Church on the edge of old Moscow: Restoration of Church of All Saints in Kulishki

The Church of All Saints in Kulishki near Kitai-Gorod metro station is going to be done up. The project has been approved by the Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage. The red-brick 16^th to 17^th century structure was constructed where a wooden 14^th century church once stood. Today it is a federal cultural heritage site.

According to one version, the church got its name because it was built on the outskirts of the city. Back at the time, Kulishki meant “on the outskirts,” and the Kitai-Gorod district was on the edge of old Moscow. Another version has it that the church was built in a meadow where the Yauza River confluxes with the Moskva River. People who lived in Moscow back then called this place “kulishki,” or “kulizhki” (“kuligi”). A third version says, the church was founded to commemorate warriors who perished on Kulikovo Field in 1380. Some of them are believed to have been buried under its walls.

The two-storey building with its onion-shaped dome is built in the Moscow Baroque style. It also has a three-storey eight-sided belfry with a small dome and a cross. Its façade is decorated with white-stone carvings such as pilasters (vertical elements made to look like columns), corbel arches, false windows as well as small cornices.

“This old church is one of the most picturesque examples of the 17^th century architecture. It has an intricate silhouette, many different features and is brightly coloured. Over the course of its history, the Church of All Saints in Kulishki burnt down many times. The restoration job is designed to find and preserve various stages of the landmark’s formation. This is why it includes recreating missing details and decorative features from various eras,” said Head of the Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage Alexei Yemelyanov.

Yemelyanov explained that any missing pieces will be carefully recreated so that the authentic architectural elements can be preserved and restored as best as possible.

For example, experts want to open the false archways, windows and doorways and recreate the lost steps up to the belfry. The interior walls of the church will be stripped of paint and then replastered. The original appearance of the windows as well as shutters will be restored. The main doors will be dismantled and new ones installed after thoroughly studying archival material. The plans drawn up for the interior of the church by architect Konstantin Bykovsky in 1877 will be used. Ceiling and wall paintings will also be restored. Together with a chemical technologist, specialists will clean the outside of the building and restore some of the brickwork. The job will also include dealing with the forged iron canopy and the stone doorsteps. The outside brick walls will be painted red and prominent architectural features in white.

The Church of All Saints’ history

The Church of All Saints was first mentioned in 1365. The chronicle says that a devastating fire took place in Moscow which started in the church, but the exact location of this church was not mentioned. In 1488, according to the chronicle, the wooden structure burnt down together with its wing.

The first stone church on the site is believed to have been constructed in the early 16^th century. It is shown in several 1600s Moscow maps. During the Time of Troubles, in 1612, this is from where the squads of Minin and Pozharsky left to fight Polish troops. The most important changes took place between 1687 and 1689, when new ceilings and the quadrangular dome were installed after yet another fire. During the 1812 war there was a fire at the church again, and its roof suffered the most damage.

In 1931, the church was closed. At various times throughout history, the building housed a cinema, a construction and assembly plant and also a Moskontsert office. In 1991, the church was handed back to the Russian Orthodox Church and the interior was partly done up. The church has belonged to the Alexandria Patriarchy since 1999, and services are regularly held there.

Restoring and preserving architectural landmarks is an important part of the Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage’s work. Recently, facades of the house of the widow in Lefortovo as well as of the Durasov House on Pokrovsky Boulevard designed by architect Mikhail Kazakov were repaired. A restoration job is going on in Vsevolozhsky’s house in the Khamovniki District that Pushkin, Gogol and Belinsky visited. The restoration of the building is expected to continue until 2021.