Description of the attraction
Zayitskoye is a former settlement founded by Cossacks who arrived in Moscow from the Urals, from the banks of the Yaik River. The first Nikolsky temple in the settlement was founded by them in the 16th century. However, this is only one of the versions of the origin of the temple and its name. According to another legend, a century later the Ural Cossacks presented the already existing Nikolsky Church with the image of Nikolai the Pleasant.
The first wooden church on the site of the current temple was known back in 1518. Its first reconstruction in stone took place in the middle of the 17th century, and the second - almost a hundred years later, in 1741. The construction of the second stone church was accompanied by setbacks: first, the unfinished building collapsed two years after the start of work, and then construction was frozen for several years and resumed only in the middle of the 18th century. It is known that the restructuring was carried out with funds donated by merchants, and the project, according to which the construction was continued in 1751, was drawn up by Dmitry Ukhtomsky. The main altar was consecrated in honor of the Savior of the Transfiguration, and the side-altars of the church - in honor of St. Nicholas of Mirliki and St. Sergius of Radonezh.
The church was not damaged in the fire of 1812, but the property was plundered by French soldiers. In the 30s of the last century, the temple was closed and was supposed to be demolished. However, only the domes and the upper part of the bell tower were demolished. The building itself housed the subdivisions of the Mosenergo enterprise.
Despite the "cosmetic" repairs carried out in the 50s, in the 90s the building required more serious restoration work. The building was taken over by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1996. Currently, it has the status of an object of cultural heritage of the Russian Federation.
