Description of the attraction
At the corner of Chernigovsky Lane and Pyatnitskaya Street, this temple is located, known as John the Baptist near Bor. This is one of the oldest churches in Zamoskvorechye, founded in the 15th century. The prefix to the name "near Bor", most likely, has survived from the times when the dense forests near Moscow rustled near this place. On the place where this church stands, in the 15th century the Ivanovsky monastery was located, after which it was moved to the hill, later called the Ivanovskaya hill, the church became a parish.
The first stone building of the Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist was erected at the beginning of the 16th century by the Italian architect Aleviz Fryazin (New), who was invited to the capital by Vasily III. In the middle of the 17th century, the temple was again referred to as a wooden one, but here it could be a question of a temporary structure in which divine services were held at the time of construction work in the main building to reconstruct, renovate or expand the temple. It is likely that these works were carried out after the temple was damaged during the Time of Troubles.
The oldest part of the building is a 16th century basement made of white stone. A new building was erected over it in the middle of the 17th century, in the second half of the century the bell tower and refectory were rebuilt - their renovation was financed by the merchants of Zamyatin. The new bell tower was not built in the same place, but on the other side of the church - at the very corner of Chernigov and Pyatnitskaya.
To date, a whole architectural complex has formed on the site of the temple, the buildings of which date back to the 17th and 18th centuries, and this complex was recognized as an architectural monument of federal significance.
With the advent of Soviet power, the church was first deprived of especially valuable elements of its decoration, and then it was closed. The building was empty for a long time and fell into decay even more. In the late 60s, the organization that occupied it carried out renovations of the building, and in the 80s restoration was carried out, during which crosses were again erected on the head of the church.
