New Jerusalem Monastery. Description of the New Jerusalem Monastery History of the creation of the New Jerusalem Monastery

This Saturday, my friends and I decided to leave Moscow for a one-day trip to Istra, walk around the area, and visit the New Jerusalem Monastery, which many have heard about, but few have visited. It was also interesting to see the museum of wooden architecture. The summer of 2014 turned out to be cold and rainy, but this did not stop us from traveling.

Istra. New Jerusalem

New Jerusalem 2017: review of the trip to the monastery after restoration

On Saturday, despite the preparations the day before and the intention to leave at 9 am, we all overslept and got into the car only at 12. We started the navigator on our smartphone (it was enough to enter the official address of the monastery in Istra, Sovetskaya Street, 2) , he led us along the Novorizhskoe highway. You can get to Istra along the Volokolamsk highway, but there was a big traffic jam there. The journey by car took us about an hour, despite the fact that the distance from Moscow is small - only 60 km.

We arrived at the main entrance to the Monastery around 15-00. I must say that if you arrive here late, you won’t have time to see anything; the ticket office and main places to visit are open only until 16-30. The entrance to the territory of the New Jerusalem Monastery is open until 18-00.

There is free parking for cars in front of the monastery entrance. We were lucky - a place became available right before our arrival.

New Jerusalem. Square in front of the monastery

On the square in front of the monastery there was a brisk trade in all kinds of souvenirs, beggars hung out, but they were afraid to approach us on our hike.

Tour of the New Jerusalem Monastery

If you stand facing the monastery, then on your left hand there will be a small building with a sign “Excursion Bureau”. Having checked whether there were any available guides, we decided to book an individual excursion (cost 1,500 when viewing the full exhibition, 900 rubles when viewing only the territory of the monastery and the Ascension Cathedral). Entrance to the territory of the monastery itself is free. A fee is charged only for the ability to walk on the walls when they are open. In our case, the passage was closed due to restoration.

In addition to ordering excursions, here you could purchase tickets to visit the museum of wooden architecture, which is located behind the monastery. More precisely, visiting the territory itself is free, you only pay for the entrance directly to the Hut, where items of peasant everyday life are presented (50 rubles for entry, 150 rubles for photography). We still bought the ticket, although even in advance it was clear that there was a catch here.

Here at the tour desk we studied a map of the monastery and the area around it.

So, after 5 minutes our guide came out and led us to the territory of the Resurrection New Jerusalem Stauropigeal Monastery.

Entering the gate, we froze at the view of the main cathedral of the monastery - the Resurrection Cathedral and the bell tower. The spectacle was truly stunning: the gilded domes sparkled majestically against the background of a stormy sky.

Resurrection Cathedral

Here the guide began her story.

History of the New Jerusalem Monastery

The history of the monastery goes back to the distant 17th century, when Patriarch Nikon, together with Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, decided to build an analogue of Palestine on Russian soil. The fact is that in those days the Ottoman Empire dominated the Holy Land, and visiting Jerusalem was simply dangerous for Christians. The Istra lands were not chosen by chance - the landscape made it possible to recreate the holy land in miniature: the Istra River played the role of the Jordan River, the hills surrounding the monastery could serve as analogues of the hills surrounding Jerusalem, the park outside the walls of the monastery was renamed Gethsemane.

In 1649, Patriarch Pasius of Jerusalem brought a model of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to Moscow. This sculptural image was used in the construction of the Resurrection Cathedral, which is a copy of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem (although the Cathedral is completely different in appearance).

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the New Jerusalem Monastery was the most visited place of pilgrimage; it played a vital role in the spiritual development of Russia. After the revolution in 1919, the Monastery was closed. Two museums were opened on the territory.

During the Great Patriotic War, the territory of the monastery was occupied by the Germans. Many buildings and structures were destroyed, the Resurrection Cathedral and the bell tower were blown up. This issue was particularly noted at the Nuremberg trials. In the period from the 1950s to the 1990s, restoration work was carried out, thanks to which the New Jerusalem Monastery was restored from the ashes, like a phoenix.

Even today you can see traces of shells, which were specially left by restorers to commemorate these times.

New Jerusalem. Traces of war

Today, grandiose work is underway on the territory of the monastery. In 2014, a bell tower “grew up” near the Cathedral, destroyed during the Great Patriotic War.

The main cathedral looks fresh and updated in appearance. The rest of the territory is covered with nets and forests. It is impossible to walk along the walls of the monastery today - they are closed due to work.

The number of workers carrying out the work is about 1,500 people. The completion of the restoration of the monastery is scheduled for 2016. The guide told us that the work is personally monitored by the President of the country, flying here in a blue helicopter, however, he does not show movies for free and does not congratulate you on your birthday.

Separately, it is worth noting the beautiful ceramic decor of the Ascension Cathedral; in some places, original decor from the 17th century has even been preserved.

Resurrection Cathedral. Decorative elements

Resurrection Cathedral. Tiles

Inspection of the Resurrection Cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery

After an external inspection of the beautiful Resurrection Cathedral, we went inside. The inside of the building is very complex, so I recommend that you purchase a map from a kiosk before visiting it, or, like us, use the services of a guide.

I am posting the plan of the cathedral. Those who have been to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem can note that the structure of the Resurrection Cathedral, in terms of the arrangement of the main elements, completely coincides with the Resurrection Cathedral.

Resurrection Cathedral. Cathedral plan

The interiors of the cathedral contrast sharply with its appearance. The room is, of course, very majestic, but it is made in the Baroque style, with characteristic stucco molding, angels, bows and so on. It is immediately clear who ordered the interior decoration. It was Elizaveta Petrovna, who adored all these palace attributes. We were surprised how the external decoration of the Cathedral, reminiscent of a Russian tower, is dissonant with the internal palace decor. It’s as if these are completely different rooms, but each is chic in its own way.

