Description of the attraction
The famous Kazan Church in the town of Ustyuzhna effectively closes the main Zhelezopolskaya Street. Back in the 17th century, before the appearance of the church, a pine forest grew in its present place. According to legend, a certain holy fool Afonya saw the Kazan icon of the Mother of God in the forest, which is why a wooden church of the Appearance of the Kazan Mother of God with the chapel of the Great Martyr Catherine was built here in 1647. The church was overtaken by a fire in 1659 - it was struck by lightning. After a while, at the expense of the Posad Mikhail Semyonov, a new temple was built, made of wood.
As for the construction of a stone church, then in the lending this event is associated with the eminent surname of the Stroganov family. Tradition says that at the very end of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, one of the Stroganovs fell seriously ill and, being dying, decided to ask the newly-minted icon of the Kazan Mother of God, after which he received healing. On the occasion of the miraculous recovery, the guest made a promise to build a new stone cathedral in honor of the miraculous icon and kept it. The previously built wooden church was sold to the posad in Vasilievsky and Trinity parishes.
The architectural appearance of the Kazan Church stands out clearly against the background of other Ustyug churches dating from the 17-18 centuries. Directly above the one-storey high side-altars, acting as a stylobate, the slender and stately volume of the main pillarless temple rises. In the decorative design of the facades, an order was applied, and their completion was made in the form of pediments torn by rays, which gives the whole building a baroque look. On the other hand, the temple has a traditional five-domed, which is affirmed on two-tiered faceted drums, which clearly shows the hand of a master architect trained within the framework of the Russian architectural school, although he accurately studied all examples of the Baroque style of Western Europe. The walls of the temple are painted in a dark brown paint imitating brick. White columns made of stone, as well as window frames, twisted columns and volutes, stand out effectively and clearly on them. It is worth noting that the design features and architectural decoration of the Kazan Church are very close to many Stroganov churches of the 17th century, for example, the Cathedral of the Vvedensky Monastery located in Solvychegodsk and the Church of Our Lady of Smolensk in Gordeevka.
Around the middle of the 18th century, the main temple and the porch of the Kazan Church were beautifully decorated with frescoes. On the walls of the temple, inscriptions have survived to this day, which tell that the execution of the painting took place in 1756-1757 at the expense of the landowner Vasily Fedorovich Kozlyaninov by a group of twelve icon painters from the city of Yaroslavl under the leadership of Ivan and Afanasy Andreev-Shustov. The frescoes were subject to restoration in 1899 by the artists Kobylichny A. I., Kitaev V. P., Chuprinenko S. F. for the gratuitous help of the chief elder of the Kazan church and the mayor N. I. Pozdeeva.
The murals are divided into five registers, the upper one of which is located at the base of the closed vault. The upper registers, three in number, are entirely devoted only to the Christological theme. The upper tier is reserved for scenes of the passionate cycle, which ends on the western wall with the composition "Assurances of Thomas". The next two registers tell about the earthly life of Jesus Christ, as well as about his preaching work.
At the entrance to the Kazan Church, you can see that two figures of men are drawn on the slopes of the doorway, which by their nature of writing clearly stand out among the heroes of traditional Orthodox iconography. The beardless youth is represented on the northern slope of the portal. He has a sad appearance and is presented in a belted green shirt and cloak; the young man's hands are pressed to his chest, and he himself bows his head and rushes to the main temple altar - this picture is painted very brightly and clearly.
All the numerous frescoes of the Kazan Church in the city of Ustyuzhna are directly related to the most valuable and most important monuments of the religious and artistic culture of the entire Russian North. The Kazan Church is one of the most expressive cultural monuments of the Vologda Territory.
