Description of the attraction
The full name of this church is the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos with the side-altar of St. George the Victorious, but, as often happened, the name was fixed among the people by the side-altar of the church. It is also called the Church of St. George the Victorious on the Pskov Hill - along the hill on which the Pskovites settled in 1510 after the abolition of the liberties of their city. The church stands on Varvarka Street, therefore it was also called the Church on Varvarskaya Street, or, due to its close proximity to the Tsar's prison yard, the church “near the Old Prisons”.
The temple in its current form was built in 1657-1658 on the foundations of an earlier church, which burned down in 1639. After the war with the French in 1812, the church needed restoration work, and the parishioners began to donate money to improve the church, in particular, for the construction of the bell tower and the renovation of the iconostasis. One of the benefactors was the merchant Pyotr Soloviev, and after his death his widow provided assistance to the church. Work continued until the middle of the 19th century, during this time a refectory was also built, the side-chapel of St. George the Victorious was rebuilt and another one was erected, consecrated in honor of St. Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow. The temple and the bell tower were connected by a glazed gallery, and a painting appeared under the vault of the temple.
After the revolution, the temple was closed and remained abandoned for a long time. In the second half of the last century, the building housed a warehouse; in the late 70s, the building was transferred to the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Monuments for exhibitions. In the early 90s, the temple was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, but services were resumed only in 2005, and the restoration was completed in 2015.
One of the shrines of the temple is the icon of the Kazan Mother of God with traces of various damage inflicted during the years of persecution of Orthodoxy. The icon is considered a symbol of suffering, people turn to the image of the Mother of God for help.
The temple is included in the list of cultural heritage sites of the Russian Federation.
