Description of the attraction
The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on Chisty Vrazhka is known as the wedding place of the famous Russian writer Anton Chekhov and actress Olga Knipper. The wedding took place in May 1901, but Anton Pavlovich and Olga Leonardovna were married for only three years - in July 1904, Chekhov died.
The address of the church is the First Lane of Truzhenikov. The ravine, into which manure was transported from the royal stable yard in the century before last, was called pure Vrazhk not without irony. The ravine was also called Litter.
The first church in this place existed in the 17th century, by the middle of the century the wooden structure had become dilapidated, and instead they began to build a new building, consecrated in 1658. At the beginning of the 18th century, the church was rebuilt (an adjoining church was added), and after about 50 years it was rebuilt again: a side-altar in the name of the icon of the Mother of God, a light drum appeared, the area of the altar room and the refectory increased. In the middle of the 19th century, the church was supplemented with a bell tower and another side-chapel, consecrated in honor of the Archangel Gabriel. Actually, in the 19th century, the final image of the church was formed, which has survived to this day, taking into account the changes that took place in the fate of the temple in the Soviet years. Before the revolution, the church was considered one of the richest in Moscow.
After the church lost its domes and bell tower in the early 30s, it was turned into a residential building, and then into a production building. Divine services were resumed in it only in the early 90s. The main altar of the temple was consecrated in honor of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, the side altar - in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow".
