This long-suffering church is somehow surprisingly located between three lanes: Novovogankovsky and two Trekhgorny. The Church of St. Nicholas on Three Mountains during its long history has changed its name more than once and has been rebuilt several times. In the chronicles of 1628, its progenitor is mentioned - the Church of St. Nicholas in Psary. It received this name due to the transfer of the Tsar's Psarny Court here in the middle of the 17th century. This parish church community moved around the city more than once, and, surprisingly, always carried the church with it, which is probably why for some time it was called "the temple of St. Nicholas on a chicken leg."

Church of St. Nicholas on Three Mountains

In 1695, Psarny Dvor was located in the Tri Gory tract, behind an outpost named Trekhgornaya. Initially, it was a wooden church, then in 1762-1775 it was rebuilt in stone in the village of Novoye Vagankovo \u200b\u200bwith three thrones. The main one - in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Life-giving source", two limits - in honor of the saint. Over time, its limits gradually expanded, and in 1860 a high bell tower and a refectory were rebuilt, the area of \u200b\u200bthe property more than doubled.

Church of St. Nicholas on Three Mountains - an architectural monument of the 19th century and an object cultural heritage... A very curious fact is known related to this structure. It turns out that in the 1920s, A.V. Alexandrov, who became the author of the anthem of the Soviet Union.

The parishioners of the church were ordinary people, peasants and workers, but there were also quite wealthy people, including the Prokhorovs, the factory owners, who owned the Trekhgornaya manufactory.

All the annexes did not create a harmonious architectural ensemble, so it was decided to completely rebuild the church itself according to the project of the famous Russian architect G.A. Kaiser with the money of wealthy merchants Kopeikin-Serebryakov, who lived in the parish of the church. On December 1, 1902, the renovated church was consecrated. However, finally all construction and finishing work ended only by 1908.

Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

The same workers of the Trekhgornaya Manufactory saved the church from devastating destruction. In the most troubled and dangerous years of 1905 and 1917, they organized the protection of the cathedral, which was located right at the epicenter of all the revolutionary events that took place in Presnya. Thanks to this, the temple was not plundered and destroyed.

However, in the early 1920s, the church could not be preserved, at first it was ruined, and then completely closed. In 1929, it was rebuilt, the dome and bell tower were destroyed. The new government placed a club there, and a little later the house of pioneers named after. The lane, which had the name Nikolsky, also began to bear the name of the pioneer hero.

The long-awaited thaw

And now, after the collapse of the USSR, the Moscow government signed an order on the return of the building with the adjacent territory to the possession of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Church of St. Nicholas on Three Mountains was immediately subjected to a major restoration and restored to its original beauty. Today it works, even a Bible college, a Sunday school, a club for the reconstruction of medieval folk cultures are open.

You can visit this temple at the address: Moscow, Novovagankovsky lane, house 9, bldg. 1. The rector is now Archpriest Dmitry Roshchin, appointed on February 11, 2016.

Schedule of services

Matins Liturgy - beginning at 8.00 (on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays). On great holidays and Sundays - starting at 9.00. On the eve at 17.00 - Vespers. At 18.00 on Wednesdays, the akathist of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. At 8.00 on Sundays - a prayer service and water is blessed.

The commemoration of St. Nicholas is held to the present time: September 11 - the birth of the saint, May 22 - the day of the transfer of his honest relics, December 19 - the feast of honoring St. Nicholas.

The temple also has its own shrines. with the relics of St. Nicholas (for worship he is taken out of the altar only at Sunday liturgies), as well as St. Nicholas with the relics and the reliquary with the relics of St. Dimitri Rostovsky.

The history of the parish of the Church of St. Nicholas on Three Mountains began in the early years of the 17th century. At the western wall of the Kremlin, on the right bank of the Neglinka River, then there was a settlement for employees of the tsarist kennel order - an institution responsible for hunting at court and for maintaining the tsar's menageries. Back in the 16th century, psaris - immigrants from Little Russia - introduced into the practice of cooking special devices - vagans, which were large troughs hollowed out of wood. Over time, the "psareviks" themselves began to be called "vagans", and their settlement was named Vagankovo. And in our time, a small area of \u200b\u200bMoscow behind the complex of buildings of the Russian State Library is called Old Vagankovo.

The hounds had their own church dedicated to St. Nicholas of Mirlikia. The turbulent events of the first half of the 17th century were reflected not only in the politics and economics of the Muscovite kingdom, but also in the tastes and preferences of the court. The weakening of the interest of the highest officials of the state in hunting and menageries greatly shaken the position of the kennel order, and around 1637 they decided to relocate the vagans farther from the Kremlin, to the Tri Gory tract beyond Presnya. The parish also moved there. The emerging settlement was named New Vagankovo, and a wooden church in the name of St. Nicholas was built in it. In 1695, this building was completely rebuilt by the Duma clerk Gabriel Derevnin, who lived next door.

