Description of the attraction
The Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior on the City is located in Yaroslavl, on Pochtovaya Street, 3. Like many other Yaroslavl churches, it was erected on the site of a former wooden church in the 72nd year of the 17th century.
The Church of the Savior on a gentle slope leading to the bank of Kotorosl was first mentioned in the 13th century, precisely from the time when Yaroslavl was the center of an appanage principality, independent from Moscow. It got its name, probably, from being on the city market, or from the tower of the Zemlyanoy city wall that stood nearby. Temples built of wood have been destroyed by fire on this site and have been rebuilt more than once. The last wooden church of the Savior on the City died in 1658 in a devastating city fire.
The stone church of the Savior was built in 1672 with donations from the merchant I. Kislov. The architectural style of the church was typical for Yaroslavl of the 17th century, characterized by the absence of a basement, the presence of a chapel and a bell tower in the north-western corner of the gallery.
The architecture of the Church of the Savior is similar to the Ioannozlatoust Church in Korovniki. In fact, the church in Korovniki served as a model for the construction. The quadruple of the central volume is notable for its small size, but this is more than compensated by the massive five-domed: the main drum with a dome (even without a cross) has the same height as the quadruple. The chapters on the sides are also quite large and powerful. The drums of the church are decorated more magnificently than the walls. The most richly decorated facade is on the north side. It is directed to the former trading square - this indicates that the temple was already built taking into account the location.
The church is especially decorated with the wedding of the chapel of Archdeacon Stephen, located on the northeastern side - a tall slender tent surrounds a row of kokoshniks and ends with a small dome. It gives the building a picturesque asymmetry.
On the south side, the warm Nikolsky side-chapel (currently Seraphim Sarovsky) joins the church. It was redesigned in 1831 in the classicist style and introduced a certain dissonance to the appearance of the southern facade of the temple. At the same time, a porch was erected.
The painting of the interior of the building was completed very quickly - in about one and a half summer months in 1693. A large Yaroslavl artel of craftsmen, consisting of 22 people, worked here, under the leadership of Lavrenty Sevastyanov and Fedor Fedorov. The customer of the works was the local townsman Ivan Ivanov Kemskoy.
Some of the church frescoes were severely damaged during the restoration work carried out here in the 1860s. Some hallmarks, mostly in the altar part, were rewritten anew.
During the Civil War, the Savior Church was seriously damaged, and in 1919-1920 it was restored. In the fall of 1929, the church was abolished. Then a warehouse was equipped here, which has been operating for quite a long time.
Only in August 2003, on the day of the first Savior of Honey, bells rang melodiously again in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior in the City. Divine services are conducted mainly in the southern aisle.
Despite the uncomplicated decoration of the Spassky Church, which is under the jurisdiction of the Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve, the massive five domes and two tents make it one of the most beautiful churches on the Kotorosl embankment.
