Description of the attraction
The Church of the Intercession of the Virgin was built in the village of Medvedkovo, in the estate of Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky. Dmitry Pozharsky began military service in 1608, in 1612 Kuzma Minin asked Prince D. Pozharsky, who was at that time in Nizhny Novgorod, for help in the fight against the Poles. The prince gathered a militia and in March 1612 moved to Moscow. In August, the militia camped near the village of Medvedkovo, according to legend, exactly where the temple is now. A few days later, they inflicted their first defeat on the Poles.
After the liberation of Moscow, Prince Pozharsky made Medvedkovo his princely residence. In 1634-35, the prince built a stone church of the Intercession of the Virgin in Medvedkovo. This is one of the last tent-roofed temples, the construction of which was prohibited by Patriarch Nikon in 1652.
Since its construction, the church has never been closed, only in the 20-40s of the XX century the services were transferred to the lower church, later services were resumed in the upper church.
A feature of pillarless hipped temples is that the tents were not made too wide. In the Church of the Intercession of Our Lady, the quadruple is installed on a high basement, where the Church of the Sign is located. The apses of this church protrude beyond the apses of the upper church. The tent of the church is supplemented by four chapters set at the corners of the quadrangle. There is an octagon on the four, and on it is a tent. To support the octagon, the architect used the design of two rows of arches, which serve as a transition from the quadruple to the octagon. The altar part of the temple and its side-altars are crowned with domes.
The grouping of all parts of the temple is distinguished by strict symmetry, which was just beginning to take hold in the middle of the 17th century, but the tiers of decorative kokoshniks testify to the conscious adherence to old traditions.
The church had several chapels.
After the death of D. Pozharsky, the estate passed from hand to hand for a long time and, finally, went to Prince V. V. Golitsyn. - one of the most educated people of his time. But soon he was exiled to the distant Pustozersky prison. But even in that short time, the prince did a lot for the temple. He rearranged the side-chapels and reduced them to three (in honor of the Protection of the Virgin, the Sign and the nine martyrs of Kiziches). The fourth, southern chapel of St. Sergius of Radonezh was founded in 1690.
It is believed that the iconostasis was made by the order of the prince, icons for him were painted by one of the famous painters of the Zolotarev Armory. The bells were removed and new ones were cast.
An ancient carved stone with a double-headed eagle has been preserved on the western facade of the bell tower
The temple in Medvedkovo gives the impression of solemn and elegant, thanks to the many chapters - nine, protruding apses and once open galleries.
