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Tserkov' Preobrazheniya Gospodnya na Peskakh
- Church of our Saviour's Transfiguration that is on the sands -
(Spasopeskovskaya) on Spasopeskovia Place just off the center of the Arbat
pedestrian walk. The Moscow cadastral books show that a wooden church named
Preobrazheniya Gospodin was built here in a Streltzi quarter in 1743. The name,
peskakh, is clear because this part of Arbat area was dusty. But it already had
a long history. The Arbat gate in the Beli gorod wall opened on the Smolensk
road. In 1493 the army of the Kazan Khan Ulu Mukhammed was driven off in this
region. Then the Zemli gorod wall was built outside, in this area it was
further west and the Smolensk road gate in it was also called Arbat gate. The
map of Moscow in the 17th century shows three streltzi units were stationed
around here om the Nikolo-Peskovski pereluk and the Spaso-Peskovski pereluk and
Denezhnovo pereluk. In 1611 a Polish-Lithuanian force was turned back here and
in August 1612 Prince Pozharski led his army to defend the gate The
architecture of the church is unchanged from 1743. There is a fine iconostasis
in 18th century style and two chaples - St Nikolas the wonderworker and the
Archangel Mikhail.
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