Description of the attraction
The Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos currently belongs to the skete of the Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Monastery. The church is located in the Pskov region, namely in the Novorzhevsky district, in a village called Stolbushino, which is located 15 km from the famous Pushkinskie Gory.
The church stands in a picturesque place, on one of the elevated banks, which bends around the Stolbushinsky lake from all three sides. But the skete of the Svyatogorsk monastery was not always here, because before it was built, there was an incredibly beautiful temple, consecrated in honor of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos. The construction of the temple was carried out in 1787 at the expense of the landowner Borozdin Nikolai Savvich. From the scribal sources, you can learn that at that time the Assumption Church had two side-chapels, one of which was consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas, and the second in the name of Sergius of Radonezh. The church is described as stone, and with it there was previously a church built of wood, consecrated in the name of the Archangel Michael, but soon it was destroyed due to strong dilapidation. At that time, the church had 132 tithes of land at its disposal; there were 264 parish courts, in which there were 1273 male parishioners and 1432 female parishioners.
The Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos is a pillarless church built like an "octagon on a quadruple", which is cruciform in the plan, because the lower octagon protrudes strongly to the sides. The temple building is adjoined by a refectory room, as well as a three-tiered bell tower, and an apse on the east side. The facade solution is quite active, two-color, large window openings have small glazing. We can say that the Assumption Church was built in the style of provincial classicism.
The Assumption Church is one of the most unique monuments of church architecture, created in the style of the Catherine Baroque. In the inner part of the church, a three-tiered carved iconostasis, made in the form of a solid wall, which gradually narrows towards the upper part in the form of a pyramid, has survived to this day.
The church bell tower had six bells, the total weight of which was 66 poods and 30 pounds. The largest bell weighed exactly 43 pounds. It is known that a parish school and a richest library worked at the Assumption Church. Two chapels were attributed to the temple, one of which was located in a nearby cemetery, and the second stood in a village called Ulyanovo, which no longer exists at the moment. The old cemetery is located immediately behind the church fence. The churchyard gates are located in front of the church building.
In the 1960s, the Assumption Church was closed. For a long time the temple was in disrepair. There were three houses in the village of Stolbushino, for which reason there was no one to expect help from, but still the work to restore the church began. Two novices, one monk, and fifteen people, the so-called "laborers", settled in the skete on a permanent basis.
In the summer of 2006, the bells on the church bell tower were restored, which were consecrated by Archbishop Eusebius of Velikie Luki and Pskov. In the temple, apart from the Assumption, two side-chapels were installed, arranged on the site of the narthex, and separated from the main temple by stone walls. One throne was consecrated in the name of Nicholas of Mirliki, and the second - in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
At the moment, active work is underway to restore the temple. Two church chapels have already been repaired, and heating has been carried out in the form of a built stoker; a complete replacement of the roof of the roof, as well as old floors, is carried out. In addition, the entire territory adjacent to the church is being improved, namely the village of Stolbushino and the churchyard. Now services are held irregularly and only in the warm season.
