Murom churches. Murom. Temples and holy places

October 2nd, 2015 , 09:42 pm

1) In the first part about the city of Murom, Vladimir region, we will walk through numerous churches and monasteries; personally, in Murom I saw the largest concentration of religious buildings compared to other cities I have been to: 4 monasteries and 6 separate churches... that’s 110,000 population at the time of 2015.

2) What surprised you? Firstly, it is the territory of the monasteries that is polished. You can even deliberately lie and write that, judging by this photograph, the whole city looks like this. Far from being the case, alas, but the territories of churches (zwinters, as they say in the villages of the south-west of the Bryansk region) and monasteries are very well-groomed.

3) Second, very friendly people: no one got angry, no one noticed any aggression when they saw the camera or when trying to film the interior of a particular church. On the contrary, one man working at the temple even advised that it was better to take pictures. Also in the city, I met a local resident, Yulia, who also contributed by talking about the wife of the 3rd President of Russia, Svetlana Medvedeva, who came to these places, and about the popular holiday of family, love and fidelity in Murom.

4) Let's start with the Resurrection Monastery (it is shown in the previous photo). The local Murom legend dates the emergence of this monastery to the 13th century and associates it with the names of the holy Murom princes Peter and Fevronia, who allegedly lived here and blessed with their visit the hill on which the monastery later arose. Peter and Fevronia are Russian Orthodox saints, revered in the Russian Orthodox Church as patrons of family and marriage. Prince Peter is not mentioned in chronicles. Some researchers identify Peter and Fevronia with the Murom prince David Yuryevich, known from the chronicles, and his wife. Prince David ruled in Murom in 1205-1228. and took monastic vows with the name Peter; practically nothing is known about his wife. Peter and Fevronia were canonized at a church council in 1547 as locally revered saints.

5) There is “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” (full original title: “The Tale of the Lives of the Holy New Miracle Workers of Murom, the Blessed and Reverend and Worshipful Prince Peter, named in the monastic rank of David, and his wife the Blessed and Reverend and Praiseworthy Princess Fevronia, named Euphrosyne in the monastic rank"), the creator of which is Ermolai-Erasmus, a contemporary of Ivan the Terrible, who received an order from the Moscow Metropolitan Macarius to write about the Murom saints - Peter and Fevronia, who are supposed to have ruled in Murom and died in 1228. The work was written after the canonization of Peter and Fevronia at the Moscow Church Council in 1547. According to researchers, the story combines two folk-poetic plots: a fairy tale about a fiery serpent and a fairy tale about a wise maiden. The image of the central heroine, Fevronia, is also associated with the oral-poetic folk tradition.
According to this story, “Prince Pavel ruled in the city of Murom. When he was not at home, a flying fiery serpent appeared to his wife for fornication. To other people he seemed to be Prince Pavel. The princess confessed everything to her husband. He ordered his wife to ask the serpent, from which death could come to him. The serpent told the princess that his death would be “from Peter’s shoulder, from Agrikov’s sword.”
The prince had a brother named Peter. He decided to kill the serpent, but did not know where to get Agrikov’s sword. Once in the church of the Vozdvizhensky Monastery, a child showed him Agrikov’s sword, which lay in a gap between the stones of the altar wall. The prince took the sword.
One day Peter came to his brother. He was at home. Then Peter went to his daughter-in-law and saw that his brother was already sitting with her. Paul explained that the serpent can take on his form. Then Peter ordered his brother not to go anywhere, took Agrikov’s sword, came to his daughter-in-law and killed the serpent. The serpent took his form and, dying, sprinkled Peter with blood, from which he fell ill with leprosy. No one could cure him of his illness. The legend says that in a dream it was revealed to the prince that he could be healed by the daughter of a “tree-dweller” (beekeeper) who extracted wild honey, Fevronia, a peasant woman from the village of Laskovo in the Ryazan land. Fevronia, as payment for the treatment, wished the prince to marry her after the healing, the prince promised to marry her. Fevronia healed the prince, but he did not keep his word, since Fevronia was a commoner. But during the treatment process, Fevronia deliberately did not heal one scab on the prince’s body, which is why the disease resumed. Fevronia again cured Peter, and he married her.
When Peter inherited the reign after his brother, the boyars did not want to have a princess of simple rank, telling him: “Either let go of your wife, who insults noble ladies with her origin, or leave her as Murom.” The prince took Fevronia, and on two ships they sailed along the Oka.
In Murom, unrest began, many began to seek the vacated throne, and murders began. Then the boyars asked the prince and his wife to return. The prince and princess returned, and Fevronia subsequently managed to earn the love of the townspeople.
In their advanced years, having taken monastic vows in different monasteries with the names David and Euphrosyne, they prayed to God that they would die on the same day, and bequeathed their bodies to be placed in one coffin, having previously prepared a tomb of one stone, with a thin partition. They died on the same day and hour.
Considering burial in the same coffin incompatible with the monastic rank, their bodies were placed in different monasteries, but the next day they ended up together."
Thus, Peter and Fevronia are considered Orthodox patrons of family and marriage, whose marital union is considered a model of Christian marriage. In Russia, since 2008, July 8 is celebrated as the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity. This holiday is very popular in Murom, almost one of the city’s brands.

