Description of the attraction
The Church of the Intercession in Fili was built in 1690-1693. at the expense of the Naryshkin family. The ruler Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina, the mother of young Peter I, was in power at that time. In 1682, a riot of archers took place in Moscow. The archers broke into the Kremlin and killed Afanasy Naryshkin, the uncle of Peter I. His second uncle, Lev Naryshkin, prayed in front of the icons and made a vow, if his death passes, to build the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin. He fulfilled his promise. The temple was built on the estate of the boyar Lev Naryshkin in Fili as the home church of the Naryshkin family. The main altar of the temple is dedicated to the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands.
The Church of the Intercession is considered an example of the architectural style of the Moscow ("Naryshkinsky") Baroque. The temple was built "like the bells", that is, the bells hang on the very top of the church building.
The first square tier of the temple rises from a high basement, surrounded by a terrace-gulbisch. There are two more octagonal tiers on it. Above is the gilded faceted central dome on the same faceted drum.
The temple is lavishly decorated with carved white stone - these are platbands with columns, baroque "cock's combs" with openwork crosses. Exquisite white-stone lace looks especially elegant against the background of red temple walls.
The church is two-level. The upper temple is summer (cold), the lower one is warm winter. The interior of the temple is very small, since it was designed only for the Naryshkin family.
According to legend, this church was often visited by Peter I, and in 1703, after the capture of Narva, he brought here bright colored stained-glass windows, taken in Narva as trophies.
The interior decoration of the lower church (iconostasis and wall paintings) date back to the 19th century. The original iconostasis and paintings have not survived. The upper church is decorated with a multi-tiered baroque gilded iconostasis. Fragments of paintings from the 18-19th centuries have been preserved on the vaults.
