Description of the attraction
Kideksha is an old village that is inextricably linked with the historical development of the city of Suzdal. The village got its name at a time when the Slavic tribes did not yet exist, and if you translate "kideksha" from the Finno-Ugric, it means "kamenka". The village is located at the mouth of the Kamenka River, where it flows into the Nerl.
According to an old legend, it was here that two brothers once met - Gleb Muromsky and Boris Rostovsky, who went to meet their father - Prince Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko. Soon, both brothers died under the sword of Svyatopolk the Damned, after which the church canonized them.
The Church of Boris and Gleb is a temple built of white stone on the territory of the Vladimir-Suzdal land around 1152. It is one of the oldest, because its foundation took place during the time of Yuri Dolgoruky. The construction of the temple was carried out when it was decided to build a fortified residence in the local lands, because Kamenka is located on a small hill, especially since in the past the village was even wider and deeper.
In 1152, the formed artel of Galician craftsmen erected a small fortress, which was surrounded by ramparts equipped with wooden walls. A palace and a temple were built in the prince's residence, and chopped chambers were exhibited for the servants. The newly built residence of the prince even endured a raid of the Tatars, which is why in 1239 it was necessary to carry out a major overhaul of the church, which was carried out by order of Cyril, the Rostov bishop.
After a while, Kideksha fell into complete desolation, because the once abandoned temple stood without a head, and its vaults and adjacent walls were completely destroyed. Starting from the 16th century, the village began to belong to the small Pechersky monastery in Nizhny Novgorod, which was able to bring order to these places. In the late 16th - early 17th centuries, the church of Boris and Gleb began to be put in order, while the old white stone was used for the restoration process, which was not destroyed. After all the work, the appearance of the church changed quite a lot, because on the site of the previously existing large chapter and the vaulted roof, its wedding was carried out with a simple hipped roof with a small cupola. In the middle of the 19th century, the porch, which has survived to this day, was added to the church.
Initially, the church of Boris and Gleb was especially similar to the architecture of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral in the city of Vladimir, as well as the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl - this gives reason to assume what exactly were the temple and the princely house in the village of Kideksha.
As for the design of the temple, it was simple even in terms of the carved decor - the powerful apses were not decorated with anything, while the portals did not have patterns, only a thin belt of patterns passed along the upper part of the apses, curbs and drums. The interior decoration of the church of Boris and Gleb has preserved to our time fragments of some frescoes dating back to the 12th century, which is easy to see even in low light, nailed through narrow window openings.
Not only this temple remained in Kideksha, but also the Stefanovskaya church, which is warm. It was erected in 1780 according to the traditions of Suzdal architecture in terms of warm churches. The structure of the temple includes two volumes of different heights, and the wedding of the church itself is made in the form of a small cupola, located on a thin drum. The apse is made of a very large size, which is why it can be compared with other parts of the building. The window opening of the apse is decorated with lush platbands.
In the period between the 17th and early 18th centuries, the Holy Gates were built, equipped with an unusual carved top and figured decor. The gate appeared simultaneously with a low, stone-built fence.
In the same period of time, a hipped-roof bell tower was erected, decorated with a passage arch. The bell tower tent is fundamentally different from the traditional concave Suzdal tents, because it is made straight and equipped with a special "police". Until the beginning of the 20th century, this "police" hung a bell, cast in 1552 as a gift from Ivan the Terrible on the occasion of the capture of Kazan.
An excellent view of the village of Kideksha opens from the bank of the Nerl River, where you can see not only the village itself, but also the surrounding area of the Kamenka River.