6) The five-domed Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ on the territory of the monastery, built in 1650, with a refectory and a bypass gallery with hipped porches.
In historical sources, the monastery itself was first mentioned in 1566. In 1616, Lisovsky’s Poles killed priest John here. In Russian historiography there is such an event as the “Lisovsky Raid”, relating to the Russian-Polish war of 1609-1618, during which the Lisovsky soldiers under the command of Pan Lisovsky made a campaign deep into Russian territory, describing a large loop around Moscow in 1615 and returning to territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, destroying many cities of Russia. Until the 2nd half of the 16th century, the temples and walls of the monastery were wooden, but between 1646-1648. The merchant Abraham Cherkasov, who became rich in trade, finances the construction of the stone structures of the monastery. The names of the architects are not known.

7) The Resurrection Convent existed until 1764. After its abolition, according to the decree of Catherine II on the secularization of church lands, the Resurrection and Vvedenskaya churches became parish, and the monastics, Abbess Maria, along with two nuns and two schema-nuns, were transferred to the Trinity Convent.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, churches remained ordinary city parishes. One of the four city cemeteries was also located here.

8) During the Soviet years, the ensemble of the Resurrection Monastery shared the sad fate of many Murom churches. The churches were closed, the most valuable items were taken to the museum, and the buildings began to be used as storage facilities. In 1929, the cemetery was destroyed, and in 1950 a football field was built over the graves. In the 1970-1980s, the Resurrection Church housed a sports section. The Church of the Resurrection had a gym with a ring.

9) In 1998 the monastery was revived. It turns out that where I am standing is a cemetery literally 90 years ago and a football field 30-50 years ago. Consciousness easily superimposes different pictures of eras, and accordingly the appearance again changes.

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11) The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery (original name - “Spassky on Bor”) is mentioned by chronicle sources earlier than all other monasteries in Russia and appears in the “Tale of Bygone Years” under the year 1096 in connection with the death of Prince Izyaslav Vladimirovich under the walls of Murom: “In the summer of 6604... Izyaslav burst into flames before the hail. Oleg went to him in a regiment, and trespassed on the wallpaper, and the fighting began fiercely. And having killed Izyaslav, the son of Volodymer, the grandson of Vsevolozh, on the 6th day of September... Oleg went into the city and received the townspeople. Izyaslav was taken and placed in the monasteries of the Holy Savior...” There is also a local legend, recorded in several copies of the monument of the 16th century. “The Tale of the Establishment of Christianity in Murom”, which tells about the founding of the monastery by the Murom prince Gleb Vladimirovich (Boris and Gleb are the younger sons of the Kyiv prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich; around 987-989 Boris received Rostov from his father, Gleb - Murom; in the internecine struggle that broke out in 1015 . after the death of Vladimir, they were killed by their elder brother Svyatopolk; the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Boris and Gleb in 1071).

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13) Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral (on the right in the photo) is an architectural monument of the 16th century. The construction of the cathedral is usually dated back to the 1560s. In terms of its architectural features, it is close to the buildings of Rostov masters of the late 15th-16th centuries and is a three-apse, five-domed temple. Erected by order of Ivan the Terrible in memory of the victory over Kazan, on the site of the wooden Church of the Savior. The cathedral is square in plan, internally divided by four pillars into three naves. Initially, the cathedral looked emphatically monumental from the outside. The almost cubic facades are divided into three parts by flat pilasters, each of which is completed with semicircular kokoshniks. Semi-circular zakomaras rest on a wide strip of cornice made of several rows of bricks placed on edge. Five domes are mounted on wide drums with narrow windows (illuminating the interior of the temple) and cornices decorated with two rows of brick denticles, and the base of the central drum is decorated with eight kokoshniks. The building stands on a small foundation. The cathedral is distinguished by its modest ornamentation, strict simplicity, as well as its monumentality and some severity, since it served as a fortress building, during the siege it was a place for storing valuables and a refuge for residents. There is no architectural decor inside the temple. The image of the interior is dominated by the power of almost undivided walls and square pillars, smoothly flowing into heavy arches and vaults. The origins of this approach to solving the temple interior go back to pre-Mongol times.

