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Located in Nikitnikov Lane, just off Varvarka Street in Moscow's
central Kitai Gorod district, the Trinity Church in Nikitniki was
built between 1631 and 1634 by the merchant Grigory Nikitnikov on
his own estate. Also know as the Church of the Georgian Icon of Our
Lady, the building is considered the finest example of 17th century
Russian ornamental architecture in the city. Nikitnikov was one of
Moscow's most wealthy merchants and had been known to lend the Tsar
himself money every now and again. He spared no expense in building
the church, which served both as a parish church and the private
burial place of his family. The church is remarkable for its wealth
of structural and decorative ornamentation, including its high,
arched gables, white-stone window surrounds, tent-roofed chapels and
elegant gilt cupolas. The church's porches are also noteworthy for
their intricate kokoshniki, a decorative element developed from the
fringes of traditional Russian women's headdresses. The church is a
veritable encyclopedia of the traditional Russian architectural
techniques that were later used in buildings throughout Moscow.
The building's interior is covered with excellently preserved
frescoes by the Armory painters Simeon Ushakov, Yakov Kazanets and
Osip Vladimirov, and include unusual and unconventional depictions
of scenes from the Apocalypse on the walls of the church's Chapel of
St. John the Evangelist. The main chapel's iconostasis was created
by craftsmen from Moscow and the ancient Rus city of Yaroslavl and a
small chapel dedicated to the Georgian Icon of Our Lady was added to
the church in 1653. |
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