New Jerusalem. Inside the Cathedral

The dome of the cathedral has already been painted by masters.

Resurrection Cathedral. Cathedral dome

The temple itself, despite the inclement weather, looks very bright and clean.

Grandiose work is also underway inside the cathedral. The huge iconostasis gapes with black holes instead of icons. Very soon they will take their places here.

New Jerusalem. Iconostasis

Now you can see above the iconostasis a figure of the Savior made of cardboard. The guide explained that this is one of the stages of restoration, when future sculptures are made from cardboard, the aesthetic appearance is agreed upon with government officials, and only then the real decor is made.

New Jerusalem. Figure of the Savior

The guide told us that the cathedral, in its size and location of the main churches, completely coincides with the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. It didn’t fit in my head, because in size it may be similar, but in terms of the interior style, decoration and atmosphere it is a completely different place.

Resurrection Cathedral. Emperor's box

The guide showed us the way to the “calvary”, which, like in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, is located to the left of the main entrance to the Temple. It is not possible to go upstairs yet, as work is underway. As the guide continued her story, more and more people joined us. So our small group of three grew to 15 people. Anyway.

New Jerusalem. Everyone is interested in listening to the tour

Inside the temple there is also the “Cave of the Holy Sepulcher,” where, according to the guide, healing blue fire descends here on Orthodox Easter. To put it mildly, we were surprised.

Resurrection Cathedral. Cave of the Holy Sepulcher

Whoever wanted to venerate the Tomb. By the way, there is a rule here - you can leave the cave without turning your back to it.

After visiting the main church, we went to the Chapel of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where you can see real fragments of the design of that very first Church of the Resurrection. The author of the design of this chapel, by order of the emperor, was the famous Matvey Kazakov (1802).

Resurrection Cathedral. Chapel of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

What struck me most was the art of the tiles. I have never seen anything like this in any Orthodox church.

One of the symbols that was embodied in the tiles was the “pomegranate flower,” which symbolizes the blood of Christ - a symbol of the martyrdom of the savior. The drawing “near the peacock” symbolizes the Resurrection of Christ.

Resurrection Cathedral. Fragments of tiles

The guide also showed us another symbol encrypted in the tiles - a lion, meaning power on Earth.

Lion tile

Candles can be placed in the same aisle.
There are a few icons on the wall, for example, a copy of the Athonite icon of “Our Lady of Three Hands.” In the same chapel you can collect holy water.
A farewell look at the cathedral.

Resurrection Cathedral. New Jerusalem

At 4:00 pm we left the temple and continued exploring the area.

Walk around the monastery grounds

Opposite the entrance to the temple are the chambers of Tsarina Tatiana Mikhailovna (patron of the monastery), restored from old engravings.

Chambers of Tsarina Tatiana Mikhailovna (patron of the monastery)

Behind the Resurrection Cathedral is the Church of the Nativity of Christ, also open to the public. But since we had limited time (we wanted to make it to the museum of wooden architecture), we decided not to go inside.

Church of the Nativity

There is also a museum on the territory (in the Refectory and Hospital wards), which we also did not get to due to the fact that time was limited. I needed to sleep less.

You can look around the Resurrection Cathedral for a very long time, the tiles with which it is decorated on the outside are so beautiful. The pattern of tiles that decorate the cathedral is called “Peacock Eye”; it was created by the Belarusian master Stepan Polubes (apparently he was so nicknamed for his golden hands).

Resurrection Cathedral

Resurrection Cathedral. Tiles

Resurrection Cathedral

The only thing that disappointed me was that during the reconstruction there was a beautiful multi-tiered dome of the Resurrection Cathedral. But never mind, very soon he will appear in all his glory.

At this point our excursion was completed, and we independently went to the museum of wooden architecture. To do this, we walked along a wooden corridor along the walls of the monastery. According to the plan of the monastery, this place was the “Garden of Gethsemane.”

You can read about our walk through the Museum of Wooden Architecture here.

How to get to the New Jerusalem Monastery

Address: Moscow region, Istra, Sovetskaya street, 2

Monastery opening hours: daily from 9-00 to 18-00.

By car you can get to the monastery along the Novorizhskoye or Volokolamsk highway (you will need to drive through the city of Istra). Distance approximately 45 km from MKAD

You can travel on your own by train from the Rizhsky station (you can also get on at the Tushinskaya station, not far from the metro station of the same name) to the Istra station or to the Novo-Ierusalimskaya station. From there it is recommended to take a bus to the Monastyr stop; you can also walk - about 20 minutes. Local taxi drivers can also take you to the monastery.

An alternative option is to take bus No. 372 from the Tushinskaya metro station. You will need to go to the “Pochta” stop. Here you will need to change trains and get to the Monastyr stop.

The New Jerusalem Monastery was founded by Patriarch Nikon in 1656. According to the patriarch's plan, a complex of holy places in Palestine was to be recreated near Moscow, the main cathedral was to copy the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Istra River was renamed Jordan (Jordan). The surrounding villages and hills received biblical names such as Zion, Bethany, Tabor, Olivet, Kidron. However, the scale of the New Jerusalem was deliberately reduced in comparison with the real Jerusalem, being precisely the prototype of the Holy Land.

The land on which the monastery was to be located was in the possession of votchinniki (hereditary feudal lords with land holdings), and Patriarch Nikon obtained from Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich a special right to acquire these land holdings.

Construction of the cathedral began in 1658, but in the same year, due to disagreements with Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Nikon announced that he was resigning from the patriarchal rank, and until 1664 he lived in the monastery of the New Jerusalem Monastery, supervising the construction of the cathedral. In 1666, Nikon returned to Moscow, where he was defrocked and exiled to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Under Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, Nikon received permission to return to New Jerusalem, but died on the way and was buried in the New Jerusalem Monastery.

