The Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi has the status of a house church at the Tretyakov Gallery. A significant part of its decoration are exhibits from the museum’s collection. These are icons of the main and side iconostases, including “St. Nicholas”, “The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles”, as well as altar crosses, liturgical utensils (Master “M.O.” Chalice, 1838).
Here, in a specially equipped display case, the greatest Russian shrine and world-famous work of art, the pride of the Gallery’s collection, is stored - the icon “Our Lady of Vladimir” (12th century). Her stay in the Museum-Temple allows her to organically combine the artistic and religious nature of this monument.
The first mention of the wooden “Church of the Great Wonderworker St. Nicholas, and in the limit of Ivan the Baptist, which is beyond the Moscow River in Tolmachi” is contained in the Parish Book of the Patriarchal Order for 1625.
The stone temple was erected in 1697 by a “guest”, a parishioner of the Church of the Resurrection in Kadashi, Longin Dobrynin, and the main altar of the temple was consecrated in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and Nikolsky was moved to the refectory. However, only from 1697 to 1770 the church was called “Soshestvenskaya” in business papers and books, and then it began to be registered again as “Nikolaevskaya”.
In 1770, the Pokrovsky chapel was built in the refectory at the expense of the widow of the merchant of the 1st guild I.M. Demidov.
In 1834, at the request of the parishioners and “in accordance with the thoughts of Metropolitan Philaret,” the refectory was rebuilt according to the design of the architect F.M. Shestakov and a new bell tower was erected.
In 1856, the quadrangle was updated and the main altar was rebuilt. Funds for the renovation of the temple were donated, among others, by Alexandra Danilovna Tretyakova and her sons. One of them, Pavel Mikhailovich, the founder of the art gallery, was a zealous parishioner of the temple.
“In my mind there arises the image of a man who served as an example of a sober, focused life... who combined the possession of external wealth with spiritual poverty. This was manifested in his humble prayer,” this is how Deacon Fyodor Solovyov, who served in the church for 28 years, and later the elder of the Zosimova Hermitage, schema-monk Alexy, recalled P.M. Tretyakov.
The temple was honored with a visit by the First Hierarchs and Hierarchs of the church. In 1924, St. Tikhon, the All-Russian Patriarch, performed a divine service in the church; the lot for patriarchal service was drawn by Elder Alexy Zosimovsky in front of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.
The Council of Bishops in August 2000 canonized Elder Alexy Zosimovsky (1846–1928), martyr Nikolai Rein (1892–1937), a former parishioner of the temple. By the decision of the Holy Synod in 2002, Archpriest Ilia Chetverukhin (1886–1932) was canonized as a hieromartyr. the last rector of the temple before its closure in 1929.
Divine services in the temple were resumed in 1993. On September 8, 1996, the main altar of the temple was consecrated by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus'.
In 1997, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the temple, its restoration was completed. The slender bell tower was re-erected and the five-domed quadrangle was restored. Three iconostases and wall icon cases were recreated, and wall paintings were completely restored.
Days of free visits to the museum
Every Wednesday, admission to the permanent exhibition “Art of the 20th Century” and temporary exhibitions in (Krymsky Val, 10) is free for visitors without a tour (except for the exhibition “Ilya Repin” and the project “Avant-garde in three dimensions: Goncharova and Malevich”).
The right to free access to exhibitions in the main building on Lavrushinsky Lane, the Engineering Building, the New Tretyakov Gallery, the house-museum of V.M. Vasnetsov, museum-apartment of A.M. Vasnetsov is provided on the following days for certain categories of citizens:
First and second Sunday of every month:
for students of higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation, regardless of the form of study (including foreign citizens-students of Russian universities, graduate students, adjuncts, residents, assistant trainees) upon presentation of a student card (does not apply to persons presenting student cards “student-trainee” );
for students of secondary and secondary specialized educational institutions (from 18 years old) (citizens of Russia and CIS countries). Students holding ISIC cards on the first and second Sunday of each month have the right to free admission to the “Art of the 20th Century” exhibition at the New Tretyakov Gallery.
every Saturday - for members of large families (citizens of Russia and CIS countries).
