Nizhny Novgorod. Christmas Church: address, description and photo

Among the variety of architectural monuments of temple architecture, with which Nizhny Novgorod is so glorious, the Christmas Church occupies a very special place. Built in the Stroganov style, combining elements of magnificent Moscow baroque with a traditional Russian five-headed silhouette, it looks like a precious carved casket, nailed to the shore by the Volga wave.

The child of Grigory Stroganov

The church was founded in 1696, but its construction stretched exactly for a quarter of a century. The reasons for this were also covered in court intrigues of that time, and in fires, of which Nizhny Novgorod had been a victim several times. The Christmas Church, as it follows from historical materials, was built on the instructions and funds of the largest industrialist, financier and politician of the Petrine era - Grigoriy Dmitrievich Stroganov. This, incidentally, was the reason that, in addition to the official name, it was followed by one more - Stroganovskaya.

During his life the eminent nobleman built several temples, and all of them were executed in a characteristic style, later named after him. His next child on the Volga bank Stroganov laid in two years after the completion of the previous church, built in the same city and consecrated in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God.

Tsar's disgrace

Grigory Dmitrievich was steep and arrogant, he dared to contradict the Tsar Peter I, whose army was financed during the Northern War. But, apparently, he did not comprehend fully the character of the autocrat - he fell into disgrace. The Tsar's disgrace also affected his recent construction. In 1719, after endless delays and ordeals, the Christmas Church in Nizhny Novgorod was finally finished and consecrated, but the service in it lasted no more than three years.

In 1722 Peter I visited the city on the Volga and, having learned from whose bounties it was built and whose name it was named, ordered it to be immediately closed, sealed and the services in it not renewed. The old grievances caused to him by the Stroganov family were remembered by the Tsar and he poured out his anger at the church that ascended to the sky as a symbol of the inviolability of this ancient family name.

There is a legend telling that as an excuse for closing the church, Peter I used knowingly false testimony of his court painter Louis Karavak, who testified that the Christmas Church allegedly kept icons painted for the Peter and Paul Cathedral of the capital and stolen from there. It is doubtful this version - not that the sovereign was Peter, to seek excuses for his actions. He chopped hundreds of heads without any reason, and so closing the church for him was a matter of little. With that, he left Nizhny Novgorod. The Christmas Church stood there for three years.

The next century

Her doors were reopened only after the death of the emperor, which followed in 1725. All XVIII century after that, she peacefully stood on the bank of the Volga. Ranged around the ringing of her bells, collecting pious parishioners for a prayer for the salvation of their souls and the gift of many years to the next royal crown.

At the beginning of the new, 19th century, the next Stroganov, this time Alexander Sergeevich - a member of the State Council and president of the Academy of Arts, - carried out major repairs. He commissioned in 1820, the capital architects AA Betancourt and IE Efimov to strengthen its foundation, bringing a solid wall built of bricks decayed and dismantled Christmas Church, located nearby. It should be noted that Stroganov's offspring received from her not only building materials, but also a name, which from that time it began to be called Nizhny Novgorod. The Christmas Church - this name has come down to our days.

"The Leaning Tower of Pisa" on the Volga

In the early sixties it was noticed that the church bell tower, which stood a little further and was connected to the main building by a covered passage, began to gradually bend over. Subsequent observations, conducted for twenty years, showed that this process does not stop, and the upper part of the building shifted from the axis by more than a meter. Nizhny Novgorod, it may have been flattering to have its Leaning Tower, but the fear of collapse prevailed, and in 1880 the bell tower was completely rebuilt.

On the eve of the jubilee of the reigning dynasty

At the beginning of the twentieth century, it became evident that the church needed serious restoration work. In addition to the fact that the window frames deteriorated from time to time, the iconostasis, which was rightly considered an outstanding example of artistic carving, was significantly destroyed. From him began to fall off whole fragments, which, for want of a different method, they tried to fasten with nails and ropes. To save a unique work of art from complete destruction, significant funds were required that Novgorod could not collect.

The Christmas church was visited by many eminent city merchants, and, despite the fact that their contributions did not cover all expenses related to restoration, they managed to reach rich people from other cities of Russia through them. In many respects the success was facilitated by the fact that the celebration of the three hundredth anniversary of the House of Romanovs was approaching, and the arrival of the sovereign in the city was expected.

The temple on the eve of the revolution

In this regard, the main organizer of the work - the rector of the church, Protopriest Nikolai (Tsvetaev) - was able to appeal not only to the religious feelings of potential investors, but also to loyalty to the debt. This had an effect, and all works were completed for the highest visit.

The temple acquired a view, generally preserved to this day. It is based on the four-headed, crowned with five chapters, oriented to the sides of the world. The domes, formerly green, were decorated in the same way as it was made at the Moscow church of St. Basil the Blessed. Outside and inside the building is richly decorated with white stone carvings, decorating windows, columns and portals of entrances. The bell-tower adjoining the church is decorated with clocks and a weathercock that completes it.

On the brink of destruction

The persecution of the church, which followed the Bolsheviks' rise to power, was also swept away by Nizhny Novgorod. The Christmas church, whose history in these years is similar to the fate of many Orthodox churches in Russia, was closed and, in accordance with the order of the authorities, was subject to demolition.

Only the self-sacrificing actions of her father's abbot Sergiy (Veysov) helped to prevent the catastrophe. He literally delivered lectures to officials, talking about the artistic merits of the church, which is a unique example of the temple construction of the Stroganov baroque.

His works were crowned with success, and the church was saved. They did not even try to re-equip it for a warehouse or a machine-tractor workshop, as it was often done in those years. It created a museum of religion and atheism. Perhaps it seemed to the Bolsheviks that it was very witty to place anti-religious expositions in God's temple, or maybe they took an example from their St. Petersburg colleagues who created a similar museum in the premises of the cathedral's main cathedral in the city.

Recovered justice

To its parishioners the church was returned in the early nineties, and after a decade it was done, as it was fashionable to say, European-quality repair. Experts believe that the temple was caused significant damage, as the thoughtless use of modern technologies, in their opinion, distorted its historical appearance, so familiar to all who had previously visited Nizhny Novgorod.

Christmas Church, the photo of which is presented in the article, nevertheless, remains adorned with the decoration of the city, part of whose history it is. In addition, it is a major religious center, in which serious work is carried out to revive the traditional spiritual values of the people. This landmark is rightfully proud of Nizhny Novgorod.

Christmas Church: where and how to get there

Today, like in previous years, it is full of parishioners, pilgrims and just tourists who want to see the famous masterpiece of Stroganov's Baroque. Here you can meet local residents, and those who only occasionally visit Nizhny Novgorod. Christmas Church, whose address: st. Christmas, 34, opens its doors to everyone, and the grace of its holy places is poured out on all. You can get to it by any kind of public transport, next to the river station.

It is interesting to note that a collection of icons that were in the church in 2008 was supplemented by another one, which was personally handed over by Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. It was the icon "The Resurrection of the Lord," stolen in 2002 and later acquired by a private collector. Fortunately, he turned out to be a decent man and, despite the fact that he lived abroad, seeing it in the catalog of stolen works of art, considered it his duty to return to the rightful owners. Since that time, the place of her constant stay was the Christmas Church in Nizhny Novgorod. Photo of the icon "The Resurrection of the Lord" completes the article.