Description of the attraction
The Church of the Great Martyr Barbara on Varvarka is located in the very center of Moscow - in Kitay-gorod. The temple that has survived to our time was built from 1796 to 1801. Artillery Major Baryshnikov and Moscow merchant of the first guild Samghin allocated funds for the construction of the temple. The project of the church was carried out by the architect Rodion Kazakov. He used the foundations of the old temple building, built in 1514 by Aleviz the New. And that temple was probably built on the site of a wooden temple, also built at the expense of merchants. Their names have survived. These are Vasily Bobr, Yushka Urvikhvostov and Fyodor Vepr.
Saint Barbara has always been revered among merchants. According to canonical tradition, she was born in Egypt, in the city of Heliopolis. The only daughter of Dioscorus, a noble resident of the city, was distinguished by her piety and beauty. Saint Barbara refused an advantageous marriage, rejected worldly life and accepted holy Baptism. Dioscorus was angry. Barbara was imprisoned, but the torture did not shake her faith. Varvara was sentenced to death. Varvara was executed by her own father. The relics of Saint Barbara were transferred to Constantinople in the 6th century.
In the 12th century, Princess Barbara (daughter of the Byzantine emperor Alexei Komnenos) married the Russian prince Izyaslavich. It was she who transported the relics of St. Barbara to Kiev. The relics rest in the Vladimir Cathedral of Kiev in our time. Parts of the relics of the holy Great Martyr Barbara were also kept in Moscow, in the church on Varvarka. In 1812 the sacristy of the church of St. The barbarians were plundered by the French. The temple itself, being in the center of military events, miraculously survived.
After the revolution of 1917, the merchant class disappeared, parish life came to a standstill, and in the thirties the church was closed. The last restoration of the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara was carried out in 1965-1967. The restoration of the church bell tower, previously dismantled due to the emergency condition, was supervised by the architect Makarov.
