Built in 1762-85 in the “Three Mountains” tract, behind the Trekhgornaya outpost, in the settlement of Novoye Vagankovo ​​on the site of a wooden temple of the same name (1695). The royal hounds and buffoons, originally located in the settlement of Old Vagankovo ​​(near the Kremlin), were resettled here in 1678. There are several versions of the origin of the word “Vagankovo”: from “Vaganit” - to amuse, joke; “Vaganets” is a place where cash taxes are collected; from “vagan” (“vazhan”) - residents of the Vyazhskaya region resettled to Moscow. In 1860, a new refectory and bell tower were built. Around 1892 the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. Demetrius of Rostov was brought forward from the refectory in line with the main altar. In 1900-1902, at the expense of G.F. and N.F. Serebryakov, a new one was added to the old church with a main altar in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Source” (architect G.A. Kaiser). Painted inside in 1908.

In 1922, the authorities removed St. 12 pounds of gold and silver jewelry and church utensils. Closed in 1929. Heavily rebuilt. The heads of the temple and the bell tower up to the first tier were destroyed, the second row of windows was broken in the refectory.

Until 1990, the building housed the House of Culture, then it was abandoned. In 1992 it was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Restoration work has begun. Worship services resumed in December 2000.

This church was first mentioned in 1683 in the settlement of New Vagankovo ​​on Three Mountains, where, according to Moscow legend, the buffoons who originally lived in the settlement of Staroe Vagankovo, opposite the Kremlin behind Neglinnaya, were resettled. In 1695, a new wooden church was built to the east, closer to the Moscow River. After the construction of the Kamer-Collezhsky Wall, the temple was located within the boundaries of Moscow, at the Trekhgornaya Outpost. The stone three-altar church with a refectory and bell tower was erected in 1762-1785. The main altar is the icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Source”, the chapels in the refectory are of Saints Nicholas and Demetrius of Rostov. According to the old Moscow tradition, the temple continued to be called Nikolsky even in official documents. Built in the classicist style, it was completed with a rotundal dome, the side facades had classical porticoes.

In 1860, a new refectory and bell tower were built. Around 1892, the side chapels were moved from the refectory to the east, in line with the altar of the main church. In 1900-1902 a new main temple was built, funds for the construction of which were donated by G.F. and N.F. Serebryakovs. The design of the building and its interior decoration was created by the architect G.A. Kaiser. The consecration of the main altar in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Source” took place on December 1, 1902. A magnificent five-tiered iconostasis was built, the icons were painted on a gold background, new utensils and new vestments were made on the icons. In 1908, the inside of the temple was painted.

The temple was closed in January 1930. For a long time the building was occupied by a children's club named after Pavlik Morozov. The domes of the temple and the bell tower were broken down to the first tier. They built a second floor in the refectory and broke through a second row of windows. In 1990, Pavlik Morozov's children's club moved out of the building, leaving a broken statue of the pioneer inside; the roof partially collapsed. In mid-1991, St. Nicholas Church was returned to the community of believers. Major reconstruction lasted almost ten years. As a result, the temple was returned to the appearance it had after the last pre-revolutionary reconstruction in the early 1900s. Divine services resumed in 2001. Shrines of the temple: a particle of the relics of St. Nicholas, a revered 16th-century icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, brought from the Church of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, where Maria Mironova gave it after the death of her son, artist Andrei Mironov.

Mikhail Vostryshev. Moscow is Orthodox. All churches and chapels

Temple in the 17th century

The history of the Church of St. Nicholas on the Three Mountains begins with the wooden church of St. Nicholas in Psary, mentioned in chronicles since 1628. Its name is associated with the Sovereign Psarny yard, which was responsible for hunting and royal menageries, which in 1637 was transferred from the western wall of the Kremlin to Three mountains.

Metrics of the Church of St. Nicholas on the Three Mountains, in Novy Vagankovo

Opinions also differ about the origin of the name “Vagankovo”. According to legend, the tsar's Little Russian hounds used vagans - large troughs hollowed out in wood - to prepare food, for which they themselves were nicknamed vaganami, and their place of residence is Vagankovo. Settlement on Presnya in the 17th century. was named New Vagankovo, and the settlement behind the Kutafya Tower remained Old Vagankovo.

True, there is another version of the origin of the toponym. This part of Moscow was located at the intersection of two major roads - Znamenka, leading to Novgorod, and Arbat, leading to the western lands. In the 15th century a village arose here, in which the Sovereign's amusement court was organized. Traveling artists and musicians, who were then called vagantes, flocked to him, just like wandering poet-bards in medieval Europe.

There is information that in 1695 the temple began to be rebuilt by the Duma clerk Gavriil Feodorovich Derevnin, who lived nearby, who also built the famous stone church of St. Elijah the Common on Ostozhenka.

