The Church of the Not-Made-By-Hand Savior in the village of Voronovo is located in the new territories of Moscow and is part of the 19th-century Voronovo estate, which includes a Dutch house, the Savior Church with a bell tower, a stable, a carriage house, a tower, and fences.
This place holds significant importance in Russian history. Here, soldiers of the Russian army prayed before heading off to the wars of 1812 and the Great Patriotic War.
The church represents a significant page in the history of Russian architecture. The stone single-domed central church, designed by K.I. Blank, is a beautiful example of Elizabethan Baroque. The freestanding bell tower, 62 meters high, is a unique architectural monument that harmoniously completes the complex and connects it with the local landscape.
The church was built at the request of the owner of the Voronovo estate, Lieutenant General Ivan Illarionovich Vorontsov. On April 15, 1752, the Moscow Spiritual Consistory allowed the replacement of the dilapidated wooden church with a new stone one, with altars dedicated to St. Artemius the Great Martyr and St. Mary of Egypt. Construction was completed by 1762.
The memory of the man who made one of the most beautiful churches in the Moscow region possible is immortalized in its walls. Count Vorontsov and his wife were buried near the Savior Church. The tombstones have not survived, but there is a marble slab with an inscription about the burial behind the right choir in the church.
The most tragic episode in the history of the church was its desecration by the French in 1812. As they approached Voronovo, Count Fyodor Vasilyevich Rostopchin, the owner of Voronovo, ordered the estate to be set on fire and left a note on the church doors: "The residents of this place leave their homes at your approach... Here you will find nothing but ashes." In response, the church was desecrated, and enemy cavalry took shelter inside. In 1813, the church was consecrated again.
After the October Revolution of 1917, the church was neither looted nor closed: only the bells were removed and sent for melting down. It remained open even in the most difficult times for the church. In 1941, being almost on the front line of Moscow's defense, the church spiritually supported the local residents. During the war, it physically survived, with only the upper part of the bell tower suffering damage.
Since 1998, efforts by the parish, which numbers 6,000 people, along with the support of benefactors, have initiated emergency rescue and restoration work on the bell tower: by the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ, its spire and white stone ornamentation were restored.
From 2001, phased restoration work was carried out in the church: the base was restored, the dome and cupola coverings were replaced with copper, and the octagon was renovated. However, the funds raised by the parish were insufficient to complete the work fully.
The inclusion of the area where the church is located into Moscow in 2012 allowed participation in a program providing subsidies from the city budget to religious organizations for the repair and restoration of cultural heritage sites. Thanks to the allocated funds, the restoration of the facades of the first tier of the church, bas-reliefs, and the strengthening of elements of the white stone base and staircase were carried out. The Church of the Not-Made-By-Hand Image of the Merciful Savior in the village of Voronovo became the first example of the restoration of a cultural heritage site carried out by the Government of Moscow in the new territories.
In 2014, the main house of the estate became a laureate of the Moscow Government competition for the best project in the field of preservation and popularization of cultural heritage sites "Moscow Restoration" in the nomination "For High Quality of Repair and Restoration Work."
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