Kolomna is one of the famous tourist sites of the Moscow Region. Here are the unique historical and cultural monuments of our state of different historical periods and various architectural styles. Unique monuments of ancient Russian architecture, as well as structures built in the pseudo-Russian style, such as the temple of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God depicted in the photo below, have been preserved.
Kolomna as a historical and cultural monument
The city of Kolomna, as one of the important centers of Russian statehood, arose on the border of two independent principalities - Vladimir-Suzdal and Ryazan. He controlled the trade routes passing along the Moscow River and its tributary Oka, and was located on the banks of the small river Kolomenki. Apparently, the name of the city came from here.
There are two versions of the appearance of the toponym: from the ancient Slavic "coco", which means "circle, circle", or from Turkic, which translates as "cemetery, grave".
Ivan III united independent principalities into a single Russian state. Kolomna became part of the Moscow lands much earlier. She was joined by the son of Alexander Yaroslavich (Nevsky) Daniil Alexandrovich (Moscow). Kolomna under Ivan III and later was part of Muscovy in the status of a specific principality and became part of the Moscow Region.
Kolomna was repeatedly subjected to the invasion of the Horde forces, went bankrupt, burned and restored. In the center of the city, according to Old Russian tradition, in the 16th century the Kremlin was erected, which ensured the safety of the settlement.
Temple of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God in Kolomna: History
It was on the territory of the Kremlin that the temple of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God was erected at the end of the 18th century. The initiator and financier of the construction was Kolomna merchant Ivan Meshchaninov. There is a legend that there used to be a wooden church in the same place.
The restructuring of the temple was carried out at the end of the XIX century. During the restoration, the church was expanded. The number of chapters and chapels has been increased. The boiler is supplied. The construction was financed by the merchant F.N. Tupitsyn. After reconstruction, the church was consecrated by Metropolitan Filaret.
After the revolution, the temple of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God in Kolomna initially functioned without heating, since the boiler was dismantled and then completely closed. The decoration of the church was destroyed. They removed the bells from the nearby bell tower. And only at the end of the 20th century the church was returned to the diocese. Kolomna craftsmen did a huge amount of restoration work, a large number of interiors and decor were reconstructed again. New bells were cast. The largest of them got its own name - "Pimen".
The address of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God of Tikhvin: Kolomna, Lazarev Street, 14.
Temple architecture
The church was built in the style of pseudo-Russian cross-domed architecture, which was based on the Byzantine canons. The original temple, according to the preserved documents, was single-headed and single-throne.
However, after the restructuring, the number of domes was increased to five. Chapters are onion-shaped. The smallest gilt head is located on the tent cover of the octagonal lantern turret. Four others are the same, covered with blue paint, have a slightly larger size and are placed in the corners on small hexagonal drums.
In the old stone church of the XVIII century on the eastern side of the temple was one apse. Now the church has three apses of the same height, but the central shape is different: the lateral ones are semicircular in shape, and the central one is tetrahedral, representing a trapezoid in plan. Accordingly, there are three thrones in the existing church.
The stone Tikhvin church has a contrasting color: brick - the main color, simple and curly platbands, vertical cords and a basement are painted in white. The stone tent bell tower adjacent to the temple has a white color, resembling the tent temples of Ancient Russia in appearance. The belfry is also crowned with a blue onion head on the drum.
Her paintings are important for the temple of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God in Kolomna. The west side wall is painted with a fresco on the theme of the Last Judgment. And the iconostases of the right and left side chapels restored at the end of the 20th century include the iconic faces of the most revered Russian saints: Sergius of Radonezh, Seraphim of Sorovsky, John of Kronstadt, Dmitry Donskoy and others.
Icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God
According to one of Kolomna’s legends, a wooden church was consecrated in the name of the icon of the Mother of God of Tikhvin in memory of the appearance of the icon over the waters of the Tikhvinka River, described in the legend, in place of the stone Tikhvin church by the decree of Dmitry Donskoy.
In Kolomna, it is especially customary to celebrate the feast of the icon of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. This icon is miraculous. Now it is stored in the Great Tikhvin Assumption Monastery. But lists from it can be found in different churches of Russia. One of them is located in the canopy to the right of the main iconostasis of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God Church in Kolomna.