XVIII – early XX centuries

In the first half of the 18th century. Three Mountains is becoming a summer cottage for wealthy Muscovites. Over time, rich “dacha residents” turn into permanent residents of New Vagankov and are assigned to St. Nicholas parish.

It was at this time that permission was received to build a stone church on the site of a wooden one: according to some sources it dates back to May 1763, according to others - 1762. In any case, the new temple was small. But in subsequent years it was expanded several times, adding chapels - first to St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov, and then, in 1785, in the name of the icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Source”.

In 1799, next to the St. Nicholas Church on the banks of the Moscow River, merchant Vasily Prokhorov and dyer Fyodor Rezanov founded a calico-printing factory, which over time became the famous Trekhgornaya Manufactory.
Vasily Ivanovich Prokhorov (1755-1815), merchant of the 3rd guild, founder of the dynasty of Moscow industrialists, was born into a peasant family assigned to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Until 1771 he worked as a brewing clerk. However, he left this occupation, “incompatible with Christian piety,” and took up calico printing. Over time, V.I. Prokhorov became the sole owner of the manufactory, buying out Fyodor Rezanov’s share.

For almost a hundred years, until 1896, the Prokhorovs were ktitors and trustees of St. Nicholas Church. Their activities left a noticeable mark on the church life of Moscow. Industrialists also engaged in charity work, establishing hospitals and shelters for orphans and homeless people.

Project for the reconstruction of the temple, architect Kaiser G.A., 1900

After the cholera epidemic of 1848, in gratitude for getting rid of it, it was decided to rebuild the St. Nicholas Church. By the end of 1860, the temple had a large refectory and a high bell tower, its area increased two and a half times. The construction was carried out with the money of parishioners.

In the second half of the 19th century. Through the tireless pastoral efforts of the rector, Archpriest Ruf Rzhanitsyn and his successor, Priest Evgeniy Uspensky, St. Nicholas parish became the largest in Moscow. Evening and morning services were performed in the church every day, and on Sundays and holidays three liturgies were served. The parish carried out active patronage and social activities. In 1861, a Board of Trustees was created at the temple, which collected information about poor parishioners and provided them with assistance. Father Ruf also founded the first two-year parish school for women in Moscow, by the beginning of the 20th century. Almost 90 pupils studied there.

Project of the northern façade, architect Kaiser G.A., 1900

The constant increase in the number of parishioners required another major reconstruction of the temple. It began in 1900 based on the project of the famous architect Georgy Alexandrovich Kaiser (1860-1931), approved personally by Emperor Nicholas II.

Funds for the work were allocated by the Kopeikin-Serebryakov family, owners of a large retail company. The rebuilt church was re-consecrated on December 1, 1902, but the reconstruction was completely completed only in 1908. The design of the G. A. Kaiser temple also formed the basis for restoration work in 1991-2000.

The events of 1905, the center of which was Presnya, as well as the October Revolution of 1917, miraculously did not affect the life of St. Nicholas parish. Its numbers remained stable, and order around the temple was maintained by the workers of Trekhgorka themselves - the parishioners of the temple.

This long-suffering church is somehow surprisingly located between three lanes: Novovogankovsky and two Trekhgorny. The Church of St. Nicholas on the Three Mountains has changed its name more than once over its centuries-old history and has been rebuilt several times. The chronicles of 1628 mention its ancestor - the Church of St. Nicholas in Psary. It received this name due to the transfer of the Royal Kennel Court here in the middle of the 17th century. This parish church community moved around the city several times, and, surprisingly, always took the church with them, which is probably why for some time it was called the “Church of St. Nicholas on a Chicken Leg.”

Church of St. Nicholas on the Three Mountains

In 1695, the Kennel Yard was located in the Three Mountains tract, behind the outpost called Trekhgornaya. Initially it was a wooden temple, then in 1762-1775 it was rebuilt in stone in the village of Novoye Vagankovo ​​with three altars. The main one is in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Spring”, two limits are in honor of the saint. Over time, its limits gradually expanded, and in 1860 a high bell tower and a refectory were built, the area of ​​​​the property more than doubled.

The Church of St. Nicholas on the Three Mountains is an architectural monument of the 19th century and a cultural heritage site. There is a very interesting fact known about this structure. It turns out that in the 20s of the twentieth century A.V. served as regent here. Alexandrov, who became the author of the anthem of the Soviet Union.

The parishioners of the church were ordinary people, peasants and workers, but there were also quite wealthy people, including the Prokhorov manufacturers, who owned the Trekhgornaya manufactory.