After Nikon’s death, the monastery was not abandoned, and the best Russian architects were involved in the construction - Ya.G. Bukhvostov, F.B. Rastrelli, M.F. Kazakov. On January 18, 1685, the Resurrection Cathedral was consecrated.

During the reign of Peter I in the first half of the 18th century, the monastery experienced a decline - the staff of monks was reduced, funds for their maintenance were limited, and most of the monastery's income was transferred to the state treasury. In addition, the monastery was obliged to supply the state with horses and fodder, and artisans from among the monastery peasants. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna took the monastery under her patronage and allocated large funds for its renovation.

The land holdings of the New Jerusalem Monastery increased, and the financial situation improved. The monastery turns into an influential religious and cultural center. At his disposal was one of the richest libraries in the country, the basis of which was the personal books of Patriarch Nikon, which he transferred to the monastery, including manuscripts from Athos monasteries with ancient and early Christian texts. Translations of books published in Kyiv, Vilna, Ostrog, Lvov, Krakow were regularly sent to the monastery. By the end of the 17th century, more than 600 books were stored here. (Since 1920, the collection of manuscripts has been kept in the State Historical Museum.) Many famous figures of Russian history and culture at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries visited the New Jerusalem Monastery as pilgrims.

In the 19th - early 20th centuries, the monastery became one of the centers of pilgrimage in Russia. By 1913, 35,000 people visited the monastery annually. After the revolution, the monastery was closed and in 1921 turned into a museum. During the Great Patriotic War in 1941, the museum was occupied for three weeks and was looted, and the Resurrection Cathedral was blown up, many architectural monuments were destroyed. In 1959, the museum resumed work, the monastery buildings were restored, with the exception of the main architectural dominant - the tiered bell tower of the 17th century and the interior of the cathedral.

According to descriptions from 1668, the monastery was surrounded by a moat, across which a bridge was thrown to the entrance tower. In 1690-1697, the formation of the complex of monastic buildings was completed with the construction of a stone fortress wall. The total length of the monastery walls, built in compliance with the rules of fortress architecture, is about one kilometer, height - 9 meters, thickness - up to 3 meters. The upper part of the walls - the battle passage - is equipped with two rows of loopholes.

There are 7 towers on the breaks in the wall. The eighth, the Elizabeth Tower, is located above the western gate. The Gate Church of the Entrance to Jerusalem was built above the eastern Holy Gate. Continuing the tradition, the fortress towers received Palestinian names: Gethsemane, Zion, House of David, Foreigners, Varukha, Ephraim, Damascus.

According to the plan of Patriarch Nikon, the Resurrection Cathedral was built in the image of the Romanesque Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem using drawings of the Jerusalem temple. With new contours, the cathedral's plan corresponds to the dimensions of the Palestinian shrine, and the layout of individual rooms is also repeated. However, the interior and exterior decoration, invented by Nikon personally, are completely different.

From the very beginning of construction, a system of explanatory inscriptions was created in the interior and on the facade of the cathedral, made on white stone slabs, iconostases and ceramic belts. Like its Palestinian prototype, the cathedral consists of three parts, combined into a single architectural composition.The center of the temple is four-pillared, covered with a powerful dome on a drum. From the west is the second main architectural and semantic accent of the cathedral - the rotunda covered with a tent over the Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher (edicule) [under restoration].

A distinctive feature of the cathedral was the architectural ceramics that decorated its interiors and facades. In the mid-17th century, masters such as Pyotr Zaborsky, Stepan Polubes, and Ignatius Maximov worked on ceramic decoration. Under Patriarch Nikon, five ceramic order iconostases were made (two for the chapels of the Beheading of John the Baptist and the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary and three for the altar chapels).

The cathedral was given a festive look by tiled frames of icons in its three tiers, decorative belts, portals and inscriptions. At the end of the 17th century, the drum of the large dome of the cathedral, the parapets of the choir and the upper tiers of the temple were decorated with tiles. The tiles, made in the second half of the 17th century in the ceramic workshop of the monastery, have a complex, carefully crafted relief, and are large in size. This is a unique architectural ceramics that has no analogues in Russian architecture.

From the east, the underground church of Constantine and Helen adjoins the main volume of the cathedral (in Jerusalem, a similar church is carved into the rock). At the end of the 17th century, it was a simple rectangular building with a flat roof, the walls of the church rose 1.5 meters above ground level, and it was crowned by one dome decorated with tiles. In the middle of the 18th century, a ditch was dug to protect the building from groundwater, deepened 6 meters into the ground. At the beginning of the 19th century, water began to be drained through a specially constructed tunnel, and the ditch was lined with white stone. The interior of the church was remodeled in the Baroque style in the mid-18th century.

In the 80s of the 20th century, an open-air museum of wooden architecture was founded in the park of the New Jerusalem Museum. In the estate of the Kokorin family, built at the beginning of the 19th century, a permanent exhibition of peasant household items is open. The exhibits presented in the hut and the entryway reproduce the rustic interior of the 19th century.The wooden chapel was recreated based on measurements and photographs of an 18th-century building.The 19th century windmill was transported from the village of Kochemlevo, Kashinsky district.

Nearby is the Museum of the New Jerusalem, where you can see a wooden model of the Palestinian temple, drawings and photographs of the rotunda and edicule, household items and household utensils.

M. A. Kryuchkova, leading n. With. Museum "New Jerusalem"

In the middle of the 17th century, an unusual name appeared in the vicinity of Moscow - New Jerusalem. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who then ruled the Russian state, and the head of the Russian Church, Patriarch Nikon, decided to create a topographical and architectural copy of the Holy Land near the capital.

