As it was in the past, in the 1950s…
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As it shall be in future, architectural plan of the new church…
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Russian soldiers with an icon from the old destroyed Church of the Transfiguration at the wooden veneration cross at the site of the old church on the feastday of the Transfiguration.
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NB:
“Preobrazhensky” in Russian derives from the name of the Feast of the Transfiguration… thus, one can see the play on words in the title!
BMD
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The project for the reconstruction of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration on Preobrazhensky Square in Moscow, demolished in 1964, languished for many years. By the standards of the capital, it isn’t very big, but now there’s real hope that it won’t turn into a protracted muddle. In 1997, residents of the area, some of whom retained a living memory of the former local parish and its rector, Metropolitan Nikolai Yarushevich of Krutitsy and Kolomna, together with urban historical preservationists formed a parish community. Then, there was a wooden veneration cross, which has annual prayers before it and a military parade with the banners of the former Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment on the feastday of the Transfiguration.
On Monday, 6 February, Archpriest Vladimir Volgin, rector of the future parish, spoke to reporters at a press conference, explained, “The proposal for the church’s reconstruction met many obstacles… we offered to build on a site a kilometre from the original site. In the end, we managed to convince the Preobrazhenskaya Raion authorities that we should restore the church in the same place, because it’s steeped in history”. Fr Vladimir said that despite the technical difficulties (the future site of the church is sandwiched between a busy road, tram tracks, and the Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchad Metro station, which leads to many not-so-minor engineering problems), the restoration of the historic Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord on Preobrazhensky Square is important both in terms of the history of Moscow in particular and for Russian history in general. He noted, “It was here that Tsar Pyotr Veliki laid the foundations of the Russian regular army and decided to set up a Russian navy, the ships were built nearby on the Yauza River. The first church on the site was the church of the Preobrazhensky Life-Guards Regiment. The wooden church was near the eastern edge of the Preobrazhensky Regiment’s barracks square in 1743. In 1781, a stone building replaced it”.
Until 1960, the church was open for services, it continued in operation. The authorities destroyed it under the pretext that the building was too close to the Metro station, but the real reason for its destruction was their desire to eradicate an Orthodox community. Fr Vladimir related that the church was just another victim of Khrushchyov’s persecution of the Church. However, for Muscovites, it’s very important to restore it now. Aleksandr Kibovsky, the head of the Moscow Municipal Department of Cultural Heritage agreed with Fr Vladimir, saying, “Today, only a few can remember why Preobrazhensky Square in Moscow is called that… because there’s nothing of the ‘Transfiguration’ left there. At one time, it was one of the most beautiful places in Moscow”.
Kibovsky called the destruction of the Transfiguration Church a vivid example of our radical and barbaric attitude to our cultural heritage. In his view, similar cases were the destruction of the Sukharev Tower and Red Gates in Moscow, and the “demolition of ancient churches of the 12th and 13th centuries in Byelorussia, which survived the bombing and devastation of the Great Patriotic War, only to end by being levelled to build, for instance, a terminus circle for trolleybuses. All the buildings in Preobrazhenskaya Raion {in relation to central Moscow, Preobrazhenskaya Raion is equivalent to Brooklyn as compared to Manhattan (or Stepney as compared to Knightsbridge, if you will), both geographically and soiologically: editor} are modern; none of them is particularly remarkable. If we rebuild the church, it’ll become not only the architectural centrepiece of the Raion, it’ll mark the restoration of its historical memory”. He also pointed up that when the Moscow government decided to re-establish the church in 2009, over the last two years his office carried on archaeological research. They studied the foundation in detail, and the well left after the explosion, a project unique in scale and significance. Kibovsky said, “Using the well and drawings preserved in the archives, it was possible to completely restore the entire layout of the site”.
The surviving historical foundation will become a museum; above it, will be an exact replica of the earlier church on a slab. Since the height of urban buildings has increased, this allows the cathedral to fit in amongst the taller buildings. In the resulting space, where the altar was previously located, will be a chapel dedicated to St Nicholas the Wonderworker. Igor Rusakomsky, the future parish’s starosta, one of the main supporters of the project, said, “This dedication is a tribute to the heavenly patron of the last rector of the church, Metropolitan Nikolai Yarushevich, who kept the candle of church life lit in a most difficult time”. In addition, the cathedral will have a baptismal chapel dedicated to Apostle St Andrew the First-Called. The ground floor will house the parish hall and a museum.
Kibovsky said, “Since they demolished the church in a hurry, we found many artefacts during the excavations there… parts of the church interior and fixtures, utensils, and military munitions”. All these items will form the basis of the church’s museum exhibit. Under the leadership of Moscow archaeologist Leonid Kondrashyov, the archaeological research team discovered the grave of the first soldier of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, which was on the cathedral property during the initial construction. Rusakomsky also spoke about the surviving relics of the cathedral. One of the main relics is an icon of the Transfiguration, donated to the parish by the soldiers in the time of Tsar Aleksandr II Nikolayevich, is now in the Church of the Resurrection in Sokolniki Raion in Moscow, and the iconostas is in the Church of the Archangel Gabriel. It won’t return to its former location; rather, a copy will grace the new church.
At this point, the designers and builders spent 24 million Roubles (797,000 USD. 604,000 Euros. 506,000 UK Pounds); they worked around Moscow’s numerous urban transport links and hammered piles. The main contractors, GUP Mosproekt-2 “M V Posokhin” (designer) and the NPO “Kosmos” (construction) are working without fees. At the end of 2012, preliminary work will be complete. Despite the fact that the cost of construction is high, and the project depends solely on donations, the project’s sponsors believe that the church will rise again in short order. Even recently, there were those who didn’t take the calls for the revival of this important monument of military glory seriously, even whilst building work was underway {that smells like a veiled jab at Yuri Luzhkov’s kleptocratic ways: editor}. In conclusion, Rusakomsky said, “If we raise the necessary funds, we’ll rebuild the church within three years. The total cost would be 600 million Roubles (19.94 million USD. 15.12 million Euros. 12.66 million UK Pounds)”.
7 February 2012
Anton Leontiev
Pravoslavie.ru
