Description of the attraction
The Church of the Intercession of the Virgin is an Orthodox church located in Vologda, which is rightfully considered an architectural monument of regional significance of the 18th century. The history of the temple is closely connected with the house church of Anna and Joachim of the wooden palace of Ivan IV, which was previously located in its place.
The construction of the Church of Anna and Joachim dates back to the time when Tsar Ivan the Terrible often visited the city of Vologda. His first stay in the city was recorded in 1545. As you know, in 1549, the great tsar had a daughter, who was named Anna - it was in honor of this significant event that the temple was laid, located in the Novodevichy Convent with dedication to Anna and Joachim.
The wooden church of Anna and Joachim, located in Vologda, in the 1560s became a house church located at the wooden palace of Ivan the Terrible. In 1605, a fire broke out in the church, but soon it was restored again and received a new name - the Church of Anna and Joachim in the hallway of the Emperor. After some time, in 1627, the church was renamed again, named after Anna and Joachim in the Old Tsar's court. As for the architectural component of the church, at the beginning - the second half of the 17th century, it belonged to the type of kletsky churches.
Another fire damaged the church in 1679, after which it was rebuilt again with the consecration of the main altar in honor of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos and the chapel of Anna and Joachim. The stave church was incredibly warm and existed until the 1780s. It is assumed that in 1698 another fire broke out in the church, after which it was again repaired. Numerous parishioners, headed by the elder Kirill Poyarkov, received consent from Archbishop Irenaeus to build a stone church. We have heard that the wooden church, during the construction of a new stone church, was moved without interrupting services. As soon as the construction of the new temple was completed, the old wooden church was simply dismantled for firewood.
There is information that the Church of the Intercession was already in Vologda at the end of the 15th century, which is clearly mentioned in the chronicle sources. In addition, it says that in 1486 it almost completely burned down, but that information: whether that church had anything to do with the Church of the Intercession was never found. There are opinions that the Church of the Intercession has a much earlier origin than the Church of Anna and Joachim. There is only an indirect confirmation of this opinion - the presence of Pokrovskaya Street in the 17th century - after all, it was on this street that the Tsar's yard and the Church of Anna and Joachim were located.
The stone church with the main altar in the name of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos and the side-altars of Anna and Joachim and Macarius of Unzhensky was built during 1778-1780. Beginning in 1832, the temple completely became a summer temple of the Kazan-Pokrovsky parish, the formation of which took place immediately after the unification with the Kazan Church on the Swamp.
In the 1920s, the church was closed and handed over to the governor, even though the church fulfilled even the most stringent and stringent requirements of the churches, which were put forward by the Soviet government. At the time of the closure of the church, there were two parish communities in it: Nikolskaya Sennoploshchadskaya and Pokrovo-Kazanskaya.
The main volume of the Intercession Church is a pillarless cube topped with a two-tier dome. From the east, a pentahedral apse is closely adjacent to the main volume, and from the west there is a refectory room stretched along the axis of the church. A hipped-roof bell tower was built right above the narthex. Already in the second half of the 19th century, a porch was added to the church, made in the pseudo-Russian style and standing on pillars. In general, we can say that in the decorative design of the temple there are notes of late Baroque, which is proved by the pilasters fluted from above, rustication located at the corners of the bell tower and the window frames decorated with kokoshniks.
The resumption of services took place in 1990. A Sunday school was established and opened at the church in 1995. At the moment, the rector of the church is Priest Arseniy Skorokhodko, and the publication of the diocesan newspaper is working at the courtyard.