The center of Russian Palestine was to become a monastery, called New Jerusalem. This large-scale church-state project was intended to demonstrate the increased importance of Russia as a stronghold of world Orthodoxy, the heir of Byzantium, and to present the Russian Tsar himself as the second Constantine, a pious champion of the true faith. The Tsar and the Patriarch - the “wise two”, as they were called then - at first acted in complete unanimity, but later Alexei Mikhailovich pulled away from this project, and the implementation of the grandiose plan fell entirely on the shoulders of the Patriarch.

The creator of the monastery, Patriarch Nikon (1605–1681), is one of the most prominent figures in Russian history. Nikon headed the Russian Church for six years. The three monasteries he founded demonstrated the increased international importance of Russia as the center of world Orthodoxy. The Iversky Monastery in Valdai was a symbolic repetition of the Athos Iver - the monastic center of the Georgians, who were called Ivers in the Middle Ages - on the Holy Mountain. The Cross Monastery on the White Sea, with its dedication, was reminiscent of the monastery of the same name in the vicinity of Jerusalem. The final chord was the creation of Russian Palestine and the New Jerusalem Monastery.

Russian Palestine was conceived as an architectural and landscape image of the Holy Land. It was supposed to recreate all the main Palestinian shrines, which depicted the earthly life of Jesus Christ. Patriarch Nikon strove for maximum accuracy in reproducing holy places. The documentary sources for it were the engravings of the Italian artist Bernardino Amico, widely known in Europe, with images of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Bethlehem Basilica, the Chapel of Olives and other Palestinian churches. In addition, Nikon had at his disposal a book by the hieromonk of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Arseny (Sukhanov) “Proskinitarium” (“Admirer of Holy Places”), in which he described in detail the Palestinian shrines.

To realize his plan, Patriarch Nikon chose an area northwest of Moscow, along the banks of the Istra River. The river, making a bend in this place, was surrounded by hills. This made it possible to get as close as possible to the Palestinian prototype. Topographical objects received new names: Istra in its middle course began to be called Jordan, the stream flowing nearby - Kidron, the hill in their bend - Zion, the hill to the east of it - Olivet, to the north, beyond the river - Tabor. A worship cross was installed on the Hill of Olives, symbolically marking the place of the Ascension of Christ.

Temples were built dedicated to the great (twelfth) holidays: the village of Darna on Ermon Hill became Vozdvizhensky, Nikulino - Preobrazhensky, the village of Kotelniki - Voznesensky. On the bank of the river, a stone monastery of Patriarch Nikon (“hermitage on an island”) with the Church of the Epiphany (Baptism) was built. Some villages received historical Palestinian names: the village of Chernevo, located on the road from Moscow, on the territory of modern Krasnogorsk, was named Nazareth; in the village of Safatovo-Voskresensky it was planned to build the Bethany convent with the Church of the Entry of Christ into Jerusalem. The Zinoviev wasteland “on the stream” was renamed Capernaum. Russian Palestine also had its own Bethlehem, but its location could not be accurately determined. The system of holy places also included old villages, the names of which did not have to be changed: the village of Trinity on Istra, as well as the oldest settlement of these places, Ilyinsky Pogost, which was located south of the supposed New Jerusalem - in Palestine, the monastery of the Prophet Elijah is also located south of the city.

The main task of Patriarch Nikon was the construction of a monastery, symbolizing the holy city of Jerusalem. For this purpose, a hill was chosen in a bend of the river, called Zion. In 1657, the first wooden buildings of New Jerusalem appeared: the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, residential and outbuildings, and a fence. In the autumn of the same year, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich visited these places and approved the construction. In memory of this, an inscription was carved on the reverse side of the worship cross. However, in 1658, a conflict arose between the Tsar and the Patriarch. The offended Patriarch left Moscow and retired to New Jerusalem. Here he spent more than eight years, supervising construction on site. At first, all the main buildings of New Jerusalem were wooden. The earliest stone structure - the monastery of Patriarch Nikon - was built in 1657–1662 on an artificial island formed by a specially dug channel. The relatively small building organically combined church, residential and utility premises. Two churches were built in the monastery. One of them - the Church of the Epiphany - is located on the third floor of the building. The other - a small, octagonal church in honor of the apostles Peter and Paul with a miniature bell tower and a tiny cell, in which only a stone seat could fit, was placed on the flat roof of the monastery. In 1658, construction began on a stone cathedral in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. Nikon was not destined to see it completed. Under the Patriarch, the church building was raised to the roof and a seven-tier bell tower was built.

The eight-year stay of Patriarch Nikon in the monastery ended in 1666 with the deposition of Nikon from the patriarchal throne by the Council of the Ecumenical Patriarchs. A special charge was the construction of the New Jerusalem. The Council considered the idea of Russian Palestine to be contrary to church canons. Nikon tried to protect his beloved creation. He argued that Russian Palestine is not a mechanical copy, but an icon of the Holy Land, created in accordance with the definition of the Seventh Ecumenical Council on icons. The arguments of the disgraced Patriarch were not accepted, and the Council in 1666 forbade calling the Resurrection Monastery New Jerusalem.

Construction of the monastery stopped. Only after the death of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was Nikon's fall from grace lifted. The new Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, who ascended the throne in 1676, achieved the cancellation of the conciliar decision to depose the Patriarch and allowed him to return to the Resurrection Monastery. Nikon did not reach his monastery. He died on the road, not far from Yaroslavl. His body was brought to New Jerusalem and buried, according to his will, in the chapel of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, located under Golgotha. This choice was not accidental: it was under Mount Golgotha, according to legend, that Adam’s head was buried. In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in this place there were burials of the high priest Melchizedek and the kings of Jerusalem. Nikon, following the Palestinian prototype, bequeathed to bury himself in the appropriate chapel of the Resurrection Cathedral.

