Description of the attraction
The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is located on Naberezhnaya Street in Pushkin. Previously, it was a temple at the Nikolaev gymnasium of Tsarskoye Selo. The building of the Nikolaev gymnasium, built by A. F. Species, designed by I. A. Monighetti assumed the presence of a temple in it, but when the gymnasium was opened on September 20, 1870, it was not yet consecrated, since it was not fully equipped.
For the arrangement of the church, the pedagogical council of the gymnasium allocated 300 rubles from special funds, and the director of the gymnasium contributed his personal funds in the amount of 240 rubles. An advisory and administrative committee was formed from representatives of the city society and the gymnasium, which by 1872 had collected material and monetary donations totaling about 15 thousand rubles.
On January 14, 1872, the throne was solemnly transferred from the chapel of the city hospital to the gymnasium church, which was subsequently restored and prepared for consecration. On November 10, 1872, the solemn consecration of the church in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos took place. Initially, it was planned to consecrate a church in honor of Nicholas the Wonderworker, but the opening day of the gymnasium coincided with the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin and the birthday of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich.
A feature of the service in the temple was the constant commemoration of the departed emperors at liturgies, and on memorial days - and at requiems. Reading, singing and official duties in the altar were always performed by pupils of the gymnasium. The choir of singers, in addition to the pupils, first consisted of several lovers of church singing, both outsiders and employees in the gymnasium, and later only of the gymnasium students.
In April 1922 the church was closed. Part of the church property was sent to the Department of Local Economy of the Trotsky Executive Committee, and part, including the iconostasis of the church, was handed over to the school administration. Since 1988, the wooden horse puppet theater was located in the church premises, and then there was a warehouse. Now in the building of the gymnasium there is an interschool center of informatics "Intellect".
In 2006, it was decided to return the temple to the Orthodox Church. On November 6, between the parish of St. Sophia Cathedral and the Intellect Moscow Central Executive Committee, cooperation began in this direction: in early 2007, a cross was installed on the dome of the temple, and on January 25, the temple was returned to the church. On January 27, the first liturgy was held here. Divine services in the temple are held on holidays and Sundays.
The structure of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary differs from other home churches. It is not a hall, but a temple arranged inside the building, in the plan having the shape of a cross, made in the Greek style, with one large dome. The church is located on the second floor, in the center of the building. The temple, altar and narthex are separated from each other by arches. The altar is located in the building's quadrangle, which juts out at the corner of Naberezhnaya and Malaya Streets; a cross was carved on the outside on the eastern wall, under it was a window covered by the wall from the side of the altar. The length of the church (not including the altar) is 15 m, with the altar - 19 m; width under the dome in the middle part - 10, 5 m. The walls and ceiling of the church were decorated with ornaments according to drawings by A. F. Vidova. A dove was depicted above the throne, and four inscriptions made up of the Gospel sayings under the dome. The carved iconostasis is made of American walnut according to the drawing by I. A. Monighetti, The icons of the temple were painted by artists Travin, Gorbunov, Vasiliev.
The main attraction of the temple until its closure was the throne. Initially, it stood in the marching church of Catherine I. After it was erected in 1716. Church of the Assumption, the camp church was placed in its side-chapel, and then in 1724 was transferred to the Annunciation Church. But it burned down, and the camp was transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo almshouse and placed in the chapel of the Tsarskoye Selo hospital. At the request of the chief doctor of the city hospital F. F. Zhukovsky-Volynsky, the throne was transferred to the gymnasium church.