14) The same cathedral is on the left from the back side. And on the right, the Intercession Church, built in 1691 at the expense of Metropolitan Varsanofy from the Chertkov family of landowners who lived near Murom. The church is warm, two-story, single-domed, rectangular in plan with an octagonal refectory pillar offset from its axis in the north direction. Due to reconstruction, the church lost its original appearance and lost some architectural details, but even now it, together with the Transfiguration Cathedral and the Rector’s Building, plays an important role in the ensemble of the Spassky Monastery.

15) Fraternal building built in 1911.

16) Gate Church of Kirill Belozersky 1807-1810.

17) The same place in the early 2000s. (photo by Alexey Trifonov).

18) Holy Trinity Convent was founded in the second quarter of the 17th century (1643) by the Murom merchant Tarasy Borisovich Tsvetnov. It contains the relics of Saints Peter and Fevronia. In 1642-1643, with the “care and indulgence” of Tarasy Tsvetnov, the Holy Trinity Stone Cathedral (pictured) was erected on the site of a wooden church, which has survived to this day. In 1643, Tarasy Tsvetnov asked the Bishop of Ryazan and Murom for permission to found a monastery at the cathedral, and he received such consent.

19) The main decoration of the Holy Trinity Cathedral are forged gilded crosses - masterpieces of blacksmith work by Murom craftsmen of the 17th century - and glazed tiles of the same century with various ornaments. The tiles give the Trinity Cathedral a special grace and unique originality, distinguishing it from other Murom churches. The style in which this cathedral was created is called Russian patterned.

20) Russian patterned (Moscow patterned) - an architectural style that was formed in the 17th century on the territory of the Russian state, characterized by intricate forms, an abundance of decor, complexity of composition and picturesque silhouette. The composition for the 1st half of the 17th century is characterized by a complex spatial composition. Typical stone buildings of this period are pillarless churches with a closed vault, on a high basement, with a refectory, chapels and a bell tower. They usually have five domes, cupolas over the chapels, tents over the porches and bell tower, and tiers of kokoshniks over the vaults. The composition loses its monumental clarity.
The second half of the 17th century was more characterized by clear and balanced, often symmetrical, compositions. At the same time, the decor of the facades also becomes more balanced, its placement on the facades is subject to order.

21) The decor includes carved window frames (including in the form of kokoshniks), multi-tiered kokoshniks on the vaults, cornices in the form of “cockscombs”, twisted columns, semi-columns. Interior: rich colored floral patterns on the walls and vaults.
The decor area on the walls is very large. Columns, flies, cornices, trim, tiles.

22) In 1648-1652, in the southern part of the monastery, a gate-tent church in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and a slotted multi-tiered bell tower were built on the same foundation in the era of a brief but magnificent flourishing of local architecture, which lasted until the end of the 17th century. The construction was carried out at the expense of the most famous patron and founder of the monastery - the “trading man” Tarasy Borisov, nicknamed “Bogdan Tsvetnoy”. The rich merchant often visited Moscow on trade matters and was ranked by Emperor Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov as one of the “Moscow living hundred.” The small, even miniature dimensions of the tented temple do not interfere with the feeling of majesty. This feeling is largely explained by the high foundation on which the church is placed and the skillfully found proportions of the temple. In this case, the base is the southern gate with two different-sized arches of entry into the territory of the monastery.

23) The church itself is an “octagon on a quadrangle” structure, topped with an octagonal tent. All its components - the rather massive cube of the main volume, and the graceful octagon, and the tent, thanks to the art of an unknown architect, represent a surprisingly harmonious unity. The temple is given a special, unique charm by the many unusual as well as elegant details made of figured bricks.
Perhaps the love of local craftsmen for complex decor is explained, in addition to the influence of Moscow architecture, by the strong influence of the school of Ryazan architecture. It can be seen especially well when comparing the Kazan Church with the Church of the Holy Spirit (1642) in Ryazan. Much in common can be found in the principle of the transition from the high cube of the temple to the small octagon, and from it to the tent. The vaults of both the Ryazan and Murom churches are decorated with keel-shaped kokoshniks of complex profile, having almost the same pattern. Perhaps this tradition was maintained at a later time, because in the 17th century, Ryazan and Murom were under the jurisdiction of one hierarch - the bishop of Ryazan and Murom.

