Resurrection gates of the Kremlin. Resurrection Gate on Red Square

Resurrection or Iberian Gates on Red Square The Kitai-Gorod district of Moscow is a travel gate with two arches. Formerly part of the Kitaygorod wall.

Gates are located between the buildings of the Historical Museum and the former City Duma. The adjacent square received its name in consonance with them - Voskresenskaya (today it is Revolution Square).

From the history of the Iberian Gates

The history of the building began in 1535, when the two-arched gates were built. A century and a half later - in 1680 - the Resurrection Gates grew into a gatehouse with two towers, which were crowned with images of double-headed eagles.

The Iberian Gates had this appearance until 1931, until they were dismantled for the free passage of cars and military equipment to Red Square.

The gate was completely burned out in 1737. Restoration work was carried out with the participation of the architect Ivan Fedorovich Michurin.

The Iverskaya Chapel on the side of Voskresenskaya Square was built in 1781 from wood. It was raised in stone ten years later - in 1791.

In the 1810s, the passage gates were somewhat dilapidated, and the architect Alexei Nikitich Bakarev was engaged in their restoration.

Passage gate to Red Square after the revolution

In 1917, the Resurrection Gate, which served as a passage to Red Square, became a defensive structure, which housed the troops of the provisional government, repulsing the attacks of the Bolsheviks.

In the mid-20s of the last century, another restoration of the architectural object was carried out, but already at the end of this decade, a decree appeared on its demolition.

In 1929, the gate with the Iberian chapel was partially dismantled, and a sculpture of a worker took their place. The complete demolition of the Resurrection Gate took place in 1931.

In the period from 1994 to 1995, the historical monument in Voskresenskiye Vorota passage, 1A was restored by decision of the Moscow government. The project was carried out by the architect-restorer Oleg Igorevich Zhurin.

Moscow - the construction of a fortification (Kitaygorod wall). Construction began with the construction of the most beautiful and significant Resurrection (Iberian) gates (1534-1538). An architectural monument built of fortified bricks, with the use of iron ties and fasteners.

Building architecture

The architectural ensemble of the fortress wall and its compositional element - the gate appeared thanks to the work of the Italian architect - Peter Francesco Anibale. The fortress structure consisted of seven passages, all of them were equipped with descending gratings, their presence provided passage for the inhabitants of the city.

Also, passages connected Troitskaya Square (this was the name of the current Red Square at that time) with other squares of the city. The defensive purpose is confirmed by the preserved drains in the gate teeth, with the help of which boiling water, molten resin, sulfur, and lead were poured onto the enemy.

Reconstruction and restoration and work of the architectural gate building

The reconstruction of the building above the gate in 1680 ended with the construction of two towers, they were equipped with windows, double-headed eagles, tents with eight sides. Completed work on changing the arch, there were two of them.

The fire of 1737 completely destroyed the gate - they burned down, but they were quickly restored. Fifty years later, a wooden chapel (icons of the Iberian Mother of God) is attached to the gate wall.

The bridge across the Neglinnaya River provided access to the Iverskaya Chapel. During the revolution (1917), the gate building and the chapel were used by the Bolsheviks as defensive structures, the destruction was restored only three years later.

Architectural changes were not carried out until the period of Stalin's rule - the gate was dismantled (1931) to ensure the passage of military equipment during the parade. Also expand the scale of the demonstration procession.

The gates and the Iberian chapel are being dismantled. In place of the chapel, a sculptural structure for a worker was erected (1929). The name of the passage was changed, it was renamed (Historical).

Why did the names of the gates change?

Thanks to the project of the architect Zhurin O.I. the former appearance of the gate and the chapel returned (1995), the passage becomes pedestrian.

Different times made changes to the name of the gate:

• Neglinnensky - the Neglinnaya River flowed near the gate - this became the reason for the name.
• Chicken - the pretext for the name was the nearby poultry market;
• Bogoyavlinsky - by the name of a nearby temple;
• Lions - a menagerie was equipped nearby, where lions were kept;
• Triumphal (Holy) - with the advent of the icon of the Mother of God, the gates acquired the meaning of front doors.
• Iversky - construction of the Iverskaya chapel (1680);
• Resurrection - above the gate, the icon of the Resurrection of Christ is attached to the tower.

The building housed the laboratory of the Mint (during the reign of Anna Ioannovna), the first civilian printing house (during the reign of Elizabeth).

Windows covered with mica and framed with bars were used by queens and princesses to view church and secular ceremonies, since, according to the custom of that time, they did not have the right to participate.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Neglinnaya River was enclosed in a pipe. The bridge was dismantled as unnecessary. A square was formed, the presence of a gate was the reason for the name of the square - Voskresenskaya.

