Empire style and gilded iconostasis: what makes Danilovskoye cemetery unique

The Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage has approved the to-be-protected features of the old church at the Danilovskoye cemetery. It has the status of a cultural heritage site of federal significance. The church is located at  30/1 4th Roshchinsky Proyezd.

“The history of the Descent of the Holy Spirit Church at the Danilovskoye cemetery in Moscow dates back to the 18th century. The building was erected in wood then. The stone one was built in 1832. Remarkably, many architectural elements, like a carved gilded main iconostasis, have survived to the present day. After scientific research, experts compiled a list of all valuable architectural and decorative elements of the building, which were included in the list of to-be-protected features of the church. Any restoration works in the church must observe this list and can be done only after the project is approved,” Alexey Yemelyanov, Head of the Department of Cultural Heritage, told us.

The features to be protected comprise all elements forming the original appearance of the building. They include an elegant rotunda with a dome, abutments, crosses, two apses (altar protrusions, which look like they’re attached to the temple), a refectory, a bell tower with an open tier with the bells, a southern chapel, a pediment, decorations of the window and door openings, crowning cornices, paintings, and four tombstones built into the niche of the western façade.

Experts also included two Ionic order porticoes in the list of to-be-protected features. The Ionic order is one of the three old Greek orders (or styles) characterized by volutes (two symmetrical scrolls) used on column capitals.

The experts separately specified the façade finish materials: white stone, smooth colored plaster, and banded rustication (treatment of the lower part of the façade with deep horizontal cuts without vertical seams). And they emphasized in the interior description the paramount importance of the carved gilded main iconostasis of the 1830s, the chapel iconostasis of the early 20th century, the Mettlach tile flooring and soleas, and the stairs to the bell tower. The list of elements to be protected included paintings of the 19th - early 20th centuries, including grisaille ones (a painting technique using different tones of the same color and chiaroscuro). Space planning was also named among the main elements of the heritage building.

Originally, a wooden church was built at the Danilovskoye cemetery, it was consecrated on December 31, 1772 in the memory of the seven bishops of Kherson venerated by the Orthodox Church as holy martyrs. Designed by architect academician F. V. Shestakov and funded by S. Logg (S. L. Lepeshkin, according to other sources), the stone sanctuary was erected in 1832.

In the architectural plan, the new temple was a domed rotunda with simple Empire-style decorations. The temple had chapels in honor of the righteous Anna, the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the holy princes Daniel of Moscow and Alexander Nevsky, the holy martyrs Basil, Ephraim, Kapiton, Eugenius, Aetherius, Elpidius and Agathodorus. The high altar was dedicated to one of the main Christian holidays – the Descent of the Holy Spirit.

The murals and the main iconostasis were renewed in 1901. Presumably, another chapel was added to the southern side of the temple in 1905. The church didn’t close in the Soviet era.