The first mention of a wooden church in honor of the Archangel Gabriel in Moscow (now the Menshikov Tower) date back to 1551. It was rebuilt in stone by 1657, and 22 years later (in 1679) it was noticeably expanded.
At the end of the seventeenth century, Alexander Menshikov, an associate of Tsar Peter I, acquired a manor in this area, located on Myasnitskaya street in place of the current main post office.
The close location of the Church of the Archangel Gabriel to the farmstead of the eminent neighbor contributed to the fact that Alexander Menshikov became a parishioner of this church.
In 1701, he allocated money for the repair of the religious building, but already in 1704 he ordered its complete demolition.
Photo 1. Menshikov tower in an old photo
Church of the Archangel Gabriel in Moscow - new building
The construction of the new Church of the Archangel Gabriel (Menshikov Tower) was entrusted to Ivan Zarudny and his subordinate, the European master Domenico Trezzini. True, the latter was sent to St. Petersburg six months later.
In 1706, Alexander Menshikov donated the icon of the Mother of God of Polotsk to the temple. The prince brought the Icon from near Kalishcha, from the place of his victorious battle. According to legend, this Image of the Mother of God belonged to the famous evangelist Luke.
Photo 2. The spire of the Church of the Archangel Gabriel in Moscow
The icon survived the great fire of 1723, and moved to St. Petersburg in 1726 to the new house church of Menshikov on Vasilyevsky Island, but disappeared without a trace in 1727 after the resignation of the prince.
By 1707 the Temple (Menshikov Tower) was structurally completed. The height of the building with the spire was 81 meters, which exceeded the height bell towers of Ivan the Great in the Kremlin by three meters. This caused discontent among the native Muscovites, who did not particularly love Alexander Danilovich.
In 1708, a clock mechanism and 50 bells were purchased for the tower ( chimes chimed every quarter hour, half hour and hour, and at noon a melody sounded from all the bells). The spire was crowned with a weather vane in the form of an angel, and the walls of the temple were decorated with skillfully executed decorative stucco, lost during the 18th century.
Photo 3. The rich decoration of the Church of the Archangel Gabriel
After Menshikov left for St. Petersburg, funding for the Temple (Menshikov Tower) ceased. He began to deteriorate rapidly. Ivan Zarudny warned the prince about the possible consequences of the devastation, but Alexander Danilovich had already lost interest in his offspring.
In 1723, a great fire broke out in the Temple of the Archangel Gabriel.
On June 14, on the day of the funeral of the priest, who died the day before during the evening prayer within the walls of the Temple, a thunderstorm came and lightning struck right on the cross. The dome of the structure caught fire first. Then the fire engulfed the wooden truss, which caused the domes attached there to begin to crumble and break the vaults of the church. Many people who tried to take out various valuables from the building engulfed in fire died in this element.
No money was allocated for restoration, and the Temple (Menshikov Tower) stood in a ruined state until 1773.
Photo 4. Stucco molding at the entrance to the religious building
It was in this year that Gavriil Izmailov, who was a member of the Masonic Lodge of the Pedagogical Seminary, the so-called. Martinists.
Based on this, the temple acquired special features and its current appearance: the dome was designed in the form of a helical candle, the upper octagon was replaced with a baroque dome, the sculptures at the corners of the lower octagon were replaced with vases.
In addition, the outer and inner walls of the Temple were decorated with Masonic inscriptions, symbols and emblems, which were dismantled only in 1852 on the instructions of Metropolitan Filaret.
Photo 5. memorial plaque on the Menshikov Tower.
In 1792, a post office was located in the building of the estate of Alexander Menshikov, to which the Menshikov Tower was also assigned. Until the end of the nineteenth century, the church was considered departmental and was called the Temple of the Archangel Gabriel at the Post Office. Only because of the lack of money from the postal department for the maintenance of the church, it became a parish.
Temple closed for worship in the 30s of the twentieth century, during the Soviet era.
