Yamskaya, Kuznetskaya, Goncharnaya, Teterenskaya, Streletskaya, etc., was located outside the city limits. In the 17th century, Zayauzye was included in Moscow and surrounded by the Zemlyanoy Rampart. Two settlements were registered in the parish of the Simeon-Stylite Church - Novaya Zayauzskaya and Teterenskaya. The parish territory was an almost regular quadrangle. By the beginning of the next century, the social composition of the temple will begin to change. Nobles, officials who served in various orders, and merchants settled here. All parishioners, to the best of their ability, contributed to the church treasury, and this universal love for the house of God was embodied in the splendor of the temple created by their labors and contributions.

At the beginning of the 19th century, I.R. stood out among parishioners for his generous donations. Batashev, who built his luxurious palace on the territory of the Simeonovsky parish, which then came into the possession of his son-in-law, General Shepelev. At Shepelev’s request, the service of the late Liturgy was established in the church. After the death of General Shepelev, the house came into the possession of his relative, Prince Golitsyn, and in 1878 it was sold to the city. The Yauzsky department of the hospital for laborers was located here.

The temple of St. Simeon consistently survived all stages of the atheistic ruin. All valuables from the sacristy and rich frames from the icons were confiscated. The fate of the temple's shrines is unknown. In the very first years after the October revolution, the temple community still continued to exist. But in 1929, the temple was closed completely, and the church buildings were transferred to the municipal department of the Moscow City Council. The results of “management” within the holy walls are sad: the church has completely lost its magnificent interior decoration and bell tower. The windows of the rotunda of the main temple were chipped, and its rich interior decor was lost. The building stood without major repairs for many decades. Divine services in the Church of St. Simeon the Stylite in Zayauzye resumed on the Feast of the Nativity of Christ in 1995.

http://simeonstolpnik.prihod.ru/history



Church of Simeon the Stylite, which is beyond the Yauza on Yamy.

In the Incense Book of 1585, under July 14, it is written: “given 5 hryvnias of incense to the settlement in the Semionovsky Monastery to Abbot Philotheus.” The area behind the church was called Semenovskaya Sloboda; the name “Semyonovskaya Street” was preserved.

The stone one was built in memory of the day of the crowning of Boris Godunov (September 1, 1598), consecrated on December 3, 1600. In 1646, on March 1, there was a religious procession and exit of the sovereign to this church. Since ancient times, there was a chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, known since 1727. In 1769, the chapel of Demetrius of Rostov was built. The current fence is from 1785, the main church is from 1798, its new dome is from 1813, the refectory with both side chapels is from 1853, the bell tower is from 1863. The iconostasis was designed by the architect N.I. Chichagov.

Alexandrovsky M.I. "Index of ancient churches in the area of ​​Ivanovo forty." Moscow, “Russian Printing House”, Bolshaya Sadovaya, building 14, 1917

This majestic temple, located on the northern slope of Tagansky Hill, is visible only directly from Nikoloyamskaya Street. And whoever sees it, walking along this, frankly speaking, little-busy street, will be amazed by its size and unusual architecture. Everyone, of course, is surprised by the high rotunda with several tiers of large windows that do not fit well into the architectural style of the temple. So I decided to figure out what was the matter?

I entered the gate and went up to the entrance, which is located around the corner from the mosaic image of St. Simeon the Stylite.

Here is the entrance to the temple.

Going inside, I discovered a rich interior decoration and no hint of the volume of the high dome of the rotunda.

I went out and decided to walk around the church. Here's the view from the south. It became clear that the entrance to the high part was tightly closed.

On the opposite side - similarly.

