Description of the attraction
The Church of the Nativity was built at the Michalitsky Monastery at the end of the 12th century, by order of Princess Feodosia. There are several versions regarding the name of the monastery. Some believe that it was called Mikhalitsky from the name of the territory on which it was built, while others believe that, on the contrary, the area began to be called so precisely because of the monastery.
According to the legend recorded in the Novgorod Chronicle, in ancient times this area was deserted and sparsely populated. Once a man walked through this place and, being drunk, fell and fell asleep. He had a prosphora in his hand. Hungry dogs came running at the smell of bread and would have torn the peasant to pieces, but a fire suddenly flared up from nowhere drove them away. Passers-by who witnessed this incident told the archbishop about everything, and he ordered a church to be erected in this place. The area near the monastery began to attract people. Mint gunsmiths and blacksmiths moved here, blacksmith workshops were opened. The street began to be called Molotkovskaya, from the word "hammer". Later the monastery was named "Molotkovsky".
The stone church of the Nativity of the Virgin was built in 1379 after a devastating fire that destroyed the old wooden church. However, in the Novgorod chronicles, in connection with this temple, 1555 and 1556 are also mentioned. Most likely, these records refer to the stone church of Mikhail Malein with a refectory and a bell tower. The monastery has not survived to this day. Only the buildings of two churches remained: the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mikhail Malein. These are Old Believer churches belonging to the Novgorod Old Believer Pomor community.
The Christmas church had a four-pitched hip roof. The apse is covered with a semi-dome-shaped roof. Door and window openings were quite large, wide, without any decorative details. On the side of the western façade, there is a one-storey, low annex, a vestibule. At the entrance to the vestibule there is a four-step porch with a gable roof and a carved balustrade. The porch pediment is decorated with carved towels.
A kind of mark of the architect who built the church has survived. We are talking about three stone inset crosses in the walls of the temple, which have a peculiar, interesting shape. One large, eight-pointed cross is carved into the western wall, and the other two are in the niches of the side blades of the western facade. Another interesting detail is the belt of colored tiles located under the drum cornice. At one time these details were noted by Macarius.
The church building has undergone partial alterations several times. At the end of the 17th century, it underwent a major overhaul. The one-story western vestibule was built in the 19th century. In 1764, under Peter I, the monastery was abolished, and in 1786 both churches of the monastery became parish. During the war, the church came under fire and was badly damaged. After the war, the monument was a large stone box with large vertical cracks. The southeastern part was crumbling. The apse bent significantly, a large hole gaping above its window.
Restoration work on the restoration of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin was carried out during the spring and summer of 1956. The temple was restored in architectural forms of the 17th century, while retaining some of the forms and details of the 14th century. The author of the restoration project was L. E. Krasnorechiev.
In 1989, the temple was returned to the believers of the Old Believer community. Today the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin is a functioning Ancient Orthodox Church.