Modernity

Today, the Resurrection Gates located in the historical center of the capital are in harmony with the architectural ensemble. Decorated white stone inlays add sophistication to the building.

Resurrection Square has always been a lively place, crowded with many restaurants, taverns and hotels. Currently, the hotel business is the most dynamically developing sector of the economy; services for renting a hotel room are provided not only by large hotel complexes, but also by mini-hotels.

It is worth visiting Moscow to touch its centuries-old history. Located in the center of the capital, you can get acquainted with its sights for several hours. The best way are walking tours that will help you explore ancient Moscow in a modern multi-million metropolis.

From Manezhnaya Square and Revolution Square. Their second name is Iberian, as they are named after the chapel of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God located in them. The Iverskaya chapel is an active Orthodox church and is open to visitors.

Initially, the gates were called Neglinny - by the name of the Neglinnaya Tower, on the site of which they were erected, then Kuryatny, since there was a Chicken Row nearby, where they traded birds, Karetny - by the nearby Karetny yard, and also Lions - by the lion yard, where lions were sent Ivan the Terrible from England and Persia.

Since 1680, the gates have been called Resurrection Gates after the icon of the Resurrection of Christ hanging above them.

Resurrection Gates - from history

The Resurrection Gate, built in the form of two arches, is located between the building of the Historical Museum and the City Duma, and the question arises, why were they built here, because they are usually placed to pass through the wall?

Indeed, the gate was erected in 1535 in one of the walls of Kitay-gorod, which surrounded the Kremlin from the Arsenalnaya to the Moskvoretskaya tower.

In 1680, the gatehouse was rebuilt and two towers topped with double-headed eagles appeared on top of it. At different times, the constructed chambers housed the laboratories of the neighboring Mint, the chamber of the Main Pharmacy and the university printing house.

In 1781, a wooden chapel was erected with a copy of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God, and 10 years later, the architect Matvey Kazakov rebuilt the temple in stone.

During Patriotic War In 1812, the Iverskaya chapel was destroyed and later restored as a monument to the victory over Napoleon. The interior and exterior design was done by the artist Pietro Gonzago. The chapel was decorated with a blue dome with stars, and a gilded figure of an angel with a cross was installed at the top.

According to tradition, everyone who went to Red Square or the Kremlin kissed the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God before entering the Resurrection Gate, and the men passed under the gate without a hat.

In 1929, the Iverskaya chapel was destroyed and a sculpture of a worker was installed in its place, and in 1931, on the orders of Stalin, the Resurrection Gates were demolished and the passage in their place was called Historical. The official reason for the demolition was the impossibility of military equipment entering to participate in the festive parades.

By decision of the Government of Moscow in 1994-1995, the Iverskaya Chapel and the Resurrection Gate on Red Square were restored according to the model of the 1680s, designed by the architect Zhurin. The passage became pedestrian again, and the chapel was re-consecrated and opened on September 25, 1995.

Resurrection Gates of Kitay-Gorod - a recreated monument of fortification architecture, located between the buildings of the Historical Museum and the former city Duma. The double passage gates of the Kitai-Gorod wall, through which the passage of the same name passes, are a symbolic border between Red and Manezhnaya squares.

The original gate was built in 1535 by an Italian architect. Petrok Maly (Fryazino). Unfortunately, like the Kitaigorod wall as a whole, the gate has not survived to this day: in 1931 it was demolished to build a road. Modern gates were built in 1994-1995 according to the project of the architect Oleg Zhurin and are relatively exact copies of historical ones.

The gates have two travel arches, above which there is a gatehouse with two octagonal hipped turrets crowned with double-headed eagles. The windows of the gate rooms and turrets are richly decorated, under them are false machicules (imitation of vertical firing loopholes). Above the spans of the gates on both sides there are mosaic icons with images of George the Victorious (the patron saint of Moscow), Prince Alexander Nevsky, St. Sergius of Radonezh and Theodore Stratilates (the patron saint of the Christian army), as well as the Metropolitans of Moscow Peter, Alexy, Jonah and Philip. Another icon - the Resurrection of Christ - can be found between the arches of the gate from the side of Red Square.

Initially, the gate played a strictly fortifying role and did not have gate chambers and turrets. They were built on in 1680, and until 1731 the laboratories of the neighboring Mint were located in the premises above the gates, then - the printing house of the Imperial Moscow University.

Iverskaya chapel

From Manezhnaya Square right in front of the gate - in fact, as an extension - is located Iverskaya chapel with a copy of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God. The small chapel is decorated with gilded figures of the apostles Peter and Paul, as well as a small sculpture of the Archangel Michael on top of the dome.

