Address: Russia, Yaroslavl region, Yaroslavl, st. Pochtovaya, 3
Build date: 1672 year
Coordinates: 57 ° 37'21.1 "N 39 ° 53'43.8" E
Content:
In the center of ancient Yaroslavl, not far from the banks of the Korotosl River, there is a temple with a very ancient history. This church was built in 1672. Compositionally, it is asymmetrical, and looks very beautiful from all sides. The snow-white temple with two tents and green domes is a real decoration of the city and attracts many pilgrims and tourists traveling along the "Golden Ring" of Russia.
History of the Church of the Savior on the City
Preserved information that a wooden church on this site existed in the XIII century. These were the times when Yaroslavl had the status of an appanage principality, not yet independent from Moscow. The river then served as one of the borders of the posad or the Chopped City, at first fortified by a fence made of logs, and in the 16th-17th centuries - by a bulk Earthen rampart. It turns out that the location of the temple was near the city border itself.
View of the church from the Kotoroslnaya embankment
For a long time, all trade in Yaroslavl was concentrated here. Trading shops and rows, expanding, gradually occupied the streets from Zemlyanoy Val to Ilyinsky Square, and then stretched even further and turned into a real trading city, where life was in full swing all year round. That is why the name of the church arose - “to the City”.
Wooden buildings, as usual, quickly deteriorated, but more often they were destroyed by fires. So, in 1658, when almost all of Yaroslavl burned out, the last Savior Church made of wood was lost.
By the second half of the 17th century, when the city finally recovered after the Polish-Lithuanian invasion and became rich, Yaroslavl residents decided to build stone churches instead of wooden ones. The necessary funds were collected, and with the blessing of the Rostov Metropolitan Iona Sysoevich in 1672, the inhabitants of the posad erected a new brick church, the prototype for which was the Church of John Chrysostom in Korovniki. The most significant donations were made by the Yaroslavl merchant Ignatiy Kislov.
The newly rebuilt church was dedicated to the Orthodox holiday of the Origin (Wearing out) of the Honorable Trees of the Lord's Cross, which began to be celebrated from the 9th century in Constantinople, and from the end of the 14th century - already in Russian parishes, calling it the Honey (or First) Savior. However, the old name of the church - "to the City" has firmly entered into the everyday life of all the inhabitants of Yaroslavl and stuck with it for all times.
Two side-chapels were created in the church. From the south - consecrated in honor of Nicholas the Wonderworker. And in the north - dedicated to the First Martyr Archdeacon Stephen. This hip-roofed side-chapel with a small dome at the top was built in 1694 at the expense of the Yaroslavl merchant Ivan Kemsky and was used as a warm church.
View of the church from st. Postal
21 years after the opening, the temple was painted by an artel of 22 Yaroslavl masters, which was headed by the iconographers-flag-bearers Lavrenty Sevostyanov, nicknamed Bashka, and Fedor Fedorov, well-known far outside the city. The isographers worked on the frescoes for several summer weeks. A record of this was made in the chronicle on the southern wall of the temple. In the frescoes, divided into seven narrow tiers, the signs of the mature "Yaroslavl style" are easily guessed.
A description of the temple, made in 1781, has survived to this day. At that time it was covered with boards, and the five-domed roof was covered with green ceramic tiles. The floors inside the temple and its two side-chapels were brick. From the north and west, the church territory was surrounded by a brick wall. When in the 80-90s of the 18th century they began to carry out the planned regular building of city streets, by order of the Governor-General A.P. Melgunov dismantled this wall. In 1807, the brick floors were replaced with cast-iron slabs, and 9 years later the podzakomarny roof was converted to a four-pitched one.
In 1831, the second major overhaul took place in the church. The south aisle was redesigned in the classicism style, covering it with a dome. In addition, the porch on the south side was dismantled, a porch was attached to the temple from the west and the window openings of the main quadrangle were cut. At the same time, a rolling ceiling was made in the southern aisle and a new iconostasis was installed there. After that, the church was re-consecrated. Due to these alterations, which introduced an obvious stylistic dissonance, the temple was transformed and lost its appearance, which is typical for religious buildings of the 17th century.
