Among the variety of historical monuments of the capital, a special place is occupied by the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity, located in Trinity-Lykovo ─ an area located in the western part of the city. This amazing masterpiece of temple architecture was recognized by the League of Nations as an architectural monument of world importance in 1935.
Good undertaking boyar Martimyan Naryshkin
Trinity-Lykovo got its name due to the fact that earlier in its place was the palace village of Troitskoye, which Vasily Shuisky, then reigning, granted in 1610 to one of his entourage ─ Prince Boris Mikhailovich Lykov-Obolensky. In 1690, the village became the property of another noble Moscow family, the Naryshkins, who were related to the new sovereign Peter I. By order of the head of this family, boyar Martimyan, a church was built in Trinity-Lykovo. It was made in the style known as the Naryshkin baroque and was a true masterpiece of Russian temple architecture.
The authorship of the project of the temple in Trinity-Lykovo is traditionally attributed to the famous Russian architect YakovGrigoryevich Bukhvostov, although, according to the researchers, there is no hard evidence for this. The only reason for such a statement can only be the architectural similarity of this building with the generally recognized works of the master, who, by the way, was the founder of the Naryshkin baroque style, which was very common in Russian architecture of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
The appearance of the new temple
The place chosen near the Moskva River, by the way, already high, was raised due to an artificial bulk hill, thanks to which the church became clearly visible from all sides. It is placed on a wide basement, which is the lower, utility floor of the building and is surrounded by an exquisite balustrade (low stone fence).
The overall architectural composition of the church in Trinity-Lykovo does not go beyond the tradition established at that time. It is a quadrangle quite often found in buildings of this type, built on top with an additional floor, which has an octagonal plan.
Above it, in turn, there is another, narrower tier, cut through by vertical chime windows, inside of which bells are placed. The crown of the whole structure is a richly decorated drum with one cupola. Thus, the temple in the Trinity-Lykovo is a typical example of a tiered-pyramidal composition, which is usually called the "octagon on the quadrangle".
Bells and decorative facades
One more, very characteristic definition fully fits him ─"Church under the bells". So in the old days temple buildings were called, where the bells were placed not in a separately built bell tower, but on one of the upper tiers of the main building. On the western side of the main volume, an altar part was erected, and on the eastern side, symmetrically to it, there is a vestibule. Both of these extensions are crowned with domes mounted on two-tiered drums.
Special attention deserves the decoration of the facades of the building, covered with voluminous white stone decorations. Their undoubted advantage is window casings, individual for each of the tiers. Forged doors and shutters in the old days were richly decorated with picturesque floral ornaments, which also gave the general appearance of the building refinement and magnificence. Records have been preserved, according to which the masters of the Kremlin Armory, brothers Boris and Alexei Maerov, worked on the gilding of the crosses that crowned the domes of the church in Trinity-Lykovo.
The splendor of the interior of the temple
The interior of the church was in no way inferior to its exterior design and was just as luxurious. According to contemporaries, a high nine-tiered iconostasis, richly decorated with gilded carvings depicting intertwining vines, as well as outlandish fruits and plants, was a true masterpiece of applied art.
Bunk choirs were placed on the southern and northern walls of the temple, and from the upper tiers it was possible to get into that part of the building where the bells were placed. The center of the composition that made up the interior decoration wasthe royal place, located on the western wall of the room and representing an exquisitely decorated lantern topped with a three-dimensional image of the royal crown.
To top it off, the walls of the room were so skillfully painted in marble that visitors did not even think about imitating this noble material. Despite the fact that a significant part of the elements of the external and internal decoration of the temple has not survived to this day, it occupies one of the leading places among the architectural monuments of Moscow.
Strikes of Fate
During the Napoleonic invasion, the temple was plundered by the French. Everything that, in their opinion, was of material value was stolen from it, and the building itself was set on fire. So after the invaders were expelled from Moscow, the burned-out church in Troitse-Lykovo had to be restored from the ashes, which was done over the next few years.
The next heavy blow to God's temple was the October 1917 armed coup. The new authorities treated his property in almost the same way as the Napoleonic soldiers once did, that is, they once again plundered everything that was possible, but, unlike many other Moscow shrines, they did not destroy the building itself. Nevertheless, in 1933, the parish of the temple was abolished, and services in it ceased.
Returning the temple to its historical appearance
Despite their extremely negative attitude towards religion, the city authorities gave the temple the status of a state-protected monument of architecture in Moscow and in 1941year were going to start its restoration. However, during that period, only the necessary measurements were made, since the war prevented further work.
Only in the period of the 60s and 70s, finally, they began the full scope of restoration work. However, the true revival of the religious building should be attributed to the period of perestroika, when sufficient funds were allocated to carry out the necessary work. Thanks to state subsidies and donations from private individuals, this outstanding Naryshkin baroque monument has been restored to its original appearance.
Today the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Trinity-Lykovo, located at the address: Moscow, Odintsovskaya st., 24, as in previous years, strikes the eye with the extraordinary harmony of its outlines and the magnificence of decorative decoration.