The disgrace was also removed from the monastery itself. The young Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich heeded the persistent requests of his aunt Tatyana Mikhailovna, the patroness of the late Patriarch, to complete the work begun by Nikon. In 1678, the king visited the monastery. The following year, construction of the cathedral resumed. Under the leadership of Archimandrite Nikanor and the builder Elder Sergius (Turchaninov), the grandiose building was completed. On January 18, 1685, in the presence of Tsar Ivan Alekseevich, ruler Sophia and other members of the royal family, the consecration of the main throne took place. In 1690, the underground church and southern aisles were consecrated. Thus, the plan of the Resurrection Cathedral, adopted by the monastery authorities from Patriarch Nikon, was finally realized.

The Resurrection Cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery became the largest temple in Russia at that time. The southern facade of the cathedral, 106 meters long, most clearly reveals its similarities with the Palestinian prototype - the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It consists of three main parts: an underground church in the name of Saints Constantine and Helen, the central part with the main altar of the Resurrection of Christ and the rotunda of the Holy Sepulcher, covered with a tent. As in the Palestinian temple, the bell tower adjoins the Resurrection Cathedral, and two “great gates” lead into the cathedral from the south.

The underground church of Constantine and Helen repeats the crypt church of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher with the chapel of the Finding of the Cross. It has no analogues in ancient Russian architecture. The church, buried in the ground, was filled with soil and rose one and a half meters above the surface. As time has shown, such a construction had no prospects in the conditions of the Central Russian climate and wet soil. In the 18th century the church was radically rebuilt. The central part of the cathedral with the main altar of the Resurrection has the shape of an open cross. From the north and south it is adjoined by three-tiered galleries with complexes of chapel churches; from the east there is a semicircular altar walkway with three chapels crowned with small domes. There is also a staircase from the underground church, the 33 steps of which symbolize the years of Christ’s earthly life. The western part of the temple is made up of a large round structure - a rotunda, similar to the Palestinian one. In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in its center there is the main shrine - the Edicule - the cave where the body of Christ was laid and at the entrance to which an angel announced the resurrection to the myrrh-bearing women.

The dedication of the cathedral to the Resurrection of Christ - the greatest holiday of the Eastern Christian Church, which opened the path to eternal life for man - introduced specific features into the composition and decor of the temple. Nikon put a special meaning into the Church of the Resurrection: he wanted to create an image of that New Jerusalem, which, according to the Revelation of John the Theologian, would come “from God from heaven” - a paradise, heavenly city. It was precisely this temple-city that the cathedral seemed to everyone who entered the monastery from the main entrance. The eastern façade of the Resurrection Cathedral opened before him. Its main parts rose one above the other. In the foreground is an underground church, above it are three small domes of the altar chapels, a little higher - flanking the central part of the gallery, completed with domes on octagonal drums. Above all this is the central part, topped with a large helmet-shaped dome on a round drum with a diameter of 13.2 meters. In the distance one could see part of the tent covering the rotunda of the Holy Sepulcher. The bell tower, destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, introduced an element of asymmetry into the eastern façade.

A distinctive feature of the temples of New Jerusalem was the use of multi-colored architectural ceramics. The cathedral was surrounded by ceramic friezes along all three tiers. The windows had ceramic frames, ceramic portals formed the entrances to the main chapels, in which tiled iconostases were built.

A unique church-educational act of the builders of the New Jerusalem was the compilation of a “stone guide” to the Resurrection Cathedral. In the first half of the 1680s, 48 white stone slabs with texts carved on them were embedded in the walls and pillars of the temple. The texts provided information about the topography of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, sometimes in comparison with the Resurrection Cathedral. This guide, in the part concerning the Palestinian temple, had as its main source “Proskinitarium” by Arseny Sukhanov. He introduced pilgrims to the location of the altars of the Palestinian temple, gave information about the religious affiliation of its parts, and reported on the shrines and relics kept there. At the same time, Archimandrite Nikanor composed a poetic “Chronicle”, telling about the construction of the Resurrection Cathedral, also carved in stone.

The Chapel of Olives above the already mentioned worship cross belongs to the late buildings of the 17th century. Octagonal in plan, like its Palestinian prototype, it had a hipped roof. In the 1690s, a stone monastery fence with eight towers and a gate church was built in honor of the Lord's entry into Jerusalem. The work was supervised by a prominent architect of the late 17th century, Yakov Grigorievich Bukhvostov, who worked in the Moscow Baroque style.

In the middle of the 18th century, the Resurrection Cathedral greatly changed its appearance. A new wooden tent was erected over the rotunda to replace the stone one that collapsed in 1723. The entire temple was decorated in the Elizabethan Baroque style.

Throughout its history, the Resurrection Monastery has replenished its collection of copies of Palestinian shrines. Back in the 17th century, the Stone of Confirmation, also called the Stone of Povitia, was placed opposite the entrance Red Gate of the cathedral. A rectangular slab 180 centimeters long and 107 centimeters wide symbolically designated the place where the body of Christ was laid by his disciples Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, where it was anointed with myrrh and entwined with a shroud. In Edicule there was a semblance of a stone rolled away from the Cave of the Holy Sepulcher. It first appeared here during the time of Patriarch Nikon and reproduced the visible part of a Palestinian stone that had grown into the ground, described by Arseny Sukhanov. In the 1870s, a new stone was made from white marble, which did not exactly correspond to the Jerusalem prototype, but only conventionally designated it.

