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RUSSIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE
THROUGH THE CENTURIES

 
 

Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Putniki

 
 

Very original and asymmetric is the Moscow Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Putinki, built in 1649-1652 by unknown builders. In ancient times there was a travel terminal near the church, which could be reached from the main roads by going thru small curved streets - "Putinki." ( A descriptive epithet usually accompanied the name of a church whenever where were two or more with the same name in the same town). The Church is composed of several structures: The main church, a large chapel dedicated to the Burning Bush, "Pridel Neopalimoy Kupini," the belfry "Kolokolnia," the porch "Kriltso," and the refectory "Trapeznaya." With the exception of the last, which is just a one-story building with a simple roof, all the structures have octagonal tent roofs and are decorated with one or several rows of ornamental kokoshniki, pediments, cornices, platbands etc. There are three tent-shaped towers on the main church and single ones on the chapel, the belfry and the porch. They are all blind and crowned with onion cupolas and very beautiful tracery crosses. The multiform complexity of this church could be only compared to that of the Cathedral of Saint Basil the Blessed which, undoubtedly, inspired the builders. Devastating fires often swept Moscow, destroying parts of the city and many churches. In 1648 the fire hit the area of Putinki hard. Many homes and the wooden churches were burned to the ground. The new stone church was dedicated to the Virgin, in the hope that she would protect people from new fires, and the name for the chapel was taken from the episode in the Old Testament about the burning bush which, though all in flames,"Was not consumed." The Church was finished the same year Nikon became the Patriarch of all Russia. He soon came out against tent-shaped churches, declared them uncanonical and permitted pyramidal roofs for belfries only. Please go to Moscow churches for photos of this church.

 
 

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