At the end of the 17th century, Tri Gory was a sparsely populated place with a very poor population, but in the first half of the 18th century the situation changed dramatically, as the tract turns into a dacha settlement for wealthy Muscovites. Some noble persons later became permanent residents of the area and were assigned to the St. Nicholas parish.

The permission to build the first stone church on the site of the wooden one was obtained in May 1763. It was small, and in subsequent years it was expanded, adding side-altars - first the side-altar of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov, and then, in 1785, the side-altar in the name of the icon of the Mother of God "Life-giving source".

The "golden age" of St. Nicholas parish in Novy Vagankovo \u200b\u200bbegan in the early years of the 19th century. Then, in the neighborhood of the temple on the banks of the Moskva River, merchants Prokhorov and Rezanov founded a cotton-printing factory, which later became the famous Prokhorov Trekhgornaya manufactory. The emergence of a class of factory workers in the area radically changed the composition of its inhabitants. For almost a hundred years, up to 1896, the Prokhorovs were the elders of the church. Their activities left a noticeable mark not only in the economic, but also in the church life of Moscow.

During the Patriotic War of 1812, the Three Mountains suffered less from fires and looting than other areas of the city, since French troops occupied it somewhat earlier. A significant role in the preservation of the region and its temples was played by the diplomatic abilities of the founder of the dynasty V.I. Prokhorov and his eldest son, who did not leave the city.

After an epidemic of cholera that swept across Moscow in 1848, “in gratitude to the Lord God for getting rid of” St. Nicholas Church decided to completely rebuild, increasing its area two and a half times. The construction was carried out exclusively with money collected by the parishioners.

It is especially worth mentioning the abbots of the temple, who served in it throughout the second half of the 19th century. Although Archpriest Ruf Rzhanitsyn and Priest Yevgeny Uspensky, who replaced him, did not leave behind them theological works and their names are not reflected in encyclopedias and reference books, they were outstanding workers in the field of spiritual nurturing of the people. To appreciate their work, it is enough to note that during their reign the St. Nicholas parish was the largest in Moscow. Evening and morning services were performed daily, and on Sundays and holidays three liturgies were often served in the church.

The parish was active in guardianship and social activities. Thus, in 1861, a Board of Trustees for the Parish Poor was created at the church, which collected information about the poor parishioners and brought them “targeted assistance” that would otherwise fall into the hands of a powerful corporation of professional beggars. In addition, Father Ruf founded the first two-year parochial school for girls in Moscow, designed to give girls new knowledge and skills in the increasingly complicated life of a big city. In the early 1900s, almost 90 female students studied at this school.

The constant increase in the number of parishioners required another major overhaul of the church. It began in 1900 on the basis of a project prepared by the famous architect G. Kaiser and approved by Emperor Nicholas II himself. Funds for the work were provided by the Kopeikin-Serebryakov family, owners of a large retail trade company. The general reconstruction was completely completed in 1908 (note that the Kaiser's project was reproduced during the restoration of the temple in 1991-2000).

The events of 1905, the epicenter of which was the Presnya district, did not have a serious impact on the life and activities of the St. Nicholas parish. The number of its parishioners remained stable, and the workers of the Trekhgornaya manufactory themselves maintained order in the area of \u200b\u200bthe temple. This situation was repeated in the rebellious 1917. The Three Mountains were relatively calm even during the street fighting in the city. Probably, the fact that 90% of the parish consisted of workers of a large enterprise also explains the relative safety of the clergy of the church during the repressions of 1918, which killed more than 3,000 clerics in Central Russia alone.

Despite the powerful development of state atheism, the question of closing the temple did not arise until the second half of the 1920s. Like all Moscow churches and monasteries, in the spring of 1922 he survived a campaign of confiscation of church valuables, losing more than 12 poods of gold and silver items. But the spiritual life did not stop. It should be noted that in the 1920s, one of the choir directors of the temple was Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov, later the author of the USSR anthem and the founder of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Soviet Army. It is in Russian sacred music that the sources of the powerful, impressive sounding of the works of this outstanding musician are found.

The Church of St. Nicholas on Three Mountains was closed, despite numerous requests from believers, in 1930. The fate of his clergy has not been precisely established, but it is possible that most of them died during the years of various repressions. The building was rebuilt and used as a cultural center named after Pavlik Morozov.

The decision to return the building of the Church was made by the Moscow City Council in 1990. Reconstruction and reconstruction were carried out from 1991 to 2000. Regular services resumed in 2001. Since 2009, singers of the Moscow Synodal Choir under the direction of the Honored Artist of Russia Alexei Puzakov have been singing in the church.

Opinions differ on the date of construction - it was 1762 or 1763. However, it is known that the building was small and was subsequently expanded and rebuilt several times.

