St. Michael's altar in Kolomna appeared long ago, approximately in the mid 14th century.
By the 16th century, it turned into a complex of two temples: the Church of the Archangel Michael's Miracle at Chonae and St. Michael's Cathedral. By that time, a wooden wall of the Kolomna Kremlin had already had the Mihaelovskie Gates between Marinkina and Granovitaya towers. A settlement opposite the Gates was called Mikhaelovskaya Sloboda (later Arkhangelskaya Sloboda).
After the Times of Troubles, the temple went to rack and ruin. In 1700, parishioners helped to build a stone church dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel with the side chapel of Three Saints. The present stone Church of St. Michael the Archangel took on its current appearance after some parts of the previous stone temple were reconstructed.
In 1806, Kolomna merchants Roman, Avksenty, and Yakov Kolesnikovs donated money to rebuild and enlarge a refectory with side chapels dedicated to Our Lady of Kazan and Three Saints.
In 1828 to 1833, the same merchants together with brothers Vavila and Vasily Konstantinovs with the blessing of Metropolitan Philaret completely rebuilt the church. In a heated church, a high altar was consecrated in dedication to the Cathedral of St. Michael and Other Heavenly Host. In a refectory, altars were dedicated to Our Lady of Kazan and Three Saints as well as SS. Faith, Hope and Charity and their mother Sophia. The oldest element of the Church was a bell tower, which was destroyed down to the first tier during the Soviet times.
Construction of the temple was finished during the deanship of Priest Peter Sofroniev. In 1870, S. Petrov, Mayor of Kolomna, was a churchwarden.
The temple, built upon the project of a famous Moscow architect and academician F. Shestakov, was an outstanding piece of capital Empire style. It extends from west to east and is adorned with four-column galleries from south and north. The main part is crowned with a smart rotunda featuring an ornately shaped spire. The temple is especially beautiful if viewed from the Kolomenka River, when you enter the central part of the town.
In 1906, with financial support from the churchwarden and benefactor Ioann Postnikov a side chapel of St. Seraphim of Sarov was made in the refectory. Thus, by the early 20th century, a complex church with five altars appeared. Three altars — the central one dedicated to the Cathedral of St. Michael and two side altars of Our Lady of Kazan and Three Saints — were situated in the unheated part of the Church. While the other two — St. Seraphim of Sarov's and SS. Faith, Hope and Charity and their mother Sophia's — were in the heated refectory. It was the biggest and one of the richest temples in Kolomna.
The clergy of the Church included a priest, a deacon, and two psalm-readers. The Church owned a grocery.
On 22 October 1906, a head and religious teacher Priest Pankraty Miloslavin opened a church school. The Church bought a special building for the school and paid 5,500 roubles for it. It has survived till our days and is situated at the corner of Astrakhanskaya Street (178 Oktyabrskoi Revolutsii Street) and Arkhangelskaya Street (Granatnaya Street). The School had one 4-year class and was financed by parochial trusteeship. Citizens of Kolomna were especially interested in literary and vocal evenings, which were held by efforts of Father Pankraty Miloslavin. The programme usually consisted of 30 to 35 poems, fables (performed), and songs. Performances of students greatly impressed children, who did not study in the school, and they wished to visit this very school after that. The school had a good library of 450 volumes written by reverend fathers, moral and spiritual books. It numbered up to 300 regular readers including parishioners and people from other towns 10 to 12 versts (10.5 to 12.8 km or 6.5 to 8 miles) away from Kolomna. In 1909, 60 students studied in the school. In 1916, there were 52 boys and 26 girls studying.
The parochial trusteeship of St. Michael's Church owned a stone two-storied building of an alms-house "for elderly women" in Kolomenskay Street. In 1903, it was left by Kolomna merchant of the second gild Ivan Tulinov, whose name it got in 1913. The parish had 119 houses and 866 people.
Being under the charge of the Prison Committee, St. John the Warrior's Chapel and the Church of the Seeking of the Lost, which was still in the design process, were referred to St. Michael's Church too.
Archpriest Viktor Soloviov, an assistant bishop of town churches, was the last dean of the temple. In the 1930s, the Church was shut down, while the bell tower was destroyed. The building was occupied by a warehouse and later by an office.
In 1936, it was handed over to Kolomna Museum of Regional Studies.
In 2006, the town administration decided to move the Museum to another building. Next year, St. Michael's Church, sanctity of which was violated for a long time, was returned to the church community to be reconstructed and used for church services.
In 2007, by the Day of Cyrillic Writing and Culture, Moscow Region Government financially helped to restore the altar and quadrangle of the Temple. Reconstruction works lasted seven months. During this period, the roof was changed, the altar's roof and rotundas were plated with copper, the cross and the dome were remade and gilded, the facade was plastered, elements of white-stone decorations were reconstructed, and new windows appeared. The interior was reconstructed with support from Moscow Diocese. For a period of four months, all internal partitions were removed, vault's cracks were reinforced and filled, white stone floors were renewed, walls were plastered, and a heating system was completely changed.
In May 2007, a Palekh iconstand was installed in the temple. It was donated by the Most Reverend Juvenal, Metropolitan of Kolomna and Krutitsk.
On 28 May 2007, Whit Monday, the first Divine Service was held in the Church.
On 15 July 2007, citizens of Kolomna, who found themselves near St. Michael's Church, were pleasantly surprised with its new appearance. The bell tower did not have any scaffolding now. For the first time in more than seventy years, the Church appeared as our ancestors knew it and as St. Philaret (Drozdov), Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, saw it while visiting his home town. The bell tower, which was destroyed in the 1930s (only the first tier survived), was the oldest part of the Church. For more than 200 years, it preserved its original features of 1700. By today, its appearance has been fully recreated in accordance with the survived images. Construction works were held by OOO Elba-Stroy Company with the money collected by parishes of Moscow Diocese.
On 25 May 2007, the Day of Cyrillic Writing and Culture, Metropolitan of Krutitsk and Kolomna Juvenal consecrated six bells for St. Michael's Church. So the Church found its "voice" before the construction was finished.
On 21 November 2008, St. Michael's Day, Metropolitan of Krutitsk and Kolomna Juvenal solemnly consecrated the temple in front of the crowd.
The Church of the Assumption was built in 1770 with support from landlady T. Tetyusheva.
The Church has two side-chapels dedicated to St. Tatiana and St. John the Warrior.
The Church was shut down in the 1930s. The holly vessels were confiscated. A warehouse of fertilizers occupied the building.
In the 1970s, there was a fire in the Church...
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