All the extensions did not create a harmonious architectural ensemble, so it was decided to completely rebuild the church itself according to the design of the famous Russian architect G.A. Kaiser with the money of wealthy merchants Kopeikins-Serebryakovs, who lived in the parish of the church. On December 1, 1902, the renovated temple was consecrated. However, all construction and finishing work was finally completed only by 1908.

Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

The same workers of the Trekhgornaya manufactory saved the church from disastrous destruction. In the most turbulent and dangerous years of 1905 and 1917, they organized the security of the cathedral, which was located right at the epicenter of all the revolutionary events that took place on Presnya. Thanks to this, the temple was not looted and destroyed.

However, in the early 20s, the church could not be saved; first it was destroyed, and then completely closed. In 1929 it was rebuilt; the dome and bell tower were destroyed. The new government placed a club there, and a little later the house of pioneers named after. The lane, which had the name Nikolsky, also began to bear the name of the pioneer hero.

The long-awaited thaw

And now, after the collapse of the USSR, the Moscow government signed an order to return the building and its adjacent territory to the ownership of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Church of St. Nicholas on the Three Mountains was immediately subjected to a major restoration and restored to its original beauty. Today it operates, even a Bible college, a Sunday school, and a club for the reconstruction of medieval folk cultures are open.

You can visit this temple at the address: Moscow, Novovagankovsky Lane, building 9, bldg. 1. The rector is now Archpriest Dmitry Roshchin, appointed on February 11, 2016.

Schedule of services

Matins Liturgy - starts at 8.00 (Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays). On major holidays and Sundays - starts at 9.00. The day before at 17.00 - Vespers. At 18.00 on Wednesdays the akathist to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. At 8.00 on Sundays there is a prayer service and the water is blessed.

The commemoration of St. Nicholas takes place in the present time: September 11 is the birth of the saint, May 22 is the day of the transfer of his venerable relics, December 19 is the feast of honoring St. Nicholas.

The temple also has its own shrines. with the relics of St. Nicholas (for veneration he is taken out of the altar only at Sunday liturgies), as well as St. Nicholas with the relics and the reliquary with the relics of St. Demetrius of Rostov.

The history of the parish of the Church of St. Nicholas on the Three Mountains began in the first years of the 17th century. At the western wall of the Kremlin, on the right bank of the Neglinka River, there was then a settlement of employees of the royal kennel order - an institution responsible for hunting at the court and for the maintenance of the royal menageries. Back in the 16th century, hounds - immigrants from Little Russia - introduced special devices into the practice of cooking - vagans, which were large troughs hollowed out of wood. Over time, the “dogs” themselves began to be called “Vagans,” and their settlement received the name Vagankovo. And in our time, a small area of ​​​​Moscow behind the complex of buildings of the Russian State Library is called Old Vagankovo.

The hounds had their own temple dedicated to St. Nicholas of Myra. The turbulent events of the first half of the 17th century were reflected not only in the politics and economy of the Muscovite kingdom, but also in the tastes and preferences of the court. The weakening interest of the highest officials of the state in hunting and menageries greatly shook the position of the kennel order, and around 1637 they decided to move the Vagans away from the Kremlin, to the Three Mountains tract behind Presnya. The church parish also moved there. The settlement that emerged was named New Vagankovo, and a wooden church was built in it in the name of St. Nicholas. In 1695, this building was completely rebuilt by the Duma clerk Gavriil Derevnin, who lived next door.

At the end of the 17th century, Three Mountains was a sparsely populated place with a very poor population, but in the first half of the 18th century the situation changed dramatically, as the tract turned into a holiday village of wealthy Muscovites. Some noble persons subsequently became permanent residents of the area and were assigned to St. Nicholas parish.

Permission to build the first stone church on the site of a wooden one was received in May 1763. It was small, and in subsequent years it was expanded, adding chapels - first the chapel of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov, and then, in 1785, the chapel in the name of the “Life-Giving Spring” icon of the Mother of God.

The “Golden Age” of St. Nicholas parish in Novy Vagankovo ​​began in the first years of the 19th century. Then, next to the temple on the banks of the Moscow River, the merchants Prokhorov and Rezanov founded a calico-printing factory, which later became the famous Prokhorov Trekhgornaya Manufactory. The emergence of a class of factory workers in the region radically changed the composition of its inhabitants. For almost a hundred years, until 1896, the Prokhorovs were church elders. Their activities left a noticeable mark not only on the economic, but also on the church life of Moscow.

During the Patriotic War of 1812, Three Mountains suffered less from fires and looting than other areas of the city, since French troops occupied it somewhat earlier. A significant role in preserving the area and its temples was played by the diplomatic skills of the founder of the dynasty, V.I. Prokhorov and his eldest son, who did not leave the city.

After the cholera epidemic that swept through Moscow in 1848, “in gratitude to the Lord God for delivering us from it,” they decided to completely rebuild the St. Nicholas Church, increasing its area by two and a half times. Construction was carried out exclusively with money raised by parishioners.