24) One of the impulses in the formation of local architecture could have been close communication with artisans of the South Slavic countries, who from ancient times sailed along the Oka to Murom for trade. One way or another, “Murom master-muroli architects, trained at the sovereign’s court, were famous for their art. They captured all the decorativeness of Moscow forms and developed it into a whimsical pattern.”

25) The wooden church of St. Sergius of Radonezh, built in 1700, transported to the territory of the Trinity Monastery from the village of Krasnoe, which, although dating from the 18th century, in style, certainly belongs to the 17th century. Moreover, in turn, it was transported to the village of Krasnoye in 1715 from the village of Piano. You can read a report about the saved wooden temples from the open-air museum "Vitoslavlitsy" near Veliky Novgorod.

26) And this is the Annunciation Monastery, founded in 1553 by Ivan the Terrible, who visited Mur in 1552 during his campaign against Kazan. According to legend, it is located on the site of a wooden church “at the court” of Prince Konstantin of Murov and Chernigov, who baptized Murom.
In 1616, the monastery was destroyed and plundered by the Poles. Throughout the 17th century, the monastery was gradually revived from ruins. Murom merchant Tarasy Borisovich Tsvetnov rebuilt the Annunciation Cathedral in 1664 and installed a clock on the bell tower. In 1791, the Murom Theological School was opened on the territory of the monastery. During the Patriotic War of 1812, icons of the Iveron and Vladimir Mother of God were kept in the monastery.

27) The main decorative element of the Annunciation Cathedral is window casings. The side frames of some windows are made in the form of flowers and balusters. Above the double “multi-layer” cornice crowning them are “torn” pediments with a baluster in the center. However, there are also unique motifs: a “crown” with a complex profile and a kokoshnik framed with crackers, into which is inscribed a flower branch with a bud at the top. Its curved side shoots end in blooming flowers.
The drums of the five domes of the cathedral are very carefully decorated. Only the central one is illuminated, but each of the five is framed by a kind of “arch-columnar belt” of finely drawn balusters connected by arcs and small pediments. Above the “belt” there is a frieze of “cense” figures, and above it there is a strongly protruding cornice. It was not initially part of the decor of the drums, but appeared only at the end of the 18th century (after the fire of 1792, the onion domes were replaced with the current ones, of a more whimsical shape). They could be called pretentious, but thanks to the successfully found form of transition from the drum to the dome, they quite organically complemented the appearance of the cathedral. Less organic is the aisle added in the 19th century on the north side, which significantly disrupted the original composition. One of the attractions of the cathedral is its western entrance, which opens onto a closed porch with a porch. It is designed in the form of a “perspective” portal made of white stone, each “tier” of arches of which is covered with the finest carvings in the form of flowers and beads, reminiscent of window frames. The arches rest on carved balusters. This is probably where the main entrance to the cathedral was originally located.
The porch, added a little later to the cathedral on the western side, deserves special mention. Gracefully curved arches (the lower “creeping” arch is especially unusual) on figured columns frame two flights of stairs. The design of the porch is very unique: it is open on three sides, each opening is made in the form of a hanging arch with a “hanging” weight. The corners of the porch are decorated with columns repeating the pattern of arched pillars. The volume of the porch is completed by a multi-profile external cornice. This entire structure is topped with three tents. The two small tents on the sides are made octagonal, and the central tent (significantly larger) is sixteen-sided.

28) Gate Church of St. Stefania, built in 1716 (a number of elements were added in 1835). Many details of the facade: cornice, kokoshniks, hanging columns of a blind drum resting on a hipped roof, are very close to the details of the Annunciation Cathedral.

29) Monument to Peter and Fevronia on the square of the same name in front of the monastery. Previously, the square was called Love Square, but after the visit of President Dmitry Medvedev and his wife, the square received its current name. In the next issue, about Murom itself, I will show another small interesting detail in this monument, so be patient.

30) Old golbets and crosses in the passage niche of the Stefanievskaya Church.

31) The Annunciation Monastery is sung by Andrei Voznesensky in the poem “Andrei Polisadov” - about the poet’s ancestor, the rector of the monastery, Archimandrite Alexy (Polisadov), who was buried behind the altar of the cathedral.

32) The ashes of many prominent citizens are buried in the necropolis of the monastery.

33) The walls were built in the 1st half of the 19th century.

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39) The Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God in the architectural direction of classicism, built in 1804 at the expense of the Murom merchant M.I. Elin. This is the first building in this style in Murom. The bell tower of the Smolensk Church (with a spire and cross) is still one of the highest points in the city.
The main volume - a quadrangle - is covered with a closed vault, crowned with two octagons of decreasing diameter with a bulbous dome. Adjacent to it from the east is a pentagonal asp, and from the north and south there are porticoes of the Ionic order with sparsely placed columns (a peculiar interpretation of it). Due to the fact that the porticos are cut through by arches, the impression of airiness and lightness is created.

