Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist near Bor is an Orthodox church in the Zamoskvorechye district of Moscow. It belongs to the Moskvoretsky deanery of the Moscow Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.
It is in Chernigovsky Lane and consists of the main temple of the 17th century, the refectory of the last third of the 18th century connected to it, and the bell tower of the end of the 18th century, standing at the corner of Chernigovsky Lane and Pyatnitskaya Street.
The architectural complex is located on the site of the ancient Ivanovsky (“which is near Bor”) monastery, first mentioned in the annals when describing the circumstances of the birth of Grand Duke Vasily II in 1415. In 1514, “by special favor” of Vasily III, instead of a wooden monastery church, the first stone church of the Beheading of John the Baptist was erected and built by Aleviz Novy.
According to one version, the main volume of the temple dates to 1658. From the building of the 16th century, a white-stone basement has been preserved. In the apse are fragments of masonry made of small-sized “Aleviz-type” bricks.
In 1757-1760, the bell tower and the refectory, dilapidated “from the great ringing,” were demolished, and new buildings were erected at the expense of the merchant F.F. Zamyatin. This work continued for several decades. So, the bell tower continued to be built as early as 1781. It is known that the complex’s fence along the lane was also rebuilt after the fire of 1787. And in 1798, a one-story stone church house “with a regular facade” appeared on the western side of the church. During several decades of reconstruction of the entire complex, the baroque style was supplanted by classicism, which affected the architecture of its parts. In 1896-1904, with the participation of the architect Fyodor Shekhtel, wall paintings and the iconostasis were restored.
Address: Russia, Moscow, Pyatnitskaya street, 4/2s8
Nearest metro: Novokuznetskaya, Tretyakovskaya.
See also architecture of Moscow, churches and cathedrals of Moscow