Please note that conditions for free admission to temporary exhibitions may vary. Check the exhibition pages for more information.
Attention! At the Gallery's box office, entrance tickets are provided at a nominal value of “free” (upon presentation of the appropriate documents - for the above-mentioned visitors). In this case, all services of the Gallery, including excursion services, are paid in accordance with the established procedure.
Visiting the museum on holidays
Dear visitors!
Please pay attention to the opening hours of the Tretyakov Gallery on holidays. There is a fee to visit.
Please note that entry with electronic tickets is on a first-come, first-served basis. You can familiarize yourself with the rules for returning electronic tickets at.
Congratulations on the upcoming holiday and we are waiting for you in the halls of the Tretyakov Gallery!
The right to preferential visits The Gallery, except in cases provided for by a separate order of the Gallery management, is provided upon presentation of documents confirming the right to preferential visits to:
- pensioners (citizens of Russia and CIS countries),
- full holders of the Order of Glory,
- students of secondary and secondary specialized educational institutions (from 18 years old),
- students of higher educational institutions of Russia, as well as foreign students studying at Russian universities (except for intern students),
- members of large families (citizens of Russia and CIS countries).
Free visit right The main and temporary exhibitions of the Gallery, except in cases provided for by a separate order of the Gallery's management, are provided to the following categories of citizens upon presentation of documents confirming the right of free admission:
- persons under 18 years of age;
- students of faculties specializing in the field of fine arts at secondary specialized and higher educational institutions in Russia, regardless of the form of study (as well as foreign students studying at Russian universities). The clause does not apply to persons presenting student cards of “trainee students” (if there is no information about the faculty on the student card, a certificate from the educational institution must be presented with the obligatory indication of the faculty);
- veterans and disabled people of the Great Patriotic War, combatants, former minor prisoners of concentration camps, ghettos and other places of forced detention created by the Nazis and their allies during the Second World War, illegally repressed and rehabilitated citizens (citizens of Russia and the CIS countries);
- conscripts of the Russian Federation;
- Heroes of the Soviet Union, Heroes of the Russian Federation, Full Knights of the Order of Glory (citizens of Russia and CIS countries);
- disabled people of groups I and II, participants in the liquidation of the consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (citizens of Russia and CIS countries);
- one accompanying disabled person of group I (citizens of Russia and CIS countries);
- one accompanying disabled child (citizens of Russia and CIS countries);
- artists, architects, designers - members of the relevant creative Unions of Russia and its constituent entities, art critics - members of the Association of Art Critics of Russia and its constituent entities, members and employees of the Russian Academy of Arts;
- members of the International Council of Museums (ICOM);
- employees of museums of the system of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the relevant Departments of Culture, employees of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and ministries of culture of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation;
- museum volunteers - entrance to the exhibition “Art of the 20th Century” (Krymsky Val, 10) and to the Museum-Apartment of A.M. Vasnetsova (citizens of Russia);
- guides-translators who have an accreditation card of the Association of Guides-Translators and Tour Managers of Russia, including those accompanying a group of foreign tourists;
- one teacher of an educational institution and one accompanying a group of students from secondary and secondary specialized educational institutions (with an excursion voucher or subscription); one teacher of an educational institution that has state accreditation of educational activities when conducting an agreed training session and has a special badge (citizens of Russia and CIS countries);
- one accompanying a group of students or a group of conscripts (if they have an excursion package, subscription and during a training session) (Russian citizens).
Visitors to the above categories of citizens receive a “Free” entrance ticket.
Please note that the conditions for discounted admission to temporary exhibitions may vary. Check the exhibition pages for more information.
The first mention of the wooden “Church of the Great Wonderworker St. Nicholas, and in the border of Ivan the Baptist, which is beyond the Moscow River in Tolmachi” is contained in the Parish Book of the Patriarchal Order for the year. “Tolmachi” is a word of Tatar origin; this is the name given to interpreters, who were distinguished from those who could write in a foreign language. Tolmachi or Tatar settlement was the name given to the area near the road to the Horde, then at a distance from the rest of Moscow, where translators settled - Tatars who spoke Russian, and then Russian translators.