40) The refectory and bell tower, built in 1838, are made on a different scale and are somewhat disproportionate to the main volume of the church. The semi-columns of the third tier of the bell tower, the pilasters of the entrance portico, the arched, close-set, elongated proportions of the refectory window are architectural details characteristic of the first half of the 19th century.
Noteworthy is the unique interpretation of the order used in the third tier of the bell tower between the arched openings of the belfry, where three half-columns of the composite order are grouped. This technique is one of the local techniques, determined by the traditions of architects - “murols”, different from the classical canons.

41) Church of the Presentation of the Lord (1795), erected at the expense of the Murom merchant of the 1st guild Ivan Zvorykin.

43) On the Oka embankment you can see the tented temple of Cosmas and Damian from 1556-1565. buildings.
One of the legends says that Cosmas and Damian are Romans who came to Rus' and treated people for free, but out of envy they were poisoned by a pagan enemy. For this they were ranked among the saints. In Rus' they were patrons of blacksmithing.
Another legend says that during the campaign for the “Conquest of Kazan” in 1552, on the site where the church is now built, Ivan the Terrible (from July 10 to July 20, 1552) pitched his tent, thought over a plan to take the Tatar stronghold, and watched from this coastal hill for the crossing of troops across the Oka River. On the opposite side of the river there was an enemy camp. The army of Ivan the Terrible faced certain difficulties that hindered the crossing. Near the place where Tsar Ivan the Terrible’s tent was located, there was a blacksmith’s settlement; two blacksmith brothers, Kozma and Demyan, came to the king from the settlement and volunteered to help in crossing the troops to the right bank of the Oka River. Under the cover of darkness, they entered the enemy’s camp and set fire to the khan’s tent, thereby causing a commotion among the enemies. Taking advantage of this, the troops of Ivan the Terrible successfully crossed the river and defeated the enemies. These two brave men died; They, as heroes, were canonized, and the church, built after the victory near Kazan, in honor of the fallen brave men, was named Kozmodemyanskaya.

44) Assumption Church built in 1790.

45) Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (Nikolo-Embankment) 1700-1717. The building is an example of the transitional style between Old Russian (Moscow) baroque and European baroque, located on the terrace of the Oka bank, on one of the most populated streets of the Merezhskaya settlement, running along the bank of the Oka, in which fishermen lived who supplied fish to the royal court.

46) The temple was built from 1700 to 1717, contrary to Peter I’s ban on stone construction, at the expense of the Moscow priest Dimitri Khristoforov in memory of his father, who served here in a wooden church. Despite the common compositional features with the buildings of Murom of the second half of the 17th century, the St. Nicholas Embankment Church has some unique details of the new era - “Petrine” Baroque. These are bundles of columns under a common capital at the corners of the building; window frames of the same columns on carved consoles and with “torn” pediments at the top; decorative arches instead of zakomaras, almost helmet-shaped in dome shape. The belfry has a domed top instead of a tent roof, and round windows instead of narrow dormer roofs. The refectory, added in 1803, especially “Europeanized” the image of this temple. At the end of the 17th century, a carved gilded iconostasis was installed in the church, in which, along with traditional icons, images of the twelve Sibyls painted by local artist A.I. Kazantsev. Before the revolution, the church housed a 14th-century icon revered in the city as miraculous - the image of Nicholas the Wonderworker. Now it belongs to the Murom Museum.

We will get to know the city itself in the next part.

And Novgorod, it was mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years. It is believed that the pagan population learned about the foundations of the Christian faith from the first Murom prince, the holy blessed Gleb the passion-bearer. Today there are three Christian monasteries in the city - two monasteries and one monastery. In addition to their rich history and spiritual values, these centers of Orthodoxy preserve beautiful monuments of Russian architecture.

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery

The Spassky Monastery in Russia is considered one of the most ancient. Before it, only the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra appeared. The monastery rises on the high left bank of the Oka, like a large ship. And from the walls of the monastery the Murom expanses open up in all their glory.

The monastery was built on the site where the Murom prince Gleb lived - around the fortified princely courtyard, which was surrounded by dense forests. The first monastery church was consecrated in honor of the All-Merciful Savior, and in chronicles, starting from 1096, they write about this monastery as “the monastery of the Savior on the forest.” Princes Peter and Fevronya, Russian saints who are revered by believers as patrons of family values, have visited here several times.