So I left unsalted and plunged into the vastness of the Internet to study the issue. And this is what I found out. The Church of Simeon the Stylite beyond the Yauza was first mentioned in 1600, when Boris Godunov ordered a temple to be erected here in honor of the saint, on whose day he was married (as was the case with the Church of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya). It was probably a wooden temple, later replaced by a stone one - at least in 1657 the temple was already listed as stone.In the 17th century, the settlement around the temple received the nickname Semenovskaya - after the name of the parish. Initially it was a Yamskaya settlement, but over time all the coachmen moved from here beyond the Zemlyanoy Val, and their place was taken by merchants. Gradually a merchant community developed here. The parishioners of the Church of Simeon the Stylite decided to rebuild and renovate the dilapidated building at their own expense. In 1731, the main volume of the old temple was dismantled and a new one was built. In 1792, with the funds of S.P. Vasiliev and I.R. Batashev, construction of the temple began, with major changes, which has survived to this day. Batashev was the owner of mining and metallurgical plants. Simultaneously with the construction of the church, he was also building his new city estate here. Part of the estate is adjacent directly to the temple. Many consider the high rotunda to be part of the Batashev estate.


It is not possible to establish exactly who owns the temple project. There is an assumption that this is one of the Kazakovs - Matvey Fedorovich or Rodion Rodionovich. The construction of the temple was not easy. In 1798, the dome of the almost completed building collapsed, damaging the walls. By 1812, construction was completed and the temple was ready for consecration, which this time was prevented by the French who captured Moscow. During the great Moscow fire, the temple was looted and the new iconostasis burned down. As a result, the consecration of the new Church of Simeon the Stylite took place only in 1813. In 1847, a new iconostasis was made according to the design of the architect Chichagov, and a little later, in 1851, smaller iconostases according to his own design were installed in the aisles. In 1863, the parish of the Simeon Church acquired a new large bell weighing 418 pounds (6847 kg). To accommodate it, a new three-tier bell tower had to be built. The bell tower, partly replicating the main volume of the temple in its decor, was built according to Kozlovsky’s design. In 1898, the architect N.V. Rozov was involved in the reconstruction of the church. As a result, by the end of the 19th century the temple looked like this.

The huge building of the temple in the classicist style looked majestic on Tagansky Hill and could be seen from afar. The main volume of the temple is centric, with a high rotunda placed on a quadrangle with porticoes. The quadrangle is quite proportional to the rotunda, but now the latter visually looks higher than originally, due to the three tiers of windows cut into it during Soviet times. Previously, the rotunda had high windows with semicircular endings, they were framed by paired pilasters. The dome has round windows called lucarnes, and the main volume is crowned by a very thin drum with a tiny head.

At the end of the 1920s, there was a threat of closure of the Simeon Church. Its then rector, Archpriest Nikolai Benevolensky, transferred the miraculous temple image of St. Simeon the Stylite and the especially revered icon of St. Demetrius of Rostov with a particle of relics (18th century) to the neighboring Church of the Intercession, located on the opposite side of Nikoloyamskaya Street. And after the closure of the Simeon Church in 1929, he himself went to serve there. In Soviet times, the temple building was transferred to the Moscow Institute for Advanced Training of Engineering and Technical Workers of the Moscow City Executive Committee. Until the 1990s, the temple remained under the jurisdiction of the Moscow City Executive Committee. The building was completely redesigned and made seven-story, with 3 rows of windows in the rotunda. The bell tower was broken down to the first tier. The temple building gradually deteriorated and eventually acquired a deplorable appearance by the end of the last century.

In 1995, after restoration, services resumed, and a Sunday school was opened at the church. There are icon painting and restoration workshops and a publishing house. The interior of the temple has been restored in recent years. Services are conducted in the refectory part of the temple, since floors still remain in the rotunda. Therefore, the majestic rotunda continues to amaze passers-by with its many small windows, which do not correspond to the plans of the Moscow architects who built the temple.

Let's hope that the time will come when the Temple will take on its natural appearance.