In 1945, at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, it was decided to restore the Antioch Compound. This was due to the arrival at the Cathedral of Alexander III, His Majesty the Patriarch of Antioch. The opening of the courtyard at the Temple of the Archangel Gabriel took place on July 17, 1948.
The shrines of the temple are the icons of Our Lady of the Blessed Sky and the Archangel Gabriel, framed with a silver robe.
Menshikov Tower (Temple of the Archangel Gabriel) is located at the address: Moscow, Arkhangelsky lane, 15A (metro station "Chistye Prudy").
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The first mention of the temple, consecrated in honor of the Archangel Gabriel, is found in chronicles since 1551. Its location was the Myasnitskaya Sloboda, hence the name - the Church of the Archangel Gabriel in Myasniki. But there was another Moscow geographical definition that tied the temple to its location - the temple of Gabriel the Great at Pogany Ponds. Until 1639, the church was built of stone, expanded and renovated thanks to the care of the abbots of the temple and thanks to numerous donations from wealthy laity. Later, the name of the settlement changed, and the places began to be called Gavriilovskaya Sloboda, after the name of the temple. The pretext for the new construction was the fact that Menshikov in 1704 from another military expedition brought an old icon bought in Polotsk Holy Mother of God attributed, according to legend, to the apostle Luke himself (this was confirmed by the Greek inscription on the image). Naturally, for such a shrine, a temple worthy of it was required. That is why exactly one year after the repair, the Gavriilovsky church was destroyed to the ground and a new one was erected on its foundation. The construction of the new Church of the Archangel Gabriel (Menshikov Tower) was entrusted to Ivan Zarudny and his subordinate, the European master Domenico Trezzini. 02 Tower diagram The grandiose building was erected at a truly Peter's pace; construction began in 1704 and completed in 1707. The architect Zarudny designed and built the temple according to the ancient type "under the bells", when the church and the bell tower are combined in one volume - a bell tower of six steps, crowned with a thirty-meter spire, soared up above the temple. The top two tiers were built of wood, on the penultimate tier fifty ringing bells with a clear sound were hung. Wanting to make a splash, Menshikov ordered a large watch from abroad. They were installed below the bells. The temple came out marvelous, such as has never happened in Moscow before. As soon as the construction of the temple was completed, it was immediately called the “Menshikov tower”. The church turned out to be high, about 81 meters high, which is three meters higher than the height of the bell tower of Ivan the Great. A special sign of the newly built church of the Archangel Gabriel (Menshikov tower) was the thirty-meter spire crowning the bell tower. The spire was crowned with a weather vane in the form of an angel. In Moscow, there was a ban on the construction of bell towers, surpassing Ivan the Great in height. In the Petrine era, this prohibition was violated by Menshikov. It is clear that there is no need to talk about Menshikov's arbitrariness, and the fact that the construction was entrusted to the second person in the state testifies to the importance of the object. The Menshikov Tower was located between the Kremlin and the German Quarter on the Yauza. Many close friends of the tsar, his assistants and associates lived in the German Quarter. These foreigners had many enemies - primarily among those service people who did not like the new order and who were threatened with the loss of posts and position in society. The government could not ignore the fact that, on occasion, the rebels could raise the Moscow people against the German Quarter. If the crowd came to smash the German Quarter, it would be necessary to report this to the Kremlin as soon as possible in order to get help. The "Menshikov Tower" was supposed to serve as a transmission link for signals from the German settlement. It is not known whether the Kremlin received alarm signals, but there were persistent rumors among the people (as Moscow local historians write) that the tower was built for communications between the Kremlin and Kukuy. At the same time, it is believed that a messenger service was created to duplicate important signals. Apparently, it is no coincidence that already in the 19th century the first Moscow Post Office appeared in the same quarter: conditions for the organization of mail have long existed here. The entire design of the temple was unique, especially for those years: numerous ornaments covered the walls of the church - bouquets, vases, fruits. External and internal decoration was made in the spirit of Peter the Great Baroque, which will manifest itself in full force in the new capital of St. Petersburg, but a little later. No one, except Zarudny, could at that time create a temple that simultaneously belonged to two eras: on the one hand, entirely sustained in ancient Russian traditions, on the other, already saturated with the spirit of Peter's innovations. Never before had there been such an abundance of sculptural elements on the walls of Moscow churches; especially charming are numerous cherubs, which later became an integral element of the Russian baroque. In addition, inside, in the choir stalls, Zarudny placed four figures of caryatids with bare shoulders. 03
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In general, the appearance of the Church of the Archangel Gabriel is not so much traditionally spiritual as secular. But the prince was not destined to finish what he started to the end. In 1710, according to the order of Peter I, the capital was transferred to St. Petersburg, and the favorite had to urgently leave Moscow. The Church of the Archangel Gabriel (Menshikov Tower) was never fully finished. For many years, the temple was dilapidated, the architect Zarudny wrote letters to the prince about the state of the church, where he indicated that the rafters were rotten, the clockwork was not working, and desolation hovered in the room.