In honor of the capture of Kazan, the Russian sovereign Ivan IV the Terrible built a new stone Spassky Church in the monastery and gave the monastery expensive vestments for clergy, liturgical utensils, icons and books (1554). Later, when the monastery was besieged by enemies, monks lived in this five-domed temple and kept monastic values.

The second temple made of stone appeared on the monastery territory in 1691. The Church of the Intercession was built warm and on its lower floor there were storerooms, a bakery and a kitchen where meals were prepared for the brethren. And on the second floor they equipped rooms for holding church services.

Another building that has been preserved on the monastery territory since the 17th century is the brick abbot’s chambers. Of course, he did not live alone in such a large building. Some of the rooms inside the chambers were given over to monastic cells, and some to storage rooms.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the first theological school was opened in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery. It is noteworthy that clergy are trained there to this day.

Over several centuries of its history, the monastery managed to collect a large collection of monuments of ancient Russian writing - old handwritten and printed books, as well as documents. But in 1918, the new authorities accused the monks of helping the White Guard rebellion, closed the old monastery, and most of its valuables were stolen. It was possible to save only those items that the Murom Local History Museum managed to take for storage. From 1926, for 4 years, workshops of a local factory were located within the monastery walls, and later military personnel were stationed here.

Pilgrims come to this monastery to venerate the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear,” which came to the monastery from Athos at the end of the 19th century. In addition, a piece of the relics of the Russian saint Ilya of Murom, brought here from the Kiev-Pechora Lavra, is kept here. Fans of ancient Russian architecture can admire two temples (XVI-XVII centuries), five churches and chapels in the monastery.

It is very pleasant to be on the well-groomed monastery territory. There is a lot of greenery, a flowering club, and even its own mini-zoo, where pheasants, ducks and peacocks live. And in the monastery bakery you can buy delicious bread, which is made by the monks themselves.

The monastery is located at: st. Lakina, 1. The territory is open to visitors daily from 9.00 to 20.00.

Holy Trinity Convent

Since the 12th century, in the old part of the city there was a wooden church, consecrated in honor of Saints Boris and Gleb. This temple fell into disrepair, and in its place in the middle of the 17th century a new stone Trinity Cathedral was erected. The sponsor of this construction was the Murom merchant Tarasy Borisovich Tsvetnov. The townspeople called him by his nickname - Bogdan Tsvetnoy.

The five-domed temple, created in the traditions of Russian pattern making, has survived to this day, and it is truly remarkable. Above the domes rise amazingly beautiful gilded crosses, forged in the 17th century by Murom blacksmiths. And the multi-colored tiles painted with different ornaments give the ancient temple a special flavor.

In the middle of the 17th century, new buildings appeared in the monastery. On one stone foundation, a multi-tiered hipped bell tower and a beautiful gate church with a false hipped top were erected, which was consecrated in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Together with the cathedral, they formed one of the most beautiful architectural ensembles of ancient Murom.

During Soviet rule from 1923 to 1991, the monastery was closed. Then the period of her difficult recovery began. The relics of Saints Peter and Fevronya, the Murom princes considered patrons of marriage and love, as well as an ancient reliquary cross, revered by believers, were transferred from the city museums to the monastery.

The monastery has opened a shelter for orphan girls and elderly women - “Nadezhda”. In addition, the monastery is engaged in social service in several prisons, colonies where juvenile offenders are kept, among soldiers of a military unit and in the city society for the disabled. In front of the monastery there is a monument to Peter and Fevronier, which has become a real place of pilgrimage among lovers and newlyweds of Murom. The Orthodox Church celebrates the feast day of these saints on July 8th.

The convent is located in the central part of Murom, next to the city administration, on Peasant Square (formerly Trinity), 3A.

Annunciation Monastery

In the 12th century, a wooden Church of the Annunciation was built in Murom, where the townspeople carefully preserved the relics of the princes who baptized the city, Konstantin Svyatoslavovich - the son of the Chernigov prince, as well as his sons - Mikhail and Fedor. A men's monastery appeared on the site of this church in the middle of the 16th century.

The history of its foundation is closely connected with the campaign of Ivan IV the Terrible to Kazan. The tsar and his army stopped in Murom and promised, in case of victory, to build a monastery for monks on the site where the holy princes were buried. And so it happened, the old wooden church was dismantled and the Annunciation Cathedral was built from stone by Moscow architects. The new monastery immediately found itself under royal patronage. From the king she received rich gifts, money from the treasury and several Murom villages.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the monastery had to overcome terrible trials. In 1916, Polish-Lithuanian troops, led by Pan Lisovsky, plundered the monastery and took the monks prisoner. When the Time of Troubles in Rus' ended, a Murom resident, merchant Tarasy Tsvetnov, rebuilt the monastery with his own money. And when this merchant grew old, he took monastic vows and was later buried on the territory of the monastery.