The stone temple was erected in the year by a “guest”, a parishioner of the Church of the Resurrection in Kadashi, Longin Dobrynin, and the main altar of the temple was consecrated in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and Nikolsky was moved to the refectory. However, only over the years the church was called “Soshestvenskaya” in business papers and books, and then it began to be registered again as “Nikolaevskaya”.
The church has a library of Orthodox literature, a children's Sunday school, and educational courses for adults “Fundamentals of Orthodoxy.”
Abbots
- Vasily Pavlov (mid-18th century)
- Ioann Vasiliev (September 22, 1770 - 1791)
- Ioann Andreev (May 1791 - 1812)
- Nikolai Yakovlev (1813 - ?)
- Ivanovich Smirnov (1816 - 1828)
- Nikolai Rozanov (1828 - 1855)
- Vasily Nechaev (1855 - 1889)
- Dimitry Kasitsyn (1889 - December 3, 1902)
We are starting a small series of issues about the Church-Museum of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi at the State Tretyakov Gallery. The history of this unique church, its interior decoration and the presence of the Vladimir Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary in it is told by the rector of the church, Archpriest Nikolai Sokolov, and the head of the department of ancient Russian art of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Natalia Nikolaevna Sheredega.
– To my left you see the domes of the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi, and we are now in its bell tower. And our today’s episode of the program “Keepers of Memory” opens a short series of stories about this temple.
Archpriest Nikolai Sokolov, rector of the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi at the State Tretyakov Gallery:
– Dear brothers and sisters, all TV viewers who are watching our program today! We are located in a unique temple, which is located almost in the very center of our capital, Moscow. The name of this church is the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi at the Tretyakov Gallery. It has been in existence for almost three and a half centuries.
It was first mentioned in 1625, but was built somewhat earlier. At first the building was wooden, then stone, then rebuilt. And today the temple stands before us after all the incidents associated with the events of 1917 and later. Now he is in all his glory, as Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov saw him.
In 1856, the Tretyakov family acquired an estate next to this church, and it became a parish church. Pavel Tretyakov, his brother, mother and close friends visited this temple constantly. There is a place marked in the church where Pavel Mikhailovich was during the service. The temple was decorated and visited by the first hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Saint Philaret of Moscow (Drozdov), who is now canonized, paid a lot of attention to the interior of the temple and its decoration. He served in this temple, consecrated the thrones, and paintings and decorations were made according to his sketches. The Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi today will be the same as it was at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. But if we come here, we will see that not everything here is as it was, but there is something completely new.
Since 1992, the temple has received the status of the first operating temple-museum in Russia. This is both a temple of the Orthodox Church and a museum adjacent to the Tretyakov Gallery. As soon as communication was established here, a certain climate was created, an alarm system and fire extinguishing devices were installed, then it became possible to bring all possible icons here.
Some of them were in the temple even before it closed. And some are completely new icons, but they appeared here in the original interior of the temple for which they were painted. These are wall iconostases, as well as the second, third, fourth and fifth tiers of the central iconostasis. And today the church keeps many icons, starting from the 12th - 13th centuries and ending with some modern images of those saints who became famous in the 20th century as servants of this temple.
This is Father Ilya Chetverukhin, who was the last rector before the closure of the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi, this is the elder, Father Alexy Zosimovsky, who was a deacon in this temple for 28 years, and then the Lord judged him, in front of the miraculous icon of the Vladimir Mother of God, to draw lots to serve His Holiness the Patriarch Tikhon. And also the martyr Nikolai Rein, who also served in this church.
I have now mentioned the great shrine of Russia - the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. Nothing happens in the world and life by chance. Elder Alexy Zosimovsky, while still a deacon here with the name Fedor, greatly revered this icon. After the death of his wife, he became a monk with the name Alexy, was ordained a hieromonk, and from this church was sent to serve in the Moscow Kremlin, where, as he writes in his memoirs, he prayed many times and almost daily before the miraculous image of Vladimir.
What kind of prayers were these? What did this inspired old man pray for? We can only guess. But decades later, the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God ends up in the Tretyakov Gallery and remains there throughout the troubled seventy years.