In the cathedral one could see similarities to other Jerusalem relics. The pilgrim climbed to Golgotha and saw there the place of execution, which was a huge flat stone with three holes, marking the places where the crosses of Jesus and the thieves stood. A crack was carved in the stone as a reminder of how Mount Golgotha split, on which the blood of the Savior fell. A 17th-century cypress crucifix was installed on the place of execution in a carved icon case. Inside the chapel “Christ's Prison” there was a stone block in the form of a chair with holes for the legs. She reproduced the Bonds of the Savior stored in the Jerusalem temple, transferred there, according to legend, from the praetorium of Pontius Pilate. At the entrance to the altar chapel “Abraham’s Tent” lay the Altar Stone, indicating the place where Abraham sacrificed his son Isaac. A little further, at the entrance to the underground church, there was a stone - a semblance of the column on which Christ sat when the crown of thorns was placed on him.

In the 18th–19th centuries, the number of Palestinian place names and objects in the immediate vicinity of the monastery increased significantly. In 1845, a wooden hexagonal chapel was built over the Siloam spring on the northwestern slope of the monastery hill. At the northern slope there was a source of the Samaritan woman, over which a small chapel was also erected. By this time, the towers of the monastery fence had received Jerusalem names: Zion, Gethsemane, Damascus, David's House, Ephraim, Varukha, Inoplemennichya. The grove within the boundaries defined by the Kidron Stream began to be called the Garden of Gethsemane; a birch grove to the southwest of the monastery, opposite the tower of David's house - Uriya's garden; the ravines surrounding the monastery from the north and southeast are the Josaphat Valley and the Deplorable Valley. The village of Nikulino-Preobrazhenskoye received another name - Skudelnichye. Some Palestinian place names that date back to the 17th century have moved closer to the monastery. Mount Hermon began to be called the second, western peak of the Tabor Hill. The oak tree that stood near the river was called Mamre. Topographically, all this no longer corresponded much to the real Palestinian prototype, but it evoked among the pilgrims vivid associations and memories of the corresponding passages of Holy Scripture.

Here are the words of the famous 18th century poet G. R. Derzhavin:

On Istra, Voskresensk in Russia is famous,

And the new world honors him with Jerusalem,

In vain it resembles that holy temple,

In which the Son of God, saving the race of Adam,

Solemnly rose from the grave, like God,

And to those earthly-born he showed a pledge of generosity,

Which every faithful person feels within himself.

Reader, having visited the holy places here,

Let us honor the love of Christ himself.

These lines were placed on the wall of the bell tower at the entrance to the Resurrection Cathedral.

New Jerusalem Monastery

New Jerusalem Monastery was founded by Patriarch Nikon in 1656. According to the patriarch's plan, a complex of holy places in Palestine was to be recreated near Moscow, the main cathedral was to copy the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Istra River was renamed Jordan (Jordan). The surrounding villages and hills received biblical names such as Zion, Bethany, Tabor, Olivet, Kidron. However, the scale of the New Jerusalem was deliberately reduced in comparison with the real Jerusalem, being precisely the prototype of the Holy Land.

Continuing the tradition, the fortress towers received Palestinian names: Gethsemane, Zion, House of David, Foreigners, Varukha, Ephraim, Damascus.
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Like its Palestinian prototype, the cathedral consists of three parts, combined into a single architectural composition.
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The center of the temple is four-pillared, covered with a powerful dome on a drum. From the west is the second main architectural and semantic accent of the cathedral - the rotunda covered with a tent over the Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher (edicule) [under restoration].
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A distinctive feature of the cathedral was the architectural ceramics that decorated its interiors and facades.
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In the mid-17th century, masters such as Pyotr Zaborsky, Stepan Polubes, and Ignatius Maximov worked on ceramic decoration. Under Patriarch Nikon, five ceramic order iconostases were made (two for the chapels of the Beheading of John the Baptist and the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary and three for the altar chapels).
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The tiles, made in the second half of the 17th century in the ceramic workshop of the monastery, have a complex, carefully crafted relief, and are large in size. This is a unique architectural ceramics that has no analogues in Russian architecture.
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In the middle of the 18th century, a ditch was dug to protect the building from groundwater, deepened 6 meters into the ground. At the beginning of the 19th century, water began to be drained through a specially constructed tunnel, and the ditch was lined with white stone. The interior of the church was remodeled in the Baroque style in the mid-18th century.
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In the 80s of the 20th century, an open-air museum of wooden architecture was founded in the park of the New Jerusalem Museum.
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In the estate of the Kokorin family, built at the beginning of the 19th century, a permanent exhibition of peasant household items is open. The exhibits presented in the hut and the entryway reproduce the rustic interior of the 19th century.
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The wooden chapel was recreated based on measurements and photographs of an 18th-century building.
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The 19th century windmill was transported from the village of Kochemlevo, Kashinsky district.
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Nearby is the Museum of the New Jerusalem, where you can see a wooden model of the Palestinian temple, drawings and photographs of the rotunda and edicule, household items and household utensils.
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Thank you for your attention!

The grandiose project of Patriarch Nikon (1605-1681), aimed at recreating the revered places of the Holy Land.
The layout of the monastery is reminiscent of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
An interesting architectural monument of the 17th-18th centuries, built and reconstructed by the best architects, including B. Rastrelli.

The Stavropegic Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery is one of the most famous in the Moscow region. This is a unique holy place, amazing both in its design and in its implementation, in which famous architects from several eras participated. It reproduces the location of the main shrines of Jerusalem: the Church of the Resurrection - an analogue of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher with chapels, the underground Church of Constantine and Helena - an analogue of the Palestinian cave church, the Nativity Refectory Church. The natural relief of the area bears biblical names: mountains (hills) Tabor, Hermon, Sinai, Olivet, the Jordan River (Istra), the Garden of Gethsemane.

The monastery was founded in the 17th century by Patriarch Nikon, and some of the surviving shrines (the tomb and the monastery) are associated with his name. This is also where excursions are held, a Sunday school for children and adults operates, and a hotel for pilgrims operates. A small museum and exhibition complex has been opened at the monastery, the permanent exhibition of which is dedicated to Russian church art, as well as archeology and history of the Moscow region. In the park of the New Jerusalem Monastery complex, there is an open-air Museum of Wooden Architecture.

