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Church of Archangel Gabriel, Menshikov Tower (Moscow)

15A Arkhangelsky Lane, Moscow, Metro stations: "Turgenevskaya", "Chistye Prudy".

Before the early 18th century, a small three steepled church of the same name built in 1657, stood on the site of the present-day Church of Archangel Gabriel.

In 1704, His Serene Highness Prince Alexander Minshikov was a parishioner of the Church. During one of his journeys he bought an ancient icon of the Mother of God in Polotsk, which according to a legend was painted by Luke the Evangelist himself, and wished to build a new church instead of the old one for the icon.

The old Side-Chapel of the Presentation of the Mother of God was preserved and attached to the southern wall of the new church. Construction and design works were leaded by the architect Ivan Zarudny. The Church was erected by Yaroslavl and Kostroma builders.

The construction of the Church lasted for three years, from 1704 to 1707. It was a light, lacy and airy-fairy building that Moscow had never seen before.

The Church of Archangel Gabriel was the highest building in Moscow (81 meters or 266 feet high that is 3.2 meters [10.5 feet] higher than the Ivan the Great Bell Tower). It had two side-chapels: the Side-Chapel of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, which had not been reconstructed since 1923 and situated under the refectory) and the Side-Chapel of the Presentation of the Mother of God, which situated from the south of the refectory and was demolished after 1782).

In 1723, lightning stroke in the 30-meter (98.5-feet) high spire with an angel figure and the upper wooden octagonal circle with an English chiming clock. The building domes were burned out and collapsed.

In 1773 to 1779, the Church was reconstructed by the Mason G. Izmailov and used for Masonic meetings. The upper wooden circle was not rebuilt, and the Church became lower. In 1773, the rest two octagonal circles were completed with a spherical dome and a spire. White stone angels with Arma Christi standing in corners of the lower octagonal circle were replaced with vases.

In 1863, the building was reconstructed as church again, and with the blessing of the Metropolitan of Moscow, Philaret, numerous mason symbols and sayings were brushed away from the walls.

The Moscow Baroque Church was constructed under the influence of secular palace architecture (balconies above the entrance porches with detached columns, numerous mural decorations, etc.).

The tower with two octagonal circles, the extended lower four-cornered circle and a square circle above it seem to run one into another if looked at from the inside of the Church.

The Church is 26 meters (85.3 feet) in height. The upper part is cross-shaped. The bypass galleries are wooden; they duplicate the galleries burnt away in the 1723 fire. The high octagons are smoothly joined with a roof. The walls are decorated with white stone sculptures.

The main western facade with side volutes (spiral curls with cupolas in the centre) is marked out. The western entrance has a balcony above and two-column Corinthian porch. There are embossed images above the door ways: Archangel Gabriel above the southern entrance and Archangel Michael above the northern entrance. The Ascension of Christ is imaged above the main western entrance. Cherubim are pictured on the column capitals and cartouches.

The 18th-century sculpture decorations inside the Church, mainly in the forechurch and choir lofts (the statues supporting the dome), are very sumptuous. An altar plafond is encircled with fruit and flower swags with four angels standing in the dome corners.

The 1770–1780 paintings are preserved. The 1720 icon stand by the architect Ivan Zarudny has not been preserved.

After the Transfiguration Church near the Preobrazhenskaya Zastava (the Transfiguration Gate) was demolished in 1968, its icon stand was transferred in the Church (now a balcony is above it). The previous icon stand was handed over to the Makhachkala Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Dagestan) in 1969.

The Church was closed from 1923 to 1947.

In the 1940s, restoration work was done.

In 1947, the metochion of the Antiochian Orthodox Church was placed there.

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Church of Archangel Gabriel, Menshikov Tower



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