Description of the attraction
The veneration of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God, a list of which is kept in the chapel at the Resurrection Gate of Kitai-Gorod, in Moscow was associated with several traditions. According to one of them, everyone passing through the gates kissed this image, the men also took off their hats. According to another tradition, the list could be brought to the bed of a seriously ill, dying person or a woman giving birth. The temporarily absent image in the chapel replaced another list.
The first copy of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God was brought from the holy Mount Athos to Moscow in 1648. From Moscow, this list was sent to Nikolsky, and then to the Valdai Iversky monastery. For the capital, another list was made, which was placed at the Resurrection (at that time - Neglinensky) gates. At first, the icon was under a simple canopy, and in 1680 the first wooden chapel was built for it.
Its building was rebuilt twice in the 18th century: in 1746 (again in wood) and in 1791 - this time in stone. The famous architect Matvey Kazakov became the author of the stone structure. After the Patriotic War of 1812, during which the chapel was desecrated and plundered, the Italian architect and artist Pietro Gonzago, who arrived in Russia at the end of the 18th century at the invitation of Prince Nikolai Yusupov, took part in its restoration. The restored chapel became a symbol of the victory of the Russian people over Napoleon, and Gonzago decorated its building inside and out, sprinkling the dome with stars and placing a gilded angel with a cross on top of the chapel.
The Iberian Chapel felt the attitude of the new government to religion literally from the first days of its establishment. In the spring of 1918, the church was robbed, and in 1922 the surviving valuables were confiscated as part of a campaign in favor of the starving. The Nikolo-Perervinsky monastery, to which the chapel belonged, was closed. The chapel itself was demolished at the end of July 1929, and the demolition was carried out under cover of night. Two years later, the Resurrection Gate was also demolished. Under one of the versions, the copy of the Iberian icon and the replacement copies were lost during the demolition of the church.
Both the chapel and the Resurrection Gate were restored in their original place in the 90s of the last century. Their laying took place in November 1994 and was consecrated by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II. The construction was completed less than a year later, and in October 1995 the chapel was opened. On Athos, a new copy of the Iberian icon was made for her.
