Description of the attraction
The history of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord began at the end of the 17th century, when one of the oldest monasteries in Moscow - Danilov - allocated land for its construction. The site was located behind the Serpukhov Gate of the Earthen City. The first church was wooden, and its chapel was the first to be consecrated in honor of the nine martyrs who died in the city of Kyzikos at the end of the 3rd century. The consecration of the main throne took place later, in 1700.
Almost immediately after the construction of the church, they began to rebuild in stone, the money for this work was donated by Tsarevich Alexei, the son of Peter the Great and Evdokia Lopukhina, the first wife of the emperor. In 1708, construction began, and ten years later the prince was accused of high treason and an attempt to seize power, was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, and there he died from the effects of torture or, possibly, was secretly killed. Therefore, the construction of the church stopped. The upper church and the bell tower were partially built, and the lower church was even consecrated along with the side-chapels of the Nine Martyrs of Kyziches and Alexy the Man of God.
In the middle of the 18th century, parishioners were able to obtain permission to collect donations to complete the construction of the church, and by 1762 the building was finally completed and consecrated. A little earlier, a stone almshouse appeared next to the temple.
In the 19th century, the appearance of the church and its interiors were constantly improved. In addition to the construction of a new refectory, the facades were re-plastered, the gilding of the cross was renewed, and chapters with crosses were installed over the new side-chapels. At the end of the century, the walls of the temple were painted in the spirit of late classicism.
The Soviet period did not make an exception for the Church of the Ascension outside the Serpukhov Gate: the chapters and the bell tower were destroyed, and offices of state institutions were opened inside the former church.
In the 90s, the building was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, and a year later, work began on the restoration of the building and the restoration of its elements. A few years later, an orphanage was opened at the church and a chapel-chapel of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga was built.