In the middle of the 19th century, the dilapidated tiled roof was replaced with sheet metal and painted with bright copperhead. And in 1858, the temple frescoes were refurbished with oil paints.
In 1918, during the days of the White Guard uprising against the Soviet regime, the church suffered greatly from artillery shelling. Unfortunately, all buildings in the historical center of the city were damaged in one way or another. The hipped side-chapel was destroyed by about a third. The walls of the church chapel from the south had huge holes from through holes. And, among other things, the five-domes were significantly damaged.
View of the church from the south-west
The famous restorer and art critic Pyotr Dmitrievich Baranovsky was entrusted with restoring architectural monuments in the city. And it was thanks to his efforts that the ancient church frescoes were saved. Restoration work took place here in 1919-1920. and later - in 1925-1926. They were financed by money collected by parishioners.
After 8 years, the church was closed, and the city museum of local lore took it on the balance sheet. The club of water workers, the knitwear-textile union and the military-railway camp gathering were alternately located here. In 1930, when the Soviet government was actively fighting religion, the crosses were removed from the church.
In the mid-30s of the last century, the religious building was taken under protection by the state, and the Soyuzutil branch was made its tenants, and later - Yarobltorg, who used the received premises as a warehouse. And even in 1960, when the church was transferred to the balance of the city administration of culture, it was used as a place for storing books.
For all these years, no one followed the frescoes, and their condition deteriorated greatly. The building itself was no better. Deep cracks appeared on its walls, the roof was rusted and in places it was torn off, the iconostasis was absent, and inside the church there were several ugly partitions between the walls.
In the second half of the last century, the church was restored twice. From 1978 to 1981 - by the efforts of specialists from the Yaroslavl research and production restoration workshops, under the leadership of the architect S.E. Novikov. The restorers have restored the facades of the quadrangle, side-altars and the bell tower, put new gilded crosses on the domes, and also repaired the main cracks of the ancient temple. It is curious that during the restoration work in the masonry of the bell tower, the restorer M.F. Flegontov discovered an unexploded artillery shell that had been lying there since 1918. The second restoration took place in the early 1990s.
View of the church from the east
The temple was handed over to the believers only in 2003. After that, restoration and restoration work continued here for several more years.
Architecture and interior decoration of the Church of the Savior on the City
The four-pillar cross-domed temple has no basement and is not very large in size. It is crowned with five chapters supported by massive light drums. It is noteworthy that the central drum with a dome without a cross is equal to the height of the temple, which gives it monumentality. Initially, when the temple still had a podzakomar cover, this impression was even stronger.
A hipped-roof bell tower is attached to the church from the northwest. A low gallery is located between it and the tent-shaped chapel. The main decor is located on the northern, "festive" facade of the building, facing the shopping area. And the drums are even more luxuriously decorated than the walls.Also noteworthy are the elegant kokoshniks that surround the tent of the church side-altar.
The current state of the temple and the visiting regime
The church is active and open every day. Services begin at 8.30 and 16.00. The patronal feast is celebrated here on August 14th. The ancient fresco image of the Savior and the Great Silver Cross with particles of the relics of the saints are considered especially revered shrines.
The church has Sunday schools for adults and children. New bells were gradually installed on the bell tower since the mid-2000s. The largest of them weighs 1600 kg.
View of the south facade of the church
How to get to the Church of the Savior on the City
The church is located in Yaroslavl near the Korotosl embankment, on Pochtovaya street, 3.
By car. The federal highway M8 leads from Moscow to Yaroslavl. Within the city limits, it is called Moskovsky Prospekt. You need to cross the Korotosl River along it, and after the automobile bridge, turn right onto the Korotosl embankment, which leads to the Church of the Savior in the City.
By train. From Moscow to Yaroslavl, express train trains reach in 3 hours 16 minutes. The journey by regular train takes from 4 to 5.5 hours. From Moskovsky railway station in Yaroslavl, the distance to the Church of the Savior on the City is 3 km. You can walk to it, as well as drive up by bus or minibus.
