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The Church of the Assumption with the Refectory Chamber and the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles
The Church of the Assumption with its refectory chamber and the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit were built between 1685 and 1687 in the Moscow Baroque style during the regency of Tsarevna Sophia. The convent required spacious premises for ceremonial meals and a winter church for services during the cold months. Initially, the Assumption Church had five domes and was surrounded by a gallery on tall arches. Architect Kondraty Mymrin is believed to have been involved in its construction. In 1731, the deteriorated domes were lost, and in 1781, the gallery began to be dismantled. The multi-tiered iconostasis, which amazed with its diversity of forms and sizes of icons by Karp Zolotaryov, has not been fully preserved. In 1988, an
iconostasis from the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin, which was destroyed on Pokrovka in central Moscow in the winter of 1936, was transferred here. The spacious, pillarless refectory chamber, rectangular in shape and covering 390 square meters, is illuminated by sunlight streaming through its large windows. It is considered second in beauty only to the refectory chamber of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.
The small Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit can be reached via a narrow, steep staircase leading from the refectory chamber of the Assumption Church. Masters from the Kremlin Armory worked on this church. Sixty icon painters decorated the church’s exterior walls and created its iconostasis. While their names remain unknown, the works were supervised by the appointed iconographer Bogdan Saltanov.
The small Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit can be reached via a narrow, steep staircase leading from the refectory chamber of the Assumption Church. Masters from the Kremlin Armory worked on this church. Sixty icon painters decorated the church’s exterior walls and created its iconostasis. While their names remain unknown, the works were supervised by the appointed iconographer Bogdan Saltanov.
