Near Moscow region Podolsk there is a church that strikes on the spot. Historical patterns hammered into the school do not allow you to believe your eyes. Nevertheless, the church stands and it is quite possible to feel it to make sure that it is not an optical illusion.
But what is this temple?
The official certificate chews porridge and cannot say anything intelligible.
And the temple is extremely curious and mysterious.
Architecture. It is considered atypical for these places. Historians, as usual, blamed everything on the whim of the customer and on the Masons, they cannot think of any other, more plausible explanation.
The temple is a 4-pointed cross with a tower in the middle. It honestly resembles a phallic symbol. The temple is decorated with many statues and high reliefs.
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According to the official history, the temple was consecrated in 1704, at the height of the war with the Swedes. Those. Golitsyn, to please Peter I, builds a church in the Catholic style, the style of a military enemy! Golitsyn was not accused of treason, was not sent to the scaffold, everything suited everyone. True, Patriarch Andrian refused to consecrate the temple. I think that this fact was invented to emphasize the attitude of the church to such an unusual building. They say, we resisted as best we could, and it is not our fault that the Jesuit and Pole Stefan Yavorsky still consecrated the temple according to the Orthodox tradition.
19th century engraving. Temple after renovation in the middle of the 19th century.
On a cursory examination of the church, its chamber size is striking. Golitsyn builds a church, not a house, but for the parish, but makes it small. What kind of church is this that can accommodate no more than 50 people ?!
Ceiling. The windows above the altar are laid.
Strange sculptures. The child is not kept like that. What the man was holding in his hands, we do not know.
The baby's head should be supported by the mother's elbow. Try to keep the child like that! Will not work! Only a bouquet of flowers can be kept this way.
If the church was originally planned as an Orthodox church, why did they not think over the altar? As we know from official history, churches with an altar in Russia have been built since the 10th century, from the moment of baptism.
Initially, the altar in the Temple of the Sign was not provided. One of the 4 doors, where the altar is located, is laid. But with the naked eye you can see that there was a door there, and an entrance was planned, otherwise it is completely strange to make steps leading to a blank wall.
By the way, the windows on the tower from the side of the altar are also blocked.
Blocked windows and vera from the side of the altar. View from the observation deck.
The temple is built of white stone, and the crown-shaped pommel is made of metal. The crown looks like an alien handicraft element among the stone fairy tale. Most likely, it was hoisted much later.
In the 19th century, the temple was again rebuilt and re-illuminated. Patriarch Filaret especially emphasized that the uniqueness of the temple is nothing more than an attempt by Peter to give Russia a new image.
Oh, this Peter! His admiration for the West can be attributed to any fact that beats out the templates of an invented story! Convenient, isn't it?
Who is it? Go guess
Who's that?
The white-stone temple is replete with an abundance of sculptures. Of course, they all bear the names of Orthodox saints. How it was determined that it was this or that saint is not clear. Many sculptures lack heads and arms, as do many antique statues. The statues are unusual; you can feel their energy of the past civilization.
At the entrance to the church.
The temple stands on a hill at the confluence of two rivers, the Desna and Pakhra. Having visited this place, I remembered the famous arrow of Yaroslavl, the place where, according to legend, stood the fortress of the city. And what if in Dubrovitsy there was a Kremlin, or a fortress-star in this place? The landscape is very reminiscent of Yaroslavl: both the temple on the upper tier, and the lower tier, the cape, where local festivals are now being held.
* Arrow * at the foot of the temple.
Place of confluence of Pakhra and Desna.
There is a pyramid at the temple. According to the official version, this is a mound above the ashes of the Dubrovites who died in the war of 1812.
Now there is an observation deck, and until the 1930s. from there were conducted memorial services for the dead soldiers. As for me, this is some kind of blasphemy: to arrange a site on a mass grave. Or is it still not a grave?
Observation deck over the mound.
Mounds in Podolsk.
The manor complex of Prince Golitsyn was built, in contrast to the temple, in the classical style. They say that the late owners of the estate converted the baroque style to the classics. I think that the owners of the estate, whoever they were, came here with everything ready and rebuilt and renovated for themselves.
The estate of Prince Golitsyn.
Thus, as elsewhere, the grandiose structure of the past civilization was turned into an Orthodox church and hung with cheery cranberries about Prince Golitsyn and Peter 1.
However, nothing new.