Description of the attraction
The Cathedral in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Holy Bogolyubsky Monastery was built in 1751-1758 on the site of a former church, erected, presumably in 1157-1158. At first, the cathedral was the center of the Bogolyubov palace complex, most likely, in the last quarter of the 12th century, it became a monastery. The walls of the 12th century cathedral have been preserved at the level of three rows of stonework along the entire perimeter.
The cathedral was three-apse, one-domed, four-pillar. Round columns, which are crowned with carved capitals, are painted like marble. Flat shoulder blades answered the pillars from the inside. The spacious and light interior of the building was decorated with copper and gilding. The floor was of polished red copper slabs (in the choirs - of glazed colored tiles with ornaments and birds); zakomars and portals were covered with sheets of gilded copper. The temple was decorated with frescoes (they were most likely made in the 50s of the 12th century by Greek icon painters), it was full of icons, books, fabrics, sacred vessels, etc.
Along the outside perimeter, the cathedral was enclosed by an arcature-columnar belt characteristic of medieval Vladimir-Suzdal temples, archivolts of perspective portals were decorated with carvings with ornaments, the basement had an attic profile, the walls were divided by intricately profiled pilasters with thin semi-columns
In the tympans of the central zakomaras, according to G. K. Wagner, there were sculptural compositions made in the technique of white-stone relief (their fragments were found during archaeological excavations: images of animals and birds, female masks; 3 lion images were mounted in the cathedral masonry). The prince's guests and pilgrims compared this cathedral with the temple of Solomon; the closest architectural analogue of the cathedral is the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin on the Nerl.
The luxurious decoration of the cathedral, most likely, was plundered by the troops of the Ryazan prince Gleb, and then by the Mongol-Tatar conquerors.
Under the abbot Hippolytus (1684-1695), it was decided to part the narrow windows of the church in order to insert glass later, then the choir was dismantled. As a result of these rebuildings, the building of the cathedral began to collapse, and, finally, in 1722 it collapsed, although an inventory carried out in the monastery in 1767 reports that the vaults of the temple collapsed in 1705.
In 1751-1752, on the site of the old church, a new Nativity Cathedral was erected, which repeated the cross-domed system of the previous church. In 1752-1755, the cathedral was painted and an iconostasis was installed in it. On June 18, 1756, the temple was consecrated by Bishop Platon of Vladimir and Yaropolsk.
In 1764, the choir was again made in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, which was finally dismantled in 1802. In 1765-1766, the wall paintings of the cathedral were restored. In 1802, due to dilapidation, the paintings on the pillars and on the western wall were destroyed. Only in the altar and in four hallmarks are the compositions preserved: the Dormition, Introduction to the Temple, the Presentation of the Lord, Christmas, on the walls of the central nave - the images of the Archangel Gabriel and the Mother of God.
In 1803, a new three-tiered iconostasis was built, which was crowned with a carved image of the Resurrection of Christ. In 1804-1809, the floor of the church was covered with limestone slabs. In 1892, the temple was painted on the model of the Assumption Cathedral.
From the choir of the cathedral to the second floor of the staircase, a passage leads, which is located above the arched passage and is a rectangular room in the plan, illuminated by one narrow window - from the east and two - from the west, and covered with a vault. The interior painting, made in 1764, depicts the appearance of the Mother of God to Prince Andrei, as well as scenes of the massacre of him. According to legend, the passage played the role of the prince's prayer room. At the bottom of the tower there is a spiral staircase. The entrance to it is in the eastern wall of the tower, and in the northern wall there is a closed opening, which led to a passage that does not exist now in the direction of the prince's palace.
It is believed that on the north side of the Nativity Church, under the white-stone staircase, there was a room where Andrei Bogolyubsky was killed. From the end of the 17th century, stone porches were located near the southern and northern walls of the cathedral, which were rebuilt at the beginning of the 19th century. Initially, exactly the same porch was located from the west, but in 1809, instead of it, a chapel was arranged in honor of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, the altar of this chapel was under the arch of the passage. In the 17th century, a hipped-roof bell tower was erected over the staircase tower.