Photo from here
The pinnacle of the architecture of the time of Peter the Great, without any doubt, is the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg with the famous spire, which is crowned by a soaring angel. However, the first attempt to create something similar was made in Moscow. This, of course, is the Menshikov Tower. The words of the outstanding artist and art critic I.E. Grabar: “Russian architecture of the 18th century, the history of which is described from the founding of St. Petersburg, actually originated in its essential features not on the banks of the Neva, but in Moscow.” As one of the proofs of his correctness, he cites precisely the fact that the Peter and Paul Cathedral was built on the model of a grandiose structure that had already adorned the old capital. It should be noted that the chief architect of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg was Domenico Trezzini, who at one time, together with Ivan Zarudny, built the Church of the Archangel Gabriel in Moscow.
05 Petersburg. The bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, modern photo. Moscow. Church of the Archangel Michael, original appearance. Reconstruction of K.K. Lopyalo
In 1723, a fire broke out in the temple, lightning struck right into the spire. The flames flared up quickly and spread from the upper wooden tiers. Burnt oak bracings collapsed and fell into the building. The icon of the Most Holy Theotokos survived the fire. In 1726, it was transferred to St. Petersburg, to the Menshikov house church on Vasilyevsky Island, but in 1727 the prince was exiled, and the icon disappeared ...
After the death of Peter I, His Serene Highness Prince Menshikov fell into disfavor. He was sent into exile, the Menshikov Tower in Moscow fell into complete disrepair.
Fifty years later, in 1773, Gavrila Izmailov, an influential Moscow nobleman, decided to restore the church. The appearance of the church was not completely restored. Only the stone four tiers were restored, now the Menshikov Tower was crowned with a tall gilded cone.
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According to rumors that disturbed Moscow, secret meetings and services of Masons were held in the temple. An indirect confirmation of this was the signs and symbols that appeared on the walls of the church, by order of the generous patron Izmailov, belonging to the Masonic Order.
When the Masons were convicted of treason to the Motherland and many were imprisoned, the meetings stopped, but the symbols, inscriptions and signs flaunted on the walls of the building for a long time.
In 1792, a post office was located in the building of the estate of Alexander Menshikov, to which the Menshikov Tower was also assigned. The temple was rebuilt at the expense of the postal department and re-consecrated. The church came under the patronage of the Moscow Post in 1821, and at the same time it began to be called the Church of the Archangel Gabriel at the Post Office.
07 Church of the Archangel Gabriel (Menshikov Tower), 1881
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And now the building of the Moscow Post Office is located almost on the site of the former palace of Alexander Menshikov.
In the design of the temple, plot sculpture was used: Archangel Gabriel is depicted above the southern entrance, Archangel Michael is depicted above the northern one, and the composition “Ascension of the Lord” is depicted above the main western entrance.
09 South entrance. Image of Archangel Gabriel
10 Main western entrance. Composition "Ascension of the Lord".
11 North entrance. Image of Archangel Michael
The walls are decorated with white stone sculptural decor. The main, western façade with side volutes (spiraled curls with cupolas in the center) stands out in particular.