The merchant family of the Prokhorovs took a huge part in the life of the monastery. For almost a century they remained her patrons and trustees. By the way, the first school for girls in the capital worked at the church. By 1900, more than 80 girls were studying there.

In 1860, a refectory and a bell tower were built. The new buildings were clearly out of harmony with the architecture of the main building of the church, so it was decided to rebuild it. Although according to another version, the reason was the growing number of the local population. One way or another, the project was taken up by the architect Georgy Kaiser, and in December 1902 a new nicholas Church on Three Mountains has already been sanctified.

The architectural composition turned out to be voluminous and very interesting. Here, the smooth lines of semicircular apses and keeled zakomars echo with the clear, straight shapes of half-columns that adorn the facades. All the windows of the temple are circular and kept in the same size. The temple has 3 onion domes: two of them are located on its main volume, and the third is crowned with a wide squat dome. The bell tower tent is decorated with dormers and ends with a magnificent small cupola.

In the 1920s. church of Nicholas on Three Mountains was plundered (more than 12 poods of gold and silver were seized in the form of coins and various utensils), but remained active. An interesting fact should be noted: one of the choir directors of the monastery at that time was Alexander Alexandrov, in the future the author of the USSR anthem.

In 1928, the temple was closed, and later rebuilt. Although it would be more correct to say disfigured. The building housed first the House of Culture, then the House of Pioneers. Pavlik Morozov.

The monastery was returned to the Church in 1992; regular services were resumed only in 2001, after many years of restoration. Today, the church has a Sunday school, youth and men's choirs.

Built in 1762-85 in the Tri Gory tract, behind Trekhgornaya Zastava, in the Novoye Vagankovo \u200b\u200bsettlement on the site of the wooden church of the same name (1695). Here in 1678 the royal hounds and buffoons were resettled, originally located in the Old Vagankovo \u200b\u200bsettlement (near the Kremlin). There are several versions of the origin of the word "vagankovo": from "vaganit" - to amuse, to joke; "Vaganets" - the place where the cash tax is collected; from "vagan" ("vazhan") - residents of the Vyazhskaya region, relocated to Moscow. In 1860 a new refectory and a bell tower were built. Around 1892 the chapels of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. Demetrius of Rostov were brought forward from the refectory in line with the main throne. In 1900-1902, at the expense of G.F. and N.F. Serebryakovs, a new one with a main altar in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Life-Giving Source" (architect GA Kaiser) was added to the old church. Painted inside in 1908.

In 1922, the authorities seized St. 12 poods of gold and silver jewelry and church utensils. It was closed in 1929. Greatly rebuilt. The chapters of the church and the bell tower up to the first tier were destroyed, the second row of windows was broken in the refectory.

Until 1990, the building housed the House of Culture, then it was abandoned. Returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1992. Restoration and restoration work began. Services resumed in December 2000.

This church was first mentioned in 1683 in the Novoye Vagankovo \u200b\u200bsettlement on Three Hills, where, according to the Moscow legend, the buffoons who originally lived in the Old Vagankovo \u200b\u200bsettlement, opposite the Kremlin behind Neglinnaya, were moved. In 1695 a new wooden church was built to the east, closer to the Moscow River. After the construction of the Kamer-Kollezhsky shaft, the temple ended up within the boundaries of Moscow, at the Trekhgornaya Zastava. The stone three-altar temple with a refectory and a bell tower was erected in 1762-1785. The main altar - the icons of the Mother of God "Life-giving Spring", side-altars in the refectory - St. Nicholas and Dimitri of Rostov. According to the old Moscow tradition, the temple continued to be called Nikolsky even in official documents. Built in the style of classicism, it was completed with a rotundal dome, the side facades had classical porticoes.

In 1860 a new refectory and a bell tower were built. Around 1892, the side-altars were removed from the refectory to the east, in line with the altar of the main church. In 1900-1902. a new main temple was built, funds for the construction of which were donated by G.F. and N.F. Serebryakovs. The project of the building and its interior decoration was created by the architect G.A. Kaiser. The consecration of the main altar in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Life-Giving Spring" took place on December 1, 1902. A magnificent five-tiered iconostasis was built, icons were painted on a gold background, new utensils and new vestments were made on the icons. In 1908 the church was painted inside.

The temple was closed in January 1930. For a long time the building was occupied by the Pavlik Morozov children's club. The heads of the temple and the bell tower were broken down to the first tier. A second floor was made in the refectory and the second row of windows was broken through. In 1990, Pavlik Morozov's kids club drove out of the building, leaving inside a broken statue of a pioneer; the roof partially collapsed. In mid-1991, Nikolsky Church was returned to the community of believers. The major reconstruction lasted for almost ten years. As a result, the temple was returned to the form that it had after the last pre-revolutionary restructuring of the early 1900s. Divine services were resumed in 2001. The shrines of the temple: a particle of the relics of St. Nicholas, the venerated icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the 16th century, brought from the Church of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, where Maria Mironova transferred it after the death of her son, artist Andrei Mironov.