The Iberian chapel was built in 1680, however, in fact, its history begins in 1648, when an exact list from the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God was brought to Moscow from Athos, and subsequently sent to the Valdai Iberian Monastery. By decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, an exact copy was made for Moscow from the list brought from Athos, which was placed at the gates of the Kitaigorod wall. According to tradition, everyone going to the Kremlin or Red Square venerated the icon before passing through the gate.

The first chapel was made of wood, then in 1791 it was rebuilt in stone according to the design of the architect Matvey Kazakov. In 1812, the chapel was devastated, and subsequently it was restored as a monument to the victory over the French - at the same time, the figure of the Archangel Michael was installed on top of the chapel.

Shortly after the revolution, the chapel was looted, and in 1929 it was closed and demolished. The restoration of the chapel took place in 1994-1995 simultaneously with the construction of the "new" Resurrection Gates.

The name of the Resurrection Gate

The Resurrection Gates received their modern name in 1689 after the icon of the Resurrection of Christ placed on them, however, over the years of their existence, they managed to change almost a dozen different names:

. lion gate- according to the lions donated to Ivan the Terrible by the English queen, who lived in the ditch between Nikolskaya and the Kremlin towers;

. Neglimensky (Neglimennye) gates- by the name of the Neglinnaya River, through which the bridge went from the gate;

. Epiphany gate- in the Epiphany Monastery;

. Trinity Gate- along the Trinity Compound;

. triumphal gate- according to their front-entrance function;

. chicken gate- in the vicinity of the trading row where the bird was sold;

. Iberian Gate- along the Iberian chapel.

Nowadays, there is a certain duality in the naming of the gate: although officially they are called Resurrection, many Muscovites tend to call them Iberian - after the chapel. Oddly enough, this nuance is well known to the townspeople, and there is no confusion with different names.

Nowadays, the recreated Voskresensky Gates play the role of the main entrance to Red Square for tourists visiting Moscow, thanks to which they have become one of the hallmarks of the Russian capital.

Resurrection Gates of Kitay-Gorod are located in Voskresenskiye Vorota passage, 1A - between Manezhnaya and Red Squares. They can be reached on foot from metro stations. "Okhotny Ryad" Sokolnicheskaya line, "Theatrical" Zamoskvoretskaya and "Revolution square" Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya.

Moscow legends. On the cherished road of Russian history Muravyov Vladimir Bronislavovich

Resurrection Gate. Iverskaya chapel

F. Ya. Alekseev. View of the Resurrection Gate and the Resurrection Bridge from Tverskaya Street. Painting 1800–1802

The Resurrection Gates with the Iverskaya Chapel leaning against them block the passage to Red Square and the exit to Nikolskaya Street - the first street of the Trinity Road. But do not rush to pass them as soon as possible: the Resurrection Gate is an integral part of the Holy Road, its beginning and singing.

Now the Resurrection Gates are perceived as an independent architectural structure of a decorative nature, but they are by no means a decorative arch, but a real fortress tower.

By the beginning of the 15th century, the Moscow settlement to the east of the Kremlin had grown and actually became part of the city, noble people, wealthy merchants appeared among its inhabitants, and then it became necessary to protect this part of the city with a fortress wall.

In the spring of 1534, the chronicle narrates, “the Grand Duke (the young Ivan IV was then the prince, his mother Elena Glinskaya ruled in the name of his son. - V. M.) ordered the city of China to do and trade everything to enter the city.

The fortifications of Kitay-gorod consisted of a moat, an earthen rampart and a wooden wall on the rampart, and, as it is written in the chronicle, they were built by "cunning (engineers. - V. M.) be wise.” The wall of Kitay-Gorod went from the corner Arsenal tower of the Kremlin along the Neglinnaya River, around the settlement, through Lubyanskaya Square, then turned towards the Moscow River and along the river returned to another tower of the Kremlin - to Sviblovaya.

The name of the second line of defensive fortifications - Kitay-gorod - was given by the main building element of the rampart - wattle from bundles of "thin forest". Such a bunch in ancient Russian was called whale. The earth was poured between two rows of wattle and compacted. (Until now, in some Russian regions, a “whale” is called a bundle of straw twisted from a bundle of straw for tying sheaves.)

But already in the following 1535, instead of a wooden wall, “for greater approval of the city,” as the chronicler reports, they began to build a wall of red baked brick along the moat. The construction was supervised by the Italian engineer-architect Petrok Maly.

