The Greater Church of Christ's Ascension (Большое Вознесение) is one of the largest parish churches in downtown Moscow. It is a major landmark of

Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street (russian: Большая Никитская улица, ''Nikitskaya Ulitsa'') is a radial street that runs west from Mokhovaya Street to Garden Ring in Moscow, between Vozdvizhenka Street (south) and Tverskaya Street (n ...

and Nikitskiye Vorota Square. It is named "greater" to prevent confusion with a nearby church of the same name. The church was commissioned by

Prince Potemkin Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ;, rus, Князь Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Потёмкин-Таври́ческий, Knjaz' Grigórij Aleksándrovich Potjómkin-Tavrícheskij, ɡrʲɪˈɡ ...

, the owner of a neighbouring messuage, shortly before his death. The yellow-colored Neoclassical building was erected between 1798 and 1816. The name of the architect is not known for certain. It has been attributed either to

Matvey Kazakov Matvey Fyodorovich Kazakov (russian: Матве́й Фёдорович Казако́в, 1738 – 7 November 1812) was a Russian Neoclassical architect. Kazakov was one of the most influential Muscovite architects during the reign of Catherine I ...

, who built numerous Moscow churches in the reign of

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

, or Ivan Starov, who frequently worked for Potemkin. The edifice was overhauled to Osip Bove's designs after the

1812 Fire of Moscow Year 181 ( CLXXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Burrus (or, less frequently, year 934 ''Ab urbe condit ...

. It stood unfinished for several decades and was not completed (under Afanasy Grigoriev's supervision) until 1848. The church holds historical significance for several reasons. It was in this church that Alexander Pushkin married Natalia Goncharova, a fact commemorated by their fountain statues on Nikitskie Vorota Square. It was also there that Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow held his last service;The Moscow Encyclopaedia
/ref> this is commemorated by a side-chapel dedicated in his name. The church was closed during the Soviet period, between 1931 and 1990. A 17th-century tent-like belfry, the sole remnant of an earlier church on the site, was demolished in 1937 and replaced by a statue of Aleksey Tolstoy, the "Red Count". The current belfry, freely based on Kazakov's designs and similar in style to the main church building, is of recent construction. There is a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ea ...

Arbat Square Arbatskaya Square or Arbat Square () is one of the oldest squares of Moscow, located on the junction of Gogolevsky Boulevard, Znamenka Street and Arbat Gates Square (in 1925–1993 – part of Arbatskaya Square). The square is home to the Arbats ...

References

{{reflist Russian Orthodox churches in Moscow Churches completed in 1816 19th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings 1816 establishments in the Russian Empire Church buildings with domes Neoclassical church buildings in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Moscow

See also

References