Address: Povarskaya st., 5

Church of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya was built in 1676. (in some cases there is a dating of 1676-1679). For the first time a temple (wooden) was mentioned at this place in 1625. In some documents it is also listed as the Church of the Entry of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Temple on the Dekhtyarny Garden, near the Arbat Gate. This area was a palace Cook's settlement, where people from the staff of the Nourishing Palace lived (according to 1573, there were almost 500 people: cooks, bread workers, pomyas, tablecloth makers, connectors...). This is where the names of the streets and alleys between the current New Arbat and Bolshaya Nikitskaya came from: Povarskaya Street, Khlebny, Skatertny, Stolovy, Nozhovy lanes. The settlement of the royal cooks was rich - by the 17th century there were two churches in it. Povarskaya Street was previously, from the 12th century, the ancient Volotsk road leading to Volokolamsk and Novgorod, and served not only as a trade route, but also as a kind of “government route.” Ivan III used it to return from Novgorod to Moscow in 1471, and Ivan IV the Terrible in 1572.

The name of the temple of Simeon the Stylite is associated with the name of Boris Godunov, who got married on the feast day of this saint and probably ordered a wooden temple to be erected here (and not only here) in his honor and in memory of his wedding.

At the end of the 17th century, a new one, made of large bricks, began to be built on the site of the wooden temple. The small building is made in the Russian pattern style, with five domes, a refectory, a bell tower and two chapels, each with a separate apse and dome. The main altar of the temple is Vvedensky, and the chapels are in the name of Simeon the Stylite and Nicholas the Wonderworker, the latter in 1759. was re-consecrated in the name of Demetrius of Rostov. The chapels adjoin the originally lower refectory, which was later raised in the vaults and extended in length from the west, slightly “hugging” the open first tier of the bell tower.

The exterior decoration of the church is simple and at the same time allows it to look very elegant. This is primarily achieved thanks to the upper part of the main volume with rows of kokoshniks and patterned drums under the small onions of the domes. Echoing them is the openwork tent of the bell tower with arched openings and two rows of “hearing” windows framed by platbands. On the bell tower there were bells cast by the master Fyodor Dmitrievich Motorin (1630 - 1688), the founder of the famous dynasty of foundry workers (lost in the 1930s). Under the rows of kokoshniks there is a wide carved frieze. The drums of the side chapels are also lavishly decorated. As was the case with many “fire” churches (the quadrangle of which was decorated with rows of kokoshniks), the tiered roof of the Temple of Simeon the Stylite was replaced with a simpler and more practical hipped roof, and was restored only during restoration in 1966.

The temple was popular among the Moscow intelligentsia as a wedding venue. But even before such a tradition appeared here in 1801. One of the most famous and sensational weddings took place - Count Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev and actress Praskovya Ivanovna Zhemchugova-Kovaleva. The wedding was secret, although it still caused a lot of noise in high society. Here in 1816 The writer Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov and Olga Semyonovna Zaplatina got married. In addition to two famous couples, which certainly appear in the description of the temple, here in December 1918. Mikhail Bulgakov's future wife, Elena Sergeevna Nyurenberg, married Yuri Mamontovich Neelov, the son of the artist Mamont Dalsky and adjutant to the commander of the 16th Army of the Red Army. And two years later she separated from Neelov and married Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Shilovsky (the prototype of Margarita’s husband from Bulgakov’s famous novel). A parishioner of the Church of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya in the last years of his life was N.V. Gogol, who then lived in the Tolstoy house on Nikitsky Boulevard. The priest of the church gave communion to the dying writer in February 1852.

After the revolution, the church was closed in 1930. actually scrapped. They demolished the beautiful fence and dismantled some of the parts of the church itself. Dilapidated, it reached the decision to build a new Moscow highway - Kalinin Avenue on the site of the former Tsar's Krechetnaya Sloboda. Initially, the church, which did not fit into the row of new buildings made of glass and concrete, was going to be demolished, but through incredible efforts of the public it was saved. In 1966 restoration began, the original shape of the roof was restored, even the domes were decorated with crosses, which were almost immediately cut off with an autogenous gun by order of the higher authorities. In 1968 The temple building was given to the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation, and it housed an exhibition hall of small animals and birds: guinea pigs, white rats, parrots, canaries, etc. Soon the small building was completely saturated with the smell of manure. The interiors of the temple were completely destroyed. Fortunately, animals were kept here for a short time - by the 1990s. Exhibitions of paintings and folk art were held in the temple.

