The Church of the Intercession in Fili was erected in the early 1690s on the territory of the country estate of the boyar L. K. Naryshkin. The temple consists of two parts. The first of them - the Church of the Intercession - is considered the lower one, and the second - the Savior Not Made by Hands - is called the upper one. This beautiful temple was recognized as a masterpiece of the unique Naryshkin style. This architectural monument belongs to the early Peter the Great time. The Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands looks the same as during construction. Its unique interiors with icons by Kirill Ulanov and Karp Zolotarev miraculously survived and survived to this day.
Wooden Church
The very first church with a chapel of the Conception of St. Anna, built in Fili, was wooden. Documents have been preserved in which it is written that the church was built in 1619. At that time, these lands belonged to Prince Mstislavsky. Interestingly, the Church of the Intercession in Fili appeared due to an important event associated with the Time of Troubles. In the autumn of 1618, hetman Sahaidachny, together with the Polish prince Vladislav, tried to storm the walls of Moscow. Russian troops managed to repulse all enemy attacks. This is greatthe event was the end of the turmoil and ruin of the Muscovite state.
The defenders of the city saw in this some special patronage of the Virgin. And in honor of her decided to build several temples. These are Intercession Churches in Medvedkovo, Rubtsovo, Fili and Izmailovo.
Construction of the estate
In 1689, the land on which the village of Fili was located was transferred to the boyar Naryshkin Lev Kirillovich. He was the uncle of Tsar Peter I. The new owner immediately began the arrangement of his new possessions. At the very beginning, he built a solid house with a tower and a clock on it, then various outbuildings: m alting, stables and cattle yards. The estate had a large orchard and a beautiful park with terraces. In addition, there were also several cascading ponds made using the latest technologies of the time.
Legend
But the most important construction that Naryshkin took up was the church in Fili. The legend says that its construction history is closely connected with the events that took place during the Streltsy revolt in 1682. Then the older brothers of Naryshkin, Athanasius and Ivan, were killed by the archers. The youngest, Lev Kirillovich, miraculously managed to escape. Then he swore that if he survived, he would definitely erect a temple in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos and in memory of his dead brothers.
It's been 7 years since he was rescued. Having received new lands, he did not forget about his promise. Naryshkin founded a new stone church of the Intercession of the Virgin.
Stone temple
As you know, on the territoryThe estate already had the Church of the Intercession, so the lower (winter) church was consecrated in honor of this holy holiday. It should be noted that the exact date of construction is unknown, since all the documents burned down in a fire in 1712. The Church of the Intercession in Fili, whose style was ideal for a house church, had a presentable, solemn and elegant appearance. The luxury of the Naryshkin building was supposed to show the nobility, generosity and we alth of its owner, as well as all the virtues that were inherent in him.
Unique style
I must say that the bright and original style, which arose at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries and subsequently became the leading one in Russian architectural art, was called Naryshkin precisely because of the Filevka church.
Such buildings were very expensive, so only the richest nobles could afford their construction. It should be noted that the name of the style is rather conditional. Yes, the Church of the Intercession in Fili is largely connected with this fact, but besides it, other architectural monuments were erected, built by representatives of the Naryshkin family.
Temple Decoration
Since the family of the owner of the estate was closest to the royal house, the glorification of the dynasty of Tsar Peter I could not but be reflected in both the external and internal decoration of the church itself. The most striking confirmation of this are the crosses located on the eastern and western sides of the temple. They are crowned with double-headed eagles - a symbol of statehood, and a small balcony on the western side is called the royallodge.
All this became possible due to the fact that the Naryshkins personally participated in the decoration of the new stone church. In addition, Tsar Peter I also had a hand in this. By his order, he allocated from the treasury 4 hundred chervonets with gold to decorate the church. As the legend says, the tsar himself sometimes came to Fili, but never occupied the box reserved for him, but was on the kliros, where the choristers sang.
In 1705, the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin in Fili was decorated with beautiful trophy stained-glass windows with colored glass. They were brought by Naryshkin himself from Narva, conquered by Peter the Great. They were decorated with images of floral ornaments, scenes from biblical life, as well as fanciful knightly coats of arms.
Updates
For more than three centuries of existence, the appearance of the Filyovskaya church has repeatedly undergone changes. Unique drawings of this architectural monument dated to the end of the 18th century were found in the archives. Thanks to them, it turned out that the stairs, originally built, were redone during the restoration work carried out in the church under the leadership of Kazakov M. F. But in the upper church, window sills made of artificial marble were preserved in their original form.
The impact of wars
The Patriotic War of 1812 was devastating for the temple. It was ruthlessly looted by French soldiers. The Great Patriotic War also brought great damage. Surely many have seen photos of churches and temples,bombed.
Restoration work was very slow and intermittent for 25 years (1955-1980). The architects Ilyenko I. V. and Mikhailovsky E. V. made a great contribution to the rescue of the unique monument.
Restoration
The first step was to restore the facade of the building. The domes and crosses, the white-stone coating and decoration were restored. We can say that it was on this church that the technique was worked out, according to which all the architectural structures of the Naryshkin style were subsequently restored.
Until now, no one knows what color the walls of the building were originally. It is a pity that at that time it was still impossible to take photos of churches and temples. And now we can only guess. It can be assumed that the walls could be the same as those of the Trinity Church located in Trinity-Lykovo. It was built at the same time as the Church of the Intercession in Fili by the younger brother of Lev Kirillovich Naryshkin - Martemyan. The walls in this temple are painted with an asp imitating marble. The very first painting that was found on the Filevskaya church dates back to the 18th century. Then she had a blue-blue color.
The next stage of restoration work began at the very beginning of the 70s of the last century. The temple was transferred to the Central Museum, which specialized in ancient Russian art. Now the main goal was to recreate the interior. There was no original decoration left in the Church of the Intercession, so the decor of the 18th-19th centuries had to be restored literally from scratch.
The work was not carried outonly in the lower, but also in the upper temple. Most of the effort was spent on restoring the unique carvings that adorned the iconostasis, as well as choirs, icon cases and the royal box.
At first, the interiors of the lower and upper churches were not painted. The only exception was the vault of the Church of the Savior. They restored the painting depicting the New Testament Trinity with nine angels. And in the upper temple, a later painting dating back to the 19th century was left.
Thanks to the painstaking and long-term hard work of many restorers and architects, the church has found a second life. They managed to preserve a truly magnificent monument of the Naryshkin style and recreate the original appearance of the temple.
