Description of the attraction
The history of the Nikitsky Church on Staraya Basmannaya Street is associated with two shrines - icons that arrived in Moscow from the city of Vladimir for restoration. During the year (in 1518-1519) in Moscow there were the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God and the image of the Savior, which were renovated and decorated with precious metals - gold and silver. When the icons were solemnly carried back to Vladimir, at the place of farewell to the shrines, the Moscow prince Vasily the Third ordered the foundation of the temple.
The first church built was made of wood. At the end of the 17th century, it was replaced by a stone building. One of the chapels of the new church was consecrated in honor of Nikita the Martyr, who lived in the IV century, who died by burning and subsequently canonized. At present, the temple has one more side-altar in honor of the Nativity of John the Baptist, and its main throne was consecrated in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God during the reign of Basil the Third.
In the 17th century, in the place where the temple stood, the Basmanny Sloboda began to form. According to various versions, bakers, tanners and metalworkers lived in it - representatives of these different occupations in all versions are united by the fact that they all put a stamp on their products or applied an image using a metal imprint, or Basma in Tatar style.
Nikitskaya church was seriously damaged during a fire in 1737. Towards the middle of the 18th century, permission was obtained for the construction of a new building, and already in 1751 it was consecrated. It was at that time that the temple acquired a second chapel in honor of the Nativity of John the Baptist. Time and various historical events, such as the fire of 1812 and the revolution of 1917, have spared the building of the temple, and it has survived to this day in its almost original form. On the contrary, after the fire of 1812, wealthy and eminent Muscovites began to populate Basmannaya Street, many of them became parishioners of the Nikitskaya Church, and their well-being helped it flourish.
It is known that in August 1830 the funeral service of the deceased Vasily Lvovich Pushkin was held in the church of Nikita the Martyr, which was attended by his famous nephew Alexander Pushkin.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the church suffered from an accidental fire, and in the 30s, after the Bolsheviks came to power, it was closed. The temple was desecrated, plundered and was supposed to be demolished. However, they did not demolish it, but transferred the confiscated premises to the Forestry Institute. In Soviet times, the building of the temple also served the needs of the military and cultural ministries of the USSR - it was a training hall, a warehouse, a hostel. The re-consecration of the temple took place only in 1997.
