KOLOMENSKOYE

Description

Essentials about Kolomenskoye in brief

If you like to walk in the green and are interested in history and architecture at the same time, you should definitely make your way to Kolomenskoye during a trip to Moscow. The former summer residence of the Russian tsar’s family is now a spacious park where there are many churches steeped in history, historic buildings and interesting museums to visit.

The Church of the Ascension of Christ

Kolomenskoye is picturesquely situated on the hilly bank of the Moskva River in the southeast of Moscow city center. The village of Kolomenskoye was first mentioned in 1336. Over time, the village developed into a favorite country residence of Moscow rulers. The oldest preserved structure is the unique Ascension Church (1532) made of white stone to commemorate the long-awaited birth of the heir to the throne, later Tsar Ivan the Terrible. As the first stone church of tent-like form, the “White Column” marked a daring break with the Byzantine architectural tradition that had prevailed in Russia until then. Due to its architectural significance, the church was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1994.

The Church of John the Baptist

On the other side of the Kolomenskoye ravine the Church of St. John the Baptist is located, which dates back to about 1547. The exact date of its completion is not known. Historians argue whether its builders were Italian builders or even Postnik Yakovlev, the builder of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square. Whatever the truth, the fact is that the church definitely served as a source of inspiration for the builder of St. Basil’s Cathedral.

The wooden palace of Czar Alexei I.

Another architectural highlight of Kolomenskoye is the wooden palace of Tsar Alexei I. The tsar had all the previous wooden structures in Kolomenskoye demolished and replaced them with a new large wooden palace famous for its fanciful, fairy-tale roofs. Foreigners described the very large labyrinth of many corridors and 250 rooms, all built without using a single nail, hook or saw, as the “eighth wonder of the world.” However, after the tsar’s court moved to Saint Petersburg, the palace fell into increasing disrepair and was finally demolished by order of Catherine the Great in 1768. In 2010, however, the palace was reconstructed according to old plans and now houses exhibitions that introduce visitors to the extravagant life of the tsar’s palace. Remnants of the former palace complex also include the five-vaulted Kazanskaya Church (1662) and the stone and wooden entrance gates.

The open-air museum of Russian wooden architecture and other wooden buildings

Those who are interested in wooden architecture will get their money’s worth even more in Kolomenskoye. On the one hand, in the open-air museum of Russian wooden architecture you can marvel at some examples of rare wooden constructions from all over Russia. On the other hand, there are many other rare and old wooden buildings scattered around the site, which were transferred to Kolomenskoye from different parts of the country during the Soviet period.