Description of the attraction
The Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist stands between the Resurrection Monastery and the high bank of the Volga. It was built in the years 1689-1690. The patterned temple is visible from the river waters and contrasts with the large domes of the Resurrection Cathedral.
A tragic story is connected with the construction of this temple on the Volga. Somewhere in the middle of the 17th century, the townspeople Nikifor Chepolosov lived in Uglich. He had a son, Ivan. When he was six years old, he went to the teacher and disappeared. It turned out that the clerk Rudak, who served with Chepolosov, feeling hostility (according to the chronicles of the 17-18 centuries.), Stole the boy and killed him. It is not known what prompted him to do this - revenge or some other incentive, was never established. After that, they tried to establish some kind of connection between the death of Chepolosov's son and the death of Tsarevich Dimitri, but the Rostov spiritual authorities opposed this; discussion of this matter reached Peter I, and this canonization was prohibited. On the site of the death of his son, Nikifor Chepolosov erected a wooden chapel, and a little later, at the end of the 1680s, a stone church; Moscow craftsmen were invited to build it.
This church turned out to be the most beautiful in the city, thanks to its patterned decorations and harmonious proportions. The temple stands on a high basement; the main volume is located slightly above the side-altars and ends with a slender five-domed. The central light drum under the head is encircled by a wide cornice made of polychrome tiles with patterns; tiled rhombuses stand between the windows. A wide belt of tiles also runs along the main volume. The walls of the temple are decorated with carved window frames, different in each row.
The tent-roofed bell tower, which adjoins the temple on the west side, is much more magnificently decorated. Three rows of dormer windows are framed with trims with patterns, openings in the form of arches, due to the abundance of carved decor, seem to be openwork. From the south, the bell tower is adjoined with a tent-roofed porch, which was rebuilt in the 19th century. This porch made a very strong impression on N. K. Roerich when he traveled across Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. He even painted the picture "Uglich".
In 1941, the church was closed. In the 1970s, the church was restored according to the project of the architect S. E. Novikov.
Today the temple was returned to the believers and assigned to the nearby Resurrection Monastery. The main altar of the church is consecrated in honor of the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands, and the side chapels are dedicated to the Nativity of John the Baptist (this is the first consecrated side altar that gave the name to the church) and Simeon the Stylite. Most of the time, the temple is closed, and you can admire it only from the outside.