Some military elements of the Resurrection Gate were preserved at the end of the 19th century. “As a part of the city fortification, the building itself revealed its original purpose, despite later alterations,” writes I.K. Kondratiev in the book “The Gray-haired Antiquity of Moscow” (1893). - These gates are made of fortress heavy bricks with iron ties and fasteners. In the thick walls of both passages there were still iron breakdowns from double gates, and in the arches there were holes for the portcullis, with which these passages were locked ... there were gunners and archers in the event of an enemy attack and siege. The embrasures, or cannon and musket battles, are then turned into windows.

Now near the gate there is a hill of old cannonballs found during earthworks near the Resurrection Gate.

The Kitai-Gorod fortress tower, which is now called the Resurrection Gates, stood on the banks of the Neglinnaya River (now enclosed in a pipe), and therefore its original name was the Neglinensky, or Neglinnye, gates. In 1556, the English King Philip sent Ivan the Terrible as a gift a lion, a lioness and a lion cub, which were placed in a cage for public viewing in a moat near the Neglinnaya Tower, and for some time the gate was called the Lion Gate. They were also called Kuryatnye, in many works this name is explained by the fact that nearby, behind Neglinnaya, there was a trading row where chickens were traded. Kuryatnaya, or Kuretnaya, was also called the neighboring passing tower of the Kremlin (now Troitskaya), which some explained by proximity to the royal "Chicken Yard", others - to the royal "Karetny Yard", but archaeologists did not find the existence of either one or the other in the Kremlin near the tower yard. The origin of this name is different: both towers were placed on courier, so in the 15th century the area was called, located on the old riverbed, a bay, a backwater, a swampy sleeve.

Through the Neglinnye - Lionnye - Kuryatnye - Resurrection Gates there was an old Tverskaya road. A wide and beautiful stone bridge was built across the Neglinka to them. (Fragments of it can be seen in the underground Archaeological Museum, located on Manezhnaya Square opposite the Resurrection Gate.)

In the 17th century, the Resurrection Gate served as the main entrance to Red Square. Unlike other gates, they had not one, but two travel arches, were decorated with stone carvings and covered with gilded copper. All foreign embassies arriving in Moscow, from whichever side they entered the city, were necessarily escorted by special bailiffs to Tverskaya Street and then followed the Voskresensky Bridge across the Neglinka and entered the Resurrection Gate.

Entrance to Moscow of a foreign embassy. Engraving of the end of the 17th century.

This route along the main street of the city, through the Resurrection Gates, behind which the panorama of Red Square and the Kremlin with their cathedrals and golden domes suddenly opened up, invariably made a great impression on foreigners. Passage through the Resurrection Gate was part of the obligatory diplomatic ceremony. After showing a panorama of Red Square and the Kremlin, the embassies were escorted to the Embassy Court on Ilyinka.

In addition, the Voskresensky Gates played another specific role in the ceremonial reception of embassies: “svetlitsy” were arranged in them above the passages, connected by a passage with the Kremlin royal palace, the tsar watched the passage of the embassy through the windows of these svetlitsy. Foreigners knew about this custom (which is clear from their memoirs) and accordingly prepared for the main passage, demonstrating in front of it the large number of retinues, the richness of robes, the number and luxury of gifts, that is, what showed the greatness of the country that the embassy represents. In turn, the tsar and nobles of the Posolsky order made a preliminary idea of ​​the embassy.

In 1680, Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, the elder brother of Peter I, who was distinguished by his love for splendor, ordered the Neglinensky Gate to be repaired, rebuilt and decorated. The “svetlitsy” above the driveways were expanded and two hipped turrets were erected above them. Above the passages, as was customary on all Moscow fortress towers, new icons were installed, painted in a “good letter”: the Resurrection of Christ, St. Sergius, the Great Martyr George, St. Theodore Stratilates and Moscow Saints Peter and Alexei. At the same time, Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich issued a decree on the name of the gate according to the icon installed on them: “There are two gates passing through the city of China, which they do again, which are written in advance with the nickname Neglinensky, henceforth write the Resurrection Gate, and do not write the Neglinensky Gate.”

At the end of the 17th - the first half of the 18th century, on the right and left sides of the Resurrection Gates, the Kitaigorod wall was dismantled, and administrative buildings were built in its place close to the gates, and thus the gates were no longer visually perceived as part of the city defensive wall.

In the first half of the 18th century, the assay laboratory of the Mint was located in the “svetlitsy” of the Resurrection Gate. And when, in 1755, Moscow University was opened in the building of the former Zemsky Prikaz, which was located on the site of the Historical Museum, a university printing house was located in the Voskresensky Gates and a bookstore was opened with it.