A wooden church in honor of St. Sergius of Radonezh, which is a monument of wooden architecture of the 18th century, was brought to the territory of the monastery from the neighboring Melenkovsky district.

Temple of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God

The Temple of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God is a functioning Orthodox church located on the embankment of the Oka River in the city of Murom. It was erected in 1804 on the site of its wooden predecessor, which was destroyed by fire. The construction was financed by a local merchant. Later the church was expanded, a parish and a bell tower were added.

In 1922, the church’s valuables were confiscated, allegedly to help the starving people of the Volga region. 24 kilograms of gold, a pound of silver and other valuables were taken from the church. The building was given over to an exhibition hall and concerts of the academic choir. In 1995, the Temple of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God was returned to the Orthodox Church.

Holy Trinity Church

On the outskirts of the city of Murom there is the village of Karacharovo - this is the birthplace of the epic hero Ilya Muromets. He became the first and only hero of the Russian epic, whom the Orthodox Church canonized after his death.

The Murom land is rich in shrines that have long been revered by the people: churches, chapels, monasteries and temples. One of them is the Holy Trinity Church, built in Karacharovo in the 12th century on a hill on the banks of the Oka River. At first the Trinity Church was wooden. According to legend, Ilya Muromets himself laid three huge oak trees at its foundation, which he himself tore out and brought.

In 1828, a stone bell tower was erected next to the wooden church. It has three tiers, on top, in the center of the gilded dome, there is a cross. The oldest Holy Trinity Church is still operational, despite the fact that work on its restoration is ongoing.

Orthodox believers from all over Russia and other countries regularly come here to pray and touch the real shrines of the Russian land.

The Murom maiden Resurrection Monastery, according to local legends, arose in ancient times on the site of the country princely palace of the Murom saints Peter and Fevronia (deceased in 1228). Although no documentary information has been preserved about the time of its foundation, it is still possible to assume that the monastery was founded no later than the 16th century. The patrons of the monastery were the Murom merchants of the living room of the hundred Cherkasovs, on whose funds the stone construction was carried out in the middle of the 17th century. According to church tradition, the nuns of this monastery were engaged in facial sewing. The shrouds and covers of the 17th-century maiden Resurrection Monastery have been preserved. In 1764, by decree of Catherine II, the monastery was liquidated and the Resurrection parish was established, which existed until the 1920s. During Soviet times, church buildings were occupied by various secular organizations. In recent years, there was a children's sports school, under the dome of the cathedral there was a boxing ring. In 1998, a decision was made to revive the nunnery. Currently, church services have been resumed here, and the monastery is being revived.

The Murom Monastery of the Annunciation was founded in 1553 by Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible on the site of the temple in the name of the Annunciation, erected, according to legend, by the ancestor of the Murom princes, Yaroslav Svyatoslavich. In 1616 the buildings of the monastery were destroyed almost to the ground, and the royal gifts were plundered by the Poles. Throughout the 17th century. the monastery was reborn from ruins. His mentor was the famous Murom merchant, merchant of the Moscow living room hundred Tarasy Borisovich Tsvetnov. He rebuilt the Annunciation Cathedral in 1664. In 1792, the brethren survived a devastating fire, but the stone buildings and main shrines survived. During Napoleon's invasion, it became a shelter for the main Russian shrines - the icons of the Iverskaya and Vladimir Mother of God. View from the fence of the Resurrection Monastery after sunset.

Moore. Church in honor of Ksma and Damian

Murom Resurrection Monastery

The first news about the Assumption Church dates back to the second half of the 16th century. It is mentioned along with other churches in the hundredth book of the city of Murom in 1574. It was built in stone instead of wooden buildings on this site in 1790 by the Murom merchant D. Likhonin. Rebuilt in 1829. In 1835, a stone bell tower was erected. Closed in 1940. Transferred to the Vladimir diocese in December 1999. The temple is operational. Restoration work is underway.

The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery of the city of Murom is the oldest monastery of Holy Orthodox Rus'. (Only the Kiev Pechersk Lavra is older than it). In the 1930s. the monastery was occupied by the military department. In the spring of 1995, the military unit left the monastery premises. On April 23 - the day of the Resurrection of Christ - the solemn consecration of the territory of the monastery took place.