And after the completion of the reconstruction of the temple at the highest level, His Holiness the Patriarch and the President of Russia decided that the icon would be located in the existing temple. They didn’t yet know where exactly to place it, and there were various options: the Kremlin, or the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which was just beginning to be built, or some other Moscow temple.
After consultation and difficult debates, it was decided that the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God remains in the Tretyakov Gallery. But not just in the hall, but in a functioning temple-museum. And today we are in this church, where the central image is the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Vladimir”, which has been kept here since 1999. I repeat, this happened when the renovation was completely completed, the iconostasis and icon case were made, which also went through a difficult path, when everything necessary was prepared to preserve this icon.
There were three or four options for different icon cases. And, thanks to the management of the polymetallic plant, which was then headed by Valery Viktorovich Kryukov, this completely unique icon case was created, which simultaneously stores Vladimirskaya, and complies with the necessary parameters of humidity, temperature, and is independent of the general energy supply. He can be without public electricity for several days. This, of course, is a unique product that allows us today to see the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God in all its wondrous beauty. Because today we see it from all sides: both from the front and from the back, surrounded by a host of icons that are in the temple. Since 1999, prayers have been continuously performed in front of her.
The temple is active, therefore, in agreement with the gallery management, all the necessary services that are required according to the charter of the Church take place here. And, from noon until evening, the temple operates as a hall of the Tretyakov Gallery. The temple-museum is open every day except Monday, and thousands of people from all over the Orthodox world (from Russia and abroad) come to pray before the wondrous Vladimir image.
Sheredega Natalia Nikolaevna, head of the department of ancient Russian art of the State Tretyakov Gallery:
– This is the temple with which the fate of Zamoskvorechye is connected, and the fate of Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, the founder of the Tretyakov Gallery, and our entire museum, and very many shrines of our fatherland, including those collected here from looted and ruined churches and, finally, that became accessible not only as museum exhibits, but also as, first of all, objects of the life of an Orthodox Christian.
Our temple is located in Tolmachi. This is Tolmachevskaya Sloboda, next to Kadashevskaya Sloboda. Here, from ancient times, from the end of the 17th century, there was a temple of the descent of the Holy Spirit, which had a chapel of St. Nicholas. The building was rebuilt in the 17th century and then underwent changes. The basic constructive system in which we now find ourselves took shape already in the middle of the 19th century.
I want to remind you that many of the religious objects and works of art that are now in front of us came here from the most ancient temple, on the site of which stands the current Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi. First of all, this concerns the iconostasis. It is a composite of icons that were once located in two churches. The five-tiered iconostasis was restored in accordance with tradition.
We see that in the first tier there are icons of St. Nicholas, the Mother of God, the Savior and the descent of the Holy Spirit. They are from the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery, and belonged to the most ancient temple that was on this site. The fact that they were created at the end of the 17th century by the artist Saltanov specifically at the request of the organizers of this temple is evidenced by the inscriptions on the icons.
The top rows of icons were also created by very famous artists, in particular, master Tikhon Filatiev and his team, masters of the late 17th century, who painted these icons for the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Polyanka. After her plunder, the images ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery’s collections through the workshops. And these funds in the 30-40s were where we are now. Why?
In 1929, the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi was closed, the domes and bell towers were demolished, and the body of the temple was miraculously preserved only because it housed the Tretyakov Gallery’s collection of ancient Russian art. Therefore, we consider ourselves somewhat responsible for preserving the foundation of the temple and the icons brought here. The iconostasis was restored from them.
I emphasize once again that the temple was closed in 1929, and already in the 80-90s, under Yuri Konstantinovich Korolev (this is the former director of the Tretyakov Gallery, a famous artist), work began on restoring the Church of St. Nicholas as a temple-museum, which is also an active a church with all the fullness of Orthodox life and a museum. Because for everything that is here (excluding private donations), the curators and restorers of the Tretyakov Gallery are responsible for all these icons, that is, we work together.
We are very lucky. We work with a wonderful rector and a wonderful cast of clergy, we have a wonderful choir of singers and assistants to Father Nicholas, who, in friendship and cooperation with us, carry out the common task of preservation.
– In the next issue we will continue the story about the church-museum of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi at the Tretyakov Gallery.