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The Church of the Archangel Gabriel on Chistye Prudy is a unique architectural monument, one of the first examples of Russian baroque
Sources
M.I. Vostryshev, S.Yu. Shokarev Orthodox Moscow All churches and chapels Moscow encyclopedias. Moscow: Algorithm, 2012
tonchu.org MENSHIKOV TOWER - V.I.Novikov
fb.ru Church of the Archangel Gabriel, Menshikov Tower
www.kulichki.com "Zanevsky chronicler". Towers and spiers
progulkipomoskve.ru Menshikov Tower - Church of the Archangel Gabriel in Moscow
www.bibliotekar.ru Towers and bell towers are not a whim of architects - Leonid Sheinin
kannelura.info Church of Michael the Archangel - "Menshikov Tower" in Moscow/Drawings of architectural monuments
STRANGE EVENT: 1723. On June 13, the priest of the Church of the Archangel Gabriel (Menshikov Tower), having served Vespers, sat down on the porch and fell down dead. The next day, when his body was carried to the temple for a funeral service, a small cloud hung right over the church. Thunder rumbled three times, and with its last stroke, lightning struck the cross and set fire to the dome.
FIRE: The fire in the Menshikov Tower (sometimes written as the Menshikov Tower) lasted two hours - they could not fill it because of the very high height of the tower. When the oak farm caught fire, the bells hanging on it began to break off, breaking through the church vaults as they fell. The top of the tower was completely burned down, and all 50 bells collapsed to the ground, crushing people who were saving church relics from the fire.
HISTORY OF THE TOWER: Until the beginning of the 18th century, a wooden church of the Archangel Gabriel stood on this site. It was first mentioned in 1551. Alexander Danilovich Menshikov in 1699 bought city estate overlooking Myasnitskaya Street. Prince Menshikov became a parishioner of the ancient church of the Archangel Gabriel, which stood on the border of his lands. In 1704, Alexander Danilovich ordered to break it down and build a modern church on the same spot. In addition, he ordered to clear the Filthy Ponds, after which the reservoir became known as Chistye Prudy. They built it for three years. Architect Zarudny. UNIQUENESS OF THE TOWER: The Menshikov tower exceeded the Ivan the Great bell tower by as much as three meters in height. It is generally accepted that Menshikov, whom the Muscovites did not like for his "artism", decided in this way to hurt the townspeople. After all, "Ivan the Great" for many years was considered a kind of symbol of Moscow, its beauty and pride. Initially, the tower ended with a high spire crowned with a weather vane in the form of a figure of a soaring angel with a cross in his hand. The top three tiers were through, there hung 50 bells. In 1708, a clock with chimes, bought in London for a huge amount of money, was placed on the tower. The chimes struck the hour, half an hour, and a quarter of an hour, and at noon all fifty tower bells began to ring. LEGENDARY ICON: In 1706, the troops under the command of Menshikov defeated the Swedes near Kalisz. From this campaign, he brought to Moscow a precious icon - the image of the Mother of God of Polotsk, painted, according to legend, by the Evangelist Luke himself and which became the decoration of the iconostasis of the Church of the Archangel Gabriel. The icon was not damaged during the fire, they managed to take it out. In 1726, seriously ill Menshikov demanded that the icon be brought to St. Petersburg. For some time she was there, in his home church on Vasilyevsky Island. But after Menshikov was sent into exile in 1727, the ancient icon disappeared. POSSIBLE CAUSE OF DEATH: Menshikov did not live long in the palace on Myasnitskaya. He was appointed governor of St. Petersburg. The Menshikov Tower began to deteriorate. The chiming clock has stopped. In 1721, the architect Zarudny wrote an alarming letter to the prince: “The roof is leaking, the iconostasis is unfinished and the people grumble that the church is in such desolation. The spire, the dome, and the whole wooden structure where the clock stands, is threatened by dampness and rot.” And in 1723 there was that fire. MASONS: After the fire of 1723, the church was destroyed for a long time. In 1787 the church was restored by Gavriil Izmailov. The temple turned out to be one tier lower, without bells and the famous spire. Then a helical dome appeared, resembling a burning candle. Gavriil