Moore. Smolensk Church

Moore. Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Moore. Peasant Square

The Church of St. Nicholas Naberezhny (sometimes also called the Church of St. Nicholas Mokroy) in Murom was built in 1700-1717 at the expense of the Moscow priest Dmitry Khristoforov, who decided in this way to perpetuate the memory of his father, who served here in a wooden church. Whether this wooden church burned down or was dismantled due to disrepair is unknown. According to legend, previously, on the site of the temple here, on the high bank of the Oka, stood the wooden palace of Ivan the Terrible. In 1992, the temple, which had suffered from time and neglect, was returned to believers and restored. Now services are taking place in the renovated temple, and its bright silhouette adorns the high bank of the Oka River. During high water, the water comes under the base of the hill on which the temple is located.

In the Murom Spassky Monastery

Gate Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Murom Spassky Monastery

Murom Church of the Presentation of the Lord
It was built in 1795 at the expense of the Murom merchants Zvorykins. Rebuilt in 1888-92. On May 31, 1929, the plenum of the City Council initiated a petition to close the church. Closed in January 1930. In the 1980s - 90s. There was a workshop for making monuments in the temple. In December 1999 it was transferred to the Vladimir-Suzdal diocese.

Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
Built in 1700-1717. on the site of the wooden church of Elijah the Prophet on a hill above the Oka, in Merezhnaya Sloboda. The relics of righteous Juliania Lazarevskaya, revered throughout Russia, rest in the temple. In 1999, the descendants of the saint - the family of an Orthodox priest from France - came to Murom and brought the image of Righteous Juliana.

Moore. Monument to Peter and Fevronia

Moore. Memorial cross on the site of St. George's Church
One of the most interesting sights of Murom, which unfortunately has not survived to this day, is St. George’s Church, built on the northeastern edge of the city in Kozhevniki. For more than a hundred years from its construction until the mid-seventeenth century, the church was wooden. A wealthy Murom resident, Sidor Lopatin, allocated funds for the construction of a stone church, and by 1651 a five-domed church, with a refectory and a bell tower, was built. In the thirties of the twentieth century, the church was closed and destroyed.

Log house over a spring in the name of St. Blessed Peter and Fevronia of Murom

Love and Fidelity

Moore. Uspensky (Shtapsky) ravine
The origin of the name “Shtapskaya” is usually associated with the headquarters that was once located behind the ravine; At the same time, stunning of the last consonant in the word headquarters became part of the speech tradition. Assumption - after the name of the temple on the bank of the ravine (pictured on the left)

Sunset on the Oka near Murom

At the spring of Ilya Muromets in Karacharovo
According to legend, the spring was knocked out by the heroic horse of Ilya Muromets with the first gallop on the way to Kyiv city. There is a chapel and a bathhouse nearby. Pilgrims and tourists come... Ilya Muromets was officially canonized in 1643 among sixty-nine other saints of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

Ilya Muromets

Cross in memory of Ilya Muromets in Karacharovo

Moore. February Lane
One of the most interesting sights of Murom, which unfortunately has not survived to this day, is St. George’s Church, built on the northeastern edge of the city in Kozhevniki. For more than a hundred years from its construction until the mid-seventeenth century, the church was wooden. A wealthy Murom resident, Sidor Lopatin, allocated funds for the construction of a stone church, and by 1651 a five-domed church, with a refectory and a bell tower, was built. In the thirties of the twentieth century, the church was closed and destroyed. In the photo on the left is the rectory.

Murom Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery. Chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Elijah the Prophet

View of the Sretenskaya Church

Murom Kosmodemyansk Church
A special place in the architecture of Murom monuments is occupied by the Kosmodemyansk Church, built on the high bank of the Oka between 1556 and 1565. It is one of the most unique structures of Russian architecture of the first half of the 16th century. According to legend, it was built on the spot where from July 10 to July 20, 1552, Ivan the Terrible’s tent was located during the Kazan campaign and from where he watched the crossing of Russian troops across the Oka. Apparently, the construction was carried out by an artel led by the famous architect Postnik Yakovlev. This is confirmed by some architectural details that are also characteristic of other buildings built by this architect - St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow and the Annunciation Cathedral in Kazan.

Moore. Temple in honor of Seraphim of Sarov
The Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov (canonized in 1903) was built in the new district of Murom in the early 2000s. The ceremonial consecration took place on August 22, 2005, the ceremony was performed by Archbishop of Vladimir and Suzdal Evlogy. In the temple there is a revered image of St. Seraphim with a particle of the saint’s relics (found 70 years after his death, in 1903) in a pectoral cross. This icon was painted in 2003 by the sisters of the Seraphim-Diveevo monastery and given to the Murom Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery in memory of the 100th anniversary of the glorification of the reverend elder.