History of its emergence and division

The bell tower of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Butyrki always raises many questions among passersby. For example, why does it stand separately from the church in front of a large industrial building, noticeably protruding onto the street.

The history of this church begins in the first half of the 17th century, when the surrounding lands belonged to the boyar Ivan Nikitich Romanov. In 1647, his son Nikita built a wooden church of the Nativity of the Virgin here. After the boyar's death, a Moscow soldier regiment, later known as the Butyrsky regiment, was stationed on these lands. For some time, the regiment was commanded by the famous associate of Peter the Great, Patrick Gordon. With the regiment's funds, a new stone church of the Nativity of the Virgin was built between 1682 and 1684. A feature of the church was the freestanding bell tower, pushed to the west, on the line of the churchyard fence.

The bell tower of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin was considered one of the tallest and most elegant tent-shaped bell towers in Moscow. Its tent was adorned with four tiers of sound windows. Muscovites liked it so much that in 1689, a nearly identical copy was built at the Church of St. Nicholas the Revealer on Arbat, which unfortunately has not survived. The placement of the bell tower on the line of the fence was architecturally significant, as it actively integrated into the distant perspectives of the street.

The church had five domes, and its walls were topped with wide semicircles of kokoshniks. The vaults of the church rested on two pillars, and the refectory was four-pillar.

In 1935, the closed church was handed over to a factory, which set up a workshop in the building. Soon, the five domes and the tent over the bell tower were demolished, as they became unnecessary for the factory. There is a legend that the tent was dismantled so it would not serve as a landmark for fascist aviation. In 1970, a large workshop was built between the bell tower and the main volume of the church, for which the refectory was demolished. Thus, the outstanding monument of the 17th century was divided into two parts by an industrial building. The lower tiers of the bell tower remained on the street and were used for storing inventory.

In 1998, the remaining part of the bell tower was returned to the believers. A year later, it was transformed into the Church of Dmitry Donskoy. An apse was added to the east, and services began in the former gates.

Reconstruction and restoration

In 2013, the bell tower was restored according to the project of N.I. Danilenko. The chief architect of the project noted that the bell tower was restored exactly according to historical materials and emphasized that the height part corresponds to the historical appearance. According to her, 162 bricks were used in the construction of the bell tower, and exactly the same amount was used for the restoration. N.I. Danilenko also reported that during the work, the foundation and load-bearing walls were strengthened, and the 17th-century tile frieze was restored based on four surviving fragments. Currently, the bell tower building houses the parish community of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 2013, the church 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."