It is especially worth mentioning the abbots of the temple, who served there throughout the second half of the 19th century. Although Archpriest Ruf Rzhanitsyn and his successor, Priest Evgeny Uspensky, did not leave behind theological works and their names are not reflected in encyclopedias and reference books, they were outstanding workers in the field of spiritual care for the people. To appreciate their work, it is enough to note that during the period of their abbot the St. Nicholas parish was the largest in Moscow. Evening and morning services were performed daily, and on Sundays and holidays three liturgies were often served in the church.

The parish carried out active patronage and social activities. Thus, in 1861, a Board of Trustees for the Parish Poor was created at the church, which collected information about poor parishioners and brought to them “targeted assistance” that would otherwise fall into the hands of a powerful corporation of professional beggars. In addition, Father Ruf founded the first two-year parish school for girls in Moscow, designed to give girls new knowledge and skills in the increasingly complex life of a big city. In the early 1900s, almost 90 students studied at this school.

The constant increase in the number of parishioners required another major reconstruction of the temple. It began in 1900 on the basis of a project prepared by the famous architect G. Kaiser and approved by Emperor Nicholas II himself. Funds for the work were allocated by the Kopeikin-Serebryakov family, owners of a large retail company. The general reconstruction was completely completed in 1908 (note that the Kaiser’s project was reproduced during the restoration of the temple in 1991-2000).

The events of 1905, the epicenter of which was the Presnya region, did not have a serious impact on the life and activities of St. Nicholas parish. The number of its parishioners remained stable, and order in the temple area was maintained by the workers of the Trekhgornaya Manufactory themselves. This situation was repeated in the rebellious year of 1917. The Three Mountains were relatively calm even during the street fighting in the city. Probably, the fact that 90% of the parish consisted of workers from a large enterprise also explains the relative safety of the church clergy during the repressions of 1918, which claimed the lives of more than 3 thousand clergy in Central Russia alone.

Despite the powerful development of state atheism, the question of closing the temple did not arise until the second half of the 1920s. Like all Moscow churches and monasteries, in the spring of 1922 it experienced a campaign of confiscation of church valuables, losing more than 12 pounds of gold and silver items. But spiritual life did not stop. It is worth noting that in the 1920s, one of the regents of the temple was Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov, later the author of the USSR anthem and the founder of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Soviet Army. It is in Russian sacred music that the origins of the powerful, impressive sound of the works of this extraordinary musician are found.

The Church of St. Nicholas on the Three Mountains was closed, despite numerous requests from believers, in 1930. The fate of his clerics has not been precisely established, but it is possible that most of them died during the years of various repressions. The building was rebuilt and used as a cultural center named after Pavlik Morozov.

The decision to return the Church building was made by the Moscow City Council in 1990. Reconstruction and restructuring were carried out from 1991 to 2000. Regular services were resumed in 2001. Since 2009, singers of the Moscow Synodal Choir have been singing in the church under the direction of Honored Artist of Russia Alexei Puzakov.

Opinions differ about the date of construction - it was 1762 or 1763. However, it is known that the building was small, and was subsequently expanded and rebuilt several times.

The Prokhorov merchant family took a huge part in the life of the monastery. For almost a century they remained its patrons and trustees. By the way, the first school for girls in the capital operated at the temple. By 1900, more than 80 students studied there.

In 1860, a refectory and a bell tower were built. The new buildings were clearly disharmonious with the architecture of the main church building, so they decided to rebuild it. Although, according to another version, the reason was the growing local population. One way or another, the architect Georgy Kaiser took up the project, and in December 1902 the new Nicholas Church on the Three Mountains has already been consecrated.

The architectural composition turned out to be voluminous and very interesting. Here, the smooth lines of semicircular apses and keel-shaped zakomars echo the clear, straight forms of the semi-columns decorating the facades. All the windows of the temple are circular and of the same size. The temple has 3 onion-shaped domes: two of them are located on its main volume, and the third is crowned by a wide, squat dome. The bell tower tent is decorated with dormer windows and ends with a magnificent small dome.

In the 1920s Nicholas Church on Three Mountains was plundered (more than 12 pounds of gold and silver in the form of coins and various utensils were seized), but remained operational. An interesting fact should be noted: one of the regents of the monastery at that time was Alexander Alexandrov, the future author of the USSR anthem.

In 1928, the temple was closed and rebuilt several times later. Although it would be more correct to say mutilated. The building housed first the House of Culture, then the House of Pioneers named after. Pavlik Morozova.

The monastery was returned to the Church in 1992; Regular services resumed only in 2001, after many years of restoration. Today there is a Sunday school at the church, and there are youth and men's choirs.