In 1990 crosses were again placed on the heads of the temple (by order of the deputy chairman of the Moscow City Executive Committee, Matrosov). In 1992 The Church of Simeon the Stylite was again handed over to the believers and re-painted by young artists. It turned out that the temple icon of St. Simeon the Stylite, which was kept by the parishioners, had survived from the previous decoration. And now, against the background of the skyscrapers of New Arbat, which have turned gray with time, there is a small, but not aging white church...

The Church of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya - built in the 70s of the 17th century by order of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich and the stone church on Povarskaya on Novy Arbat in Moscow that has survived to this day.

A wooden church stood on this site already in 1625. According to one version, it was consecrated on the day of the crowning of Boris Godunov, since this day fell on the feast of Simeon the Stylite.


Stone Church of Simeon the Stylite was built in 1676 by order of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich (according to other versions - in 1679) in the Russian patterned style, with five domes, a refectory, a bell tower and two chapels, each with a separate apse and dome. The main altar of the temple is Vvedensky, and the chapels are in the name of Simeon the Stylite and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the latter in 1759 was reconsecrated in the name of Demetrius of Rostov.

White stone tombstones from the 17th-18th centuries have been preserved within the walls of the building.

On the church site there was a wooden house, in which in 1819 - mid-1820s. lived the actor P. S. Mochalov.


After the revolution Church of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya was closed and in 1930 was actually scrapped. Miraculously surviving, dilapidated, it survived until the construction of the Kalininsky Prospekt highway, and they were going to demolish it so that it would not introduce architectural dissonance with the high-rise buildings being erected, but through the efforts of the public they managed to defend it.

By 1966, the building was almost completely destroyed. When designing Kalinin Avenue (New Arbat), they decided to leave the temple. The building has been restored. They restored the original shape of the roof, even decorated the tops with openwork crosses, which were almost immediately cut off by order of the higher authorities with an autogenous gun. The surrounding old houses were destroyed, and the temple now stands among the high-rise buildings of New Arbat on a small green island of lawn.


In 1968, the temple building was given to the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation, and it housed an exhibition hall of small animals and birds: guinea pigs, white rats, parrots, canaries, etc. Soon the small building was thoroughly saturated with the smell of manure. The interiors of the temple were completely destroyed. By the 1990s, the temple hosted painting and folk art exhibitions.

In 1990, crosses were again placed on the heads of the temple (by order of the deputy chairman of the Moscow City Executive Committee, Matrosov). In 1992 Church of Simeon the Stylite was again given to the church and re-painted by young artists. It turned out that the temple icon of St. Simeon the Stylite, which was kept by the parishioners, had survived from the previous decoration.


Temple of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya June 25th, 2012

In Moscow, at the intersection of Povarskaya and Novy Arbat streets, there is the Temple of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya, which miraculously survived after Kalinin Avenue was laid along it (now Novy Arbat). Currently, the temple is an architectural monument of federal significance, and it was built approximately in 1676-1679 by order of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich in the Russian pattern style.


A wooden church stood on this site already in 1625. According to one version, it was consecrated on the day of the crowning of Boris Godunov, since this day fell on the feast of Simeon the Stylite.


The stone church was built in 1676 by order of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich (according to other versions - in 1679) in the Russian patterned style, with five domes, a refectory, a bell tower and two chapels, each with a separate apse and dome.


The main altar of the temple is Vvedensky, and the chapels are in the name of Simeon the Stylite and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the latter in 1759 was reconsecrated in the name of Demetrius of Rostov.