Mikhail Vostryshev. Orthodox Moscow. All temples and and chapels

Temple in the 17th century

The history of the Church of St. Nicholas on Three Mountains begins with the wooden church of St. Nicholas in the Psary, mentioned in the chronicles since 1628. Its name is associated with the Tsar's Psarny Dvor, which was responsible for hunting and the royal menageries, which in 1637 was transferred from the western wall of the Kremlin to Three mountains.

Metric of the Church of St. Nicholas on Three Mountains in Novy Vagankovo

Opinions also differ about the origin of the name "Vagankovo". According to legend, the tsarist hounds-little Russians used vagans - large troughs hollowed out in a tree - for cooking food, for which they themselves were nicknamed wagans, and their place of residence is Vagankovo. Settlement on Presnya in the 17th century received the name New Vagankovo, and the settlement behind the Kutafya tower remained Old Vagankovo.

True, there is another version of the origin of the toponym. This part of Moscow was located at the intersection of two large roads - Znamenka, leading to Novgorod, and Arbat, which leads to the western lands. In the XV century. here a village arose, in which the Tsar's amusing courtyard was organized. Wandering artists and musicians flocked to him, who were then called vagants, as well as wandering bard poets in medieval Europe.

There is information that in 1695 the temple was rebuilt by the Duma clerk Gabriel Feodorovich Derevnin, who lived nearby, who also built the famous stone church of St. Ilya the Commonplace on Ostozhenka.

XVIII - early XX century

In the first half of the 18th century. Three Mountains are becoming a dacha for wealthy Muscovites. Over time, the rich "summer residents" turn into permanent residents of Novy Vagankov and are assigned to the St. Nicholas parish.

It was at this time that permission was obtained for the construction of a stone church on the site of a wooden one: according to some sources it dates back to May 1763, according to others - 1762. In any case, the new temple was small. But in subsequent years it was repeatedly expanded, adding side-altars - first of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov, and then, in 1785, in the name of the icon of the Mother of God "Life-Giving Source".

In 1799, near the Nikolsky Church on the banks of the Moskva River, merchant Vasily Prokhorov and master of dyeing Fyodor Rezanov founded a cotton-printing factory, which eventually became the famous Trekhgornaya Manufactory.
Vasily Ivanovich Prokhorov (1755-1815), merchant of the 3rd guild, founder of a dynasty of Moscow industrialists, was born into the family of a peasant assigned to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Until 1771 he worked as a clerk in the brewing business. However, he left this occupation, "incompatible with Christian piety," and took up a print business. Over time, V.I. Prokhorov became the sole owner of the manufactory, having bought out the share of Fyodor Rezanov.

For almost a hundred years, right up to 1896, the Prokhorovs were churchwardens and trustees of St. Nicholas Church. Their activities have left a noticeable mark on the church life of Moscow. Industrialists were also involved in charity work, establishing hospitals and orphanages and homeless people.

Temple rebuilding project, architect G.A. Kaiser, 1900

After the cholera epidemic of 1848, in gratitude for getting rid of it, it was decided to rebuild the St. Nicholas Church. By the end of 1860, the temple had a large refectory and a high bell tower, its area increased two and a half times. The construction was carried out with the money of the parishioners.

In the second half of the XIX century. By the tireless pastoral labors of the rectors Archpriest Ruf Rzhanitsyn and the priest Yevgeny Uspensky who replaced him, the St. Nicholas parish became the largest in Moscow. Evening and morning services were performed in the church every day, and on Sundays and holidays three liturgies were served. The parish was active in guardianship and social activities. In 1861, a Board of Trustees was created at the church, which collected information about the poor parishioners and provided them with assistance. Father Rufus also founded the first two-year parochial school for women in Moscow, by the beginning of the 20th century. almost 90 pupils were engaged in it.

Northern facade project, architect G.A. Kaiser, 1900

The constant growth in the number of parishioners required another major overhaul of the church. It began in 1900 on the basis of a project by the famous architect Georgy Aleksandrovich Kaiser (1860-1931), personally approved by Emperor Nicholas II.

Funds for the work were provided by the Kopeikin-Serebryakov family, owners of a large retail trade company. The rebuilt church was re-consecrated on December 1, 1902, but the reconstruction was completed only in 1908. The project of the G.A. Kaiser temple also formed the basis restoration work in 1991-2000.

The events of 1905, centered on Presnya, as well as the October Revolution of 1917, miraculously did not affect the life of the St. Nicholas parish. Its number remained stable, and the order around the temple was maintained by the workers of Trekhgorka, the parishioners of the temple.