Personality of Patriarch Nikon

The founder of the monastery, Patriarch Nikon (1605-1681), left a controversial mark on history. In the Orthodox community, not everyone accepted his church reform, which began in 1653 and in many ways brought the Russian Orthodox Church closer to the European Church of Constantinople. The Old Believers saw this as an infringement of the original Russian Church. Resistance to Nikon's reform led to tragedy: the Old Believers were not only not listened to, they were persecuted en masse and executed.

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich initially warmly supported Nikon. However, after the Russian-Polish and Russian-Swedish wars, during which the patriarch was peculiarly engaged in domestic politics instead of the sovereign engaged in military actions, Nikon was forced to abdicate the patriarchal throne. Nikon was subjected to disgrace and exiled to the separated Ferapontov monastery, where he spent 15 years. After the death of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the new Tsar - Fyodor Alekseevich - allowed Nikon to return to his beloved New Jerusalem Monastery. On the way, Nikon died and was buried according to the rites of the patriarch in this monastery, under Golgotha.

History of the construction of the monastery

Patriarch Nikon himself chose the place to build the monastery. He often visited the large Iversky Monastery in the city of Valdai, stopping along the way to rest in the village of Voskresenskoye (now the city of Istra). The topography of this area prompted him to come up with a grand plan. The monastery near Istra was to become a symbol of the Third Rome: Russia's military and political influence grew both in the west and in the east, and the center of influence in the Orthodox world also shifted to Moscow.

In 1656, Nikon began buying up land, renaming the areas in accordance with his plan. A year later, the wooden Resurrection Church was built on Mount Eleon, in memory of the consecration of which, together with Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the Patriarch erected a Worship Cross (restored in 2006). The monastery itself was founded west of the Hill of Olives, on the hill of Zion. To the north is Tabor Hill. The Istra River was renamed Jordan. At the entrance to the city there was a small convent called Bethany. Thus, the topography of Palestine was completely reproduced and the New Jerusalem Monastery arose.

Before his exile, Patriarch Nikon did not have time to complete the monastery. In 1685, under the regency of Princess Sophia, sister of the future, significant improvements were made to the monastery. Peter I, on the contrary, did not favor monasteries: under him, the staff of monks and the income of the monastery sharply decreased; in addition, in 1726 the monastery was almost completely destroyed by fire. And only 20 years later, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna undertook to restore the monastery, appointing Karl Ivanovich Blank and (Bartholomew Varfolomeevich) Rastrelli as architects of the project.

Architecture of the New Jerusalem Monastery

Forms of the main temple of the monastery - Resurrection Cathedral- were inspired not only by the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but also, possibly, by descriptions of the Temple of Solomon, drawn from the Bible, as well as the Church of Hagia Sophia of Constantinople. The architects had an idea of the Jerusalem temple from a wooden model brought from Palestine. Averky Mokeev was appointed the main architect of the temple, who also participated in Nikon’s construction of two other large monasteries - the Cross Monastery on Kiy Island and the Iversky Monastery on Valdai.

The Resurrection Cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery consists of three parts: a large rotunda with a tent, a four-pillar temple and an underground church of Constantine and Helena. In addition, the cathedral originally housed the chapels of the Beheading of John the Baptist, the Assumption of the Mother of God and the upper Calvary chapel church. During subsequent restorations, the number of side chapels increased. Particularly striking in the overall multi-component silhouette of the temple is the huge hipped roof of the rotunda. In the rotunda there is a cuvuklia - the Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher. Many are surprised at the completion of the rotunda: after all, Patriarch Nikon subsequently banned the construction of hipped roofs in churches. Probably, the patriarch did not want the temple to be repeated, since in this case the sacred significance of the Resurrection Cathedral would be reduced: in Rus' there could only be one analogue of the Holy Sepulcher.

Although the cathedral was built in the Russian Middle Ages, it still appeals to order forms, which Russian masters learned from books and engravings brought from Western Europe. Tiles are wonderful examples of Russian art itself. They were worked on, in particular, by the famous master Stepan Polubes, who decorated many Moscow churches with tiles. Even ceramic iconostases were created under Nikon.

During the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, during the restoration of the monastery, the dominant style changed: it became Baroque. The heavy stone tent of the Church of the Resurrection was replaced by a wooden one, with a large number of lucarnes, thanks to which the rotunda became illuminated.

Adjacent to the Resurrection Cathedral from the east underground church of Constantine and Helena, consecrated in honor of the Emperor of Constantinople and his mother. The church is underground: this is how the craftsmen tried to reproduce an analogue of the Church of Constantine and Helena in Palestine, which was carved into the rock. In the 18th century, the church acquired additional domes and a ditch around it to protect it from groundwater.

The high strong wall of the monastery is decorated with towers: Gethsemane, Zion, House of David, Gate Elizabeth, Innotribal, Farukh, Ephraim and Damascus (clockwise). The towers are similar to each other, but have some differences in decor, the width of window openings and the shape of architectural volumes. The towers have undergone significant changes since Nikon's time. Elizavetinskaya “got it” the most.

In addition to the towers, the wall is decorated Gate Church of the Entrance to Jerusalem, built under the leadership of the architect Yakov Bukhvostov. This church has the shape of an octagon on a quadrangle, while the lower volume is decorated with semicircles of vestibules. Despite the complex silhouette and general upward direction, the gate church does not block the rotunda of the Resurrection Church, which is the main dominant feature of the ensemble.