White stone tombstones from the 17th-18th centuries have been preserved within the walls of the building.

On the church site there was a wooden house in which the actor P.S. Mochalov lived in 1819 - mid-1820s.

A parishioner of the Church of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya in the last years of his life was N.V. Gogol, who then lived in the Tolstoy house on Nikitsky Boulevard.


I was able to find only two pre-revolutionary photos of the temple, but in them you can clearly see what it looked like before its “restoration” in the 20th century. The earliest photograph dates back to 1881:

You can clearly see the bell tower of the temple in the photograph from the turn of the 19th-20th centuries - the ugly 25-story panel building that will appear after the formation of New Arbat Street is not visible behind it.

After the revolution, the church was closed and in 1930 it was actually scrapped. Miraculously surviving, dilapidated, it survived until the construction of the Kalininsky Prospekt highway, and they were going to demolish it so that it would not introduce architectural dissonance with the high-rise buildings being erected, but through the efforts of the public they managed to defend it. This is what the temple looked like in the first half of the 1960s:

By 1966, the building was almost completely destroyed. View from Povarskaya Street to the no longer existing and not yet reconstructed bell tower of the temple in 1965:

When designing Kalinin Avenue (New Arbat), they decided to leave the temple. The building has been restored. They restored the original shape of the roof, even decorated the tops with openwork crosses, which were almost immediately cut off by order of the higher authorities with an autogenous gun. The restored temple in 1969 from the New Arbat side:

The surrounding old houses were destroyed, and the temple now stands among the high-rise buildings of New Arbat on a small green island of lawn.

Another photograph from 1969 - the temple was completely lost against the backdrop of built apartment buildings, so how it survived at all without fitting into the new scale of the newly formed avenue is very surprising.

The frame from the 1970 film “Belorussky Station” clearly shows the temple and the beginning of Povarskaya Street (then it was Vorovskogo Street), as well as the gray building of a high-rise residential building, which has now become the background for modern photographs of the temple.

In 1968, the temple building was given to the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation, and it housed an exhibition hall of small animals and birds. Soon the small building was completely saturated with the smell of manure. The interiors of the temple were completely destroyed. The photo from 1973 shows that this exhibition is taking place in the temple:

But this is how local residents and their children had fun in the winter in 1976 - it is impossible to see this in this place in our time.

1982 - it is clearly visible that the temple is located on the corner of Povarskaya and Novy Arbat streets - nothing else has changed here until now:

I really like the photograph I found from 1984 - the photo itself is of good quality and the temple is clearly visible:

1987-1988 - a photo of the temple again against the background of a gray high-rise building:

In 1989, it is clear that the temple underwent minor restoration work:

By the 1990s, the temple hosted painting and folk art exhibitions. A small part of the temple in 1991:

In 1990, crosses were again placed on the heads of the temple (by order of the deputy chairman of the Moscow City Executive Committee, Matrosov).

In 1992, the Temple of Simeon the Stylite was again transferred to the church and re-painted by artists. It turned out that the temple icon of St. Simeon the Stylite, which was kept by the parishioners, had survived from the previous decoration.

The temple is also known for the fact that famous people of their time were married here: in 1801, the secret wedding of Count N.P. Sheremetev and actress P.I. Zhemchugova-Kovalyova took place here; in 1816, the writer S.T. Aksakov and O.S. Zaplatina were married; in 1918, the future wife of Mikhail Bulgakov, E.S. Nuremberg, was married here with her first husband, Yu.M. Neyolov; in 2005, Nikolai Karachentsov and his wife Lyudmila Porgina were married in the church (the sacrament took place on the 30th anniversary of their wedding).


The Temple of Simeon the Stylite is located on Povarskaya at the address: Povarskaya Street, no. 5. The nearest metro station is Arbatskaya.
When writing this article, in addition to my own photographs, photographs of old Moscow from the website were used