Description of the attraction
Simonovskiy building is the second building of the Bishops' court in time. This building received its name after the famous Archbishop Simon, during whose life this building was built.
The building is an elongated structure that combines several different premises. On the ground floor, or basement, there were utility rooms; this floor served as the foundation of the entire building. Above the basement were the bishop's cells, as well as ceremonial and festive rooms, as well as rooms for servants - all these visits were on the middle floor. At the moment, the interior layout, which existed many years ago, has been almost completely changed.
In the eastern part of the building, or rather above it, a high quadrangle was erected, intended for the house church of the Nativity of Christ, crowned with a quadrangular altar. The temple occupied most of the second floor - the lightest and highest, in which the most solemn and elegant premises of the Bishops' court were located, namely, the Cross Chamber. She was known for the fact that it was in her premises that the Vologda bishops received the most respected and noble guests; it was in the Cross Chamber that the great Russian emperor Peter I visited three times.
The cross chamber, being the reception hall of the bishop, had a very rich and luxurious interior decoration. This kind of chambers can be found in a large number of bishops' courts in Russia. In one of the buildings of the Simonovsky building, it is quite typical for the architecture of the 17th century that a combination of secular and religious premises is made. The local bishop, in the manner of his construction, tried to imitate the Patriarchal Court, located in the Moscow Kremlin and built shortly before the Bishops' Court.
On the main facade of the building, located in the southern part and at the level of the second floor, there was an open bypass gallery, originally in the form of a gulbis. In 1776, it was slightly altered and rebuilt into an open gallery, and it acquired its final modern appearance in 1850.
The external decoration of the building of the Simonovsky corps speaks of a wide wave of patterned drawings and decorativeness, which captured the entire Vologda architecture of the late 17th century.
An elegant two-chest porch has become an important and clearly visible decoration of the main facade of the building. In fact, this porch became a large three-story closed annex, which included a staircase leading from the first floor of the porch to the second, as well as the upper landing or porch. In the 17th century until the 1760s, the porch was connected by a passage to the west porch of the famous St. Sophia Cathedral.
Under the bishop of the city of Vologda, Joseph Zolotoy, in the 1770s, the Cross Chamber was significantly altered, moreover, the Church of the Nativity of Christ was transferred to it. In 1841, the Cross Chamber was combined with all the rooms on the upper floor, resulting in a spacious two-story hall, which is currently used as the Vologda Museum.
In the 17th century - the first half of the 18th century, the building of the Simonovsky building began to look especially solemn. From the very beginning, all the facades of the building were open literally from all sides, because then there were no extensions that were added in the future. This building was considered the most luxurious building in the city, which served as the episcopal residence.
After some time, the famous Simonovsky building was restored many times and underwent all sorts of alterations and repairs, which significantly worsened its external, so solemn and luxurious appearance.
As a result of the restoration of the 1960s, work took place in the building of the Simonovsky Corps, which largely contributed to the return of the original appearance of the facade of the building, returning its solemn elegance. But, unfortunately, it was not possible to restore the former beautiful porch; the later completed form of the church dome also remained unchanged. Despite this, the Simonovsky building rightfully began to serve as an excellent example of architecture of the second half of the 17th century.