In the western part of the monastery there are mainly outbuildings, built mostly at the end of the 17th century by order of the princesses Sophia and Tatiana. This refectory with the Church of the Nativity, hospital wards, archimandrite’s chambers, chambers of “monastery children”. Almost all buildings have undergone significant alterations and restorations. The exception is Tatyana Mikhailovna's chambers, malt and blacksmith chambers. The first ones were built much more elegantly - decorated with order platbands and pilasters.

Speaking about the complex of the New Jerusalem Monastery, it is worth mentioning another building lying behind the Garden of Gethsemane - Skete of Patriarch Nikon. It was about him that he wrote (“The abandoned desert before me...”). Despite the minor mood of the poem, the building itself looks quite elegant: it is decorated with tiles and majolica and does not look at all like a monastic hermitage. However, inside it is very ascetic, like a true hermit’s dwelling.

During this time, the monastery, located in the combat zone, was almost completely destroyed. The very first reconstruction of the complex after the war began under the leadership of the legendary architect P. Baranovsky, who wanted to restore the cathedral mainly in its original forms of the 17th century. Restorations were carried out in the 1970s–1990s, but not everything planned was accomplished. The main controversy was caused by the covering over the rotunda, or more precisely, its height and material. The monastery’s website contains archival photographs that give an idea of the monument after the explosion in 1941 and the stages of subsequent restoration. The latest restoration began in 2008 and is still ongoing.

The question of what style the monastery should be restored - medieval (as under Patriarch Nikon) or baroque (as under Empress Elizabeth Petrovna) - was discussed in detail. As a result, experts leaned towards the option of restoring the monastery according to the image that was created in the 18th century: much more reliable data and images have been preserved for this image, and the version of the famous architect Rastrelli is itself no less historical than the version of Nikon’s construction.

Shrines of the New Jerusalem Monastery

The main temple of the New Jerusalem Monastery is Resurrection. At the main entrance there is a stone chronicle of Archimandrite Nikanor, written in acrostic verse. It is believed that it renews itself, that is, it does not fade over the years, but on the contrary, it becomes brighter. The same thing, according to legend, happens with the epitaph on Nikon’s tomb. In the rotunda of the Resurrection Cathedral you can visit the cuvuklia - the chapel of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. There is the holy shroud, which is placed on the Stone of Confirmation on Good Friday. In Jerusalem, the body of the Savior taken from the cross was placed on such a stone. The shroud itself is an analogue of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

In the chapel of the Beheading of John the Baptist there is the tomb of Patriarch Nikon (in Jerusalem, in a similar place, the Old Testament king Melchizedek is buried). In 2013, it was opened, but it turned out to be empty, and it is unknown where and when the relics of the patriarch were transferred after his burial. Nevertheless, services are regularly held at the sarcophagus. There is also a 17th-century tiled iconostasis with modern windows. Rare tiled iconostases are also presented in the chapels of the Passion of Christ and the Archangel Michael. In the same chapel there is a copy of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God and the grave of John Shusherin, the associate and biographer of Patriarch Nikon.

Among the shrines directly related to Patriarch Nikon, in the monastery you can also see part of his omophorion and antimension. In the side chapel of Calvary Church, in which Nikon most loved to serve, there is an analogue of the Place of Execution, where Christ was crucified. There is a wooden Crucifix carved from cypress, and there is also a preserved iconostasis from the 18th century.

In the Resurrection Cathedral there is a chapel Prison Church, consecrated in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In Palestine, those sentenced to death were kept in the cliff of Mount Golgotha; There the Mother of God mourned Her Son. The monastery church does not look much like a dark cave - it is a well-lit small temple. In the Assumption Limit of the Resurrection Cathedral there is a reliquary with the relics of St. Tatiana, donated to the monastery in the 17th century by Princess Tatiana.

On the territory of the monastery you can draw water from the Siloam spring in the Garden of Gethsemane or from the Life-Giving Spring well in the underground Church of Constantine and Helena. In the Holy Land, it was in this place and at the same depth (6 m) that the Empress Helen of Constantinople found the Cross of the Lord. The approximate location of the Cross to Helen was indicated by a resident of Jerusalem, who was subsequently baptized with the name Cyriacus, was killed by Christian persecutors and is revered as a holy martyr. In connection with these events, the church has a chapel of the same name.

You can take a dip in the Jordan River (Istra). There are no convenient changing rooms or equipped access to the water yet, but this does not prevent hundreds of believers from plunging into the blessed water in the ice holes on the feast of Epiphany. According to legend, on Epiphany night - from January 18 to 19 - you can see a miracle taking place on the Istra River: at 1.30 am the water stops, and the flow in the river is barely noticeable for five minutes.

Near the river, on Mount Eleon, there is a Worship Cross. This is a replica made in 2006. The original cross was installed in the 17th century as a sign of the consecration of the first church in the monastery. The inscription says that Emperor Alexei Mikhailovich “found the surrounding area beautiful, like Heavenly Jerusalem, so he named the area and the monastery under construction New Jerusalem.” This is how the history of the monastery began.

Holy topography

Probably the most important shrine of the monastery is the topography of Russian Palestine - a reproduction of holy places, partly created by nature itself.

The topography of the area that existed before the construction of the monastery surprisingly reminded Nikon of Palestinian shrines. An analogue of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the center of the entire ensemble was the former Church of the Resurrection in the estate of the boyar Boborykin. In the north there was the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in the village of Buzharovo, in the East - the Church of the Ascension in the village of Aleksino. To the south and southeast of the Church of the Resurrection were the churches of Elijah the Prophet and the Nativity of Christ. If you focus on the toponymy of Palestine, then this place is Bethlehem, where the Savior was born, and nearby is the monastery of St. Elias of the 4th century. The town of Ramu near Jerusalem, where the prophet Samuel was born, corresponds to the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary with the chapel of the prophet Samuel. There is also a monastery of Savva the Illuminated in Palestine, and the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery is located next to Russian Palestine.