Sometimes a small temple in a crowded place attracts more attention than a lush cathedral in a large city. The Church of the Intercession of the Virgin is just such. Built at the request of Andrei Bogolyubsky, in 1165, it is one of the oldest monuments of Russian stone architecture. According to the chronicle, the construction in the time of Prince Andrew led masters from all over the world. Tatishchev wrote that even Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, sent his masters. The task before the builders was not easy. The temple decided to build on a floodplain meadow, which was flooded with flood waters. The architects used a non-standard solution. On the main foundation, the walls were erected 4 meters high, and then they were covered with earth.
This building served as a pedestal for the main building of the church. On it, a small, elegant church of the cross-domed type was erected from white stone. The exterior walls are richly decorated with reliefs, and the interior with frescoes. The interior painting has not survived. It was removed during the renovation of the temple in the 19th century.
In general, the temple on Nerli was treated without due respect by both spiritual and civil authorities.
Twice the building was on the verge of destruction. First time in the 18th century. The monks of the Bogolyubov monastery petitioned the Synod to be allowed to dismantle the church building. They wanted to use the stone to build a bell tower in their monastery. Little money was allocated for work. For this amount of workers were not found, and the initiative withered.
The second time the danger over the temple hung under Soviet rule. Before the war, they decided to build a Kovrovskaya HPP nearby. The church would be in a flood zone. Historians and archaeologists have stood up for the protection of the church, but no one knows what would have happened had the war not broken out. The construction of the HPP did not take place, and the church was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Charitable Foundation Holy Land
Russian Temples and Monasteries