Izmailov belonged to a lodge of Freemasons who called themselves Martinists. For the Pedagogical Seminary organized by the Masons, Izmailov restored the Church of the Archangel Gabriel, decorating it outside and inside with Masonic symbols and emblems with Latin inscriptions. When the Moscow Freemasons were caught in a secret connection with the Prussian court hostile to Russia, many Freemasons were arrested. However, the secret signs that adorned the walls of the Menshikov Tower survived for several more decades. Only in 1852 did Metropolitan Filaret order them to be destroyed as alien to Orthodoxy. And in the Menshikov Palace in 1792 the Moscow Post Office was placed. Now his building on Myasnitskaya Street stands exactly on the site of the former Menshikov Palace. In 1821, the Menshikov Tower was added to the postal department, which became known as the Church of the Archangel Gabriel at the Post Office. LOCATION: St. Metro station "Chistye Prudy"
The Church of the Archangel Gabriel was first mentioned in 1551 and was then called the Church of Gabriel the Archangel in Myasniki. In 1620, the temple was called "Gabriel the Great, on Pogany Pond"; it was the center of the Patriarchal Gavriil's settlement. In 1657, it was already listed as a stone one. A few years before the laying of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the church was rebuilt.
According to a long tradition, Muscovites call it the Menshikov Tower due to the fact that it stood in the possession of a friend and colleague of Peter I, Prince A.D. Menshikov, who bought an estate in 1699 inside the city near the Myasnitsky Gates. Menshikov ordered to clean the Pogany Pond, which since then was called Clean, and even in the plural, invited the architect Ivan Petrovich Zarudny to rebuild the three-tented Church of the Archangel Gabriel. Famous architects D. Trezzini, G. Pando, B. Scala, sculptors D. and J. Fontana, G. Quadro, C. Ferrara took part in the construction.
By its type, the Menshikov Tower is a traditional pillar-shaped temple in ancient Russian architecture. It consists of a "four" and successively decreasing upwards, placed one on top of the other "octagon", and crowned with a high thin spire with the figure of an angel and a cross at a height of 84 m. Kremlin (church-bell tower of John of the Ladder).
On the tower there was a clock with chimes, specially bought by Menshikov in England. Initially, this building was built according to the ancient type “like under the bells”, when the church and the bell tower are combined in one volume. Thinking about the construction, Zarudny crowned it with a high wooden spire. But in 1723 lightning struck the tower and burned the spire, the bells collapsed, breaking through the vaults. For many decades the church stood in ruins. The temple was restored only in 1773-1779. Freemason G.Z. Izmailov and from 1773 was used for Masonic meetings. During the completion of the tower, the upper wooden tier was not renewed, the height of the church decreased. The remaining two octagonal tiers were completed in 1773 with a spherical dome and a spire. White-stone figures of angels with tools of the Passion of Christ, which stood at the corners of the lower octahedral tier, were replaced by vases. In 1863, the building was restored as a temple, and with the blessing of Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, numerous Masonic symbols and sayings were removed from the walls. You can imagine how the bell tower looked originally, remembering appearance bell towers of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, because The Menshikov Tower is its prototype.
The magnificent sculptural decoration inside the temple is mainly from the 18th century, mainly in the vestibule and on the choir stalls (statues supporting the vault), where the upper temple was built. The plafond of the altar part is twined with sculptural garlands of fruits and flowers with 4 figures of angels standing on consoles in the corners of the vault. The painting of 1770-1780 has been preserved. The original iconostasis has not been preserved; after the demolition in 1968 of the Church of the Transfiguration near the Transfiguration Gate, its iconostasis was moved here. Thrones: Cathedral of the Archangel Gabriel and Great Martyr. Theodore Stratilates.
Between 1923 and 1947 the temple was closed. In 1947, the metochion of the Patriarchate of Antioch was located here and divine services were resumed.