O. A. Kadol. Resurrection Gate. Lithograph from the 1820s

In 1779, N. I. Novikov rented a printing house in the Resurrection Gates, starting his book publishing activity in Moscow.

Since the reign of Peter I, when solemn processions through the streets on the occasion of important state events - military victories, coronations and others, became a custom, temporary triumphal arches were erected on the streets of Moscow along the way of the procession. The Resurrection Gates these days were decorated with the same elements as the triumphal arches: allegorical figures, emblems, picturesque panels and corresponding inscriptions. There is a well-known engraving by M. I. Makhaev depicting the Resurrection Gate, decorated in the form of triumphant ones for the coronation of Catherine II.

In the 19th century, the archive of the Provincial government was kept in the Resurrection Gate. On the eve of the revolution, Tsar Nicholas II signed a decree on the transfer of the Resurrection Gate to the Historical Museum, but due to revolutionary events, the transfer did not take place then. But the most significant episode in the history of the Resurrection Gate was first the installation of the miraculous Iberian Icon of the Mother of God on them in the middle of the 17th century, and then the construction of a chapel for it at the gate. Why in the people the gate is also called Iberian.

Tradition tells that this icon of the Mother of God in the 9th century belonged to a certain pious widow who lived in the vicinity of the ancient Byzantine city of Nicaea, and was greatly revered by her. At this time, Byzantium was ruled by the emperor Theophilus the iconoclast. Fulfilling the order of the emperor, his warriors searched for and destroyed icons everywhere. One of them came to this widow, saw the icon, struck the face of the Mother of God with a sword - and from the wound he had inflicted, blood flowed down her cheek. The warrior was frightened, fell on his knees before the icon with a penitential prayer and renounced the iconoclastic heresy. He told the widow that imperial detectives would come to her more than once with a search, and advised her to hide the image so that they could not find it. The widow did just that.

But the rumor about the miraculous image of the Mother of God and that the widow was hiding it somewhere reached the imperial detectives, they began to demand that she hand over the icon, and if she did not give it back, they threatened with cruel punishments.

Then the widow, in order to save the image from desecration, with a prayer let the icon into the sea. And then she saw that the icon did not lie on the water, but floated upright from the shore.

The widow's son, who was also threatened with persecution, left Nicaea and took the monastic vows in one of the monasteries on Athos. He told the brethren about the miracles performed by the icon of the Mother of God that was in their house, and this story was passed down on Athos from generation to generation.

Two centuries later, one of the monks of the Athos Iberian monastery - the holy elder Gabriel - had a revelation in a dream: the Mother of God said that she wanted to give her icon to the monastery, and let the elder approach her on the water and take it in his hands.

The next day, the monks saw an icon of the Mother of God on a pillar of fire in the middle of the sea. The holy Elder Gabriel, walking on the water as if on dry land, took the image, brought it to the monastery and placed it in the temple on the altar. But the next morning, the monks found the miraculously found icon not in the altar, but on the wall above the gates of the monastery. Then a temple was erected over the gates, and the icon of the Mother of God remains there to this day. According to the monastery, she is called Iverskaya, according to the place of her stay above the gates - the Goalkeeper. The chronicles of the Iberian monastery contain information about many miracles and healings that followed from the icon of the Holy Goalkeeper; many times the Iberian Monastery was attacked by enemies, but the miraculous intercession of the Mother of God saved it.

Moscow has long known about the Athos Orthodox monasteries, their shrines and the main one - the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God. Russian pilgrims visited Mount Athos, Athos monks came to Moscow to collect donations for monasteries. In the 1640s - during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich - Abbot of the Iberian Monastery Pakhomiy visited Moscow. Archimandrite Nikon of the Moscow Novospassky Monastery, the future patriarch, on behalf of the tsar and on his own behalf, turned to him with a request to remove a list (copy) from the miraculous Iberian Icon of the Mother of God and bring it to the next visit of the abbot to Moscow.

Pakhomiy assured Nikon that the request of the Moscow benefactors would be fulfilled.

The story of Pachomius about how the image of the Iberian Mother of God was painted for Moscow has been preserved. It was painted by the monk-icon painter Iamblikh Romanov. Here is Pachomius' story:

“Having gathered all the brethren, the archimandrite performed an all-night vigil and a prayer service with the blessing of water, put the holy relics into the blessed water, then this holy water was poured over the miraculous Iberian icon and, having collected the water in a bowl, they poured it over a new cypress board, appointed for writing a new icon; then again they collected the water in a dish, and then they served the Divine and Holy Liturgy, and after the Liturgy they gave that holy water and holy relics to the icon painter, so that he, mixing holy water and holy relics with paints, painted a holy icon. The icon painter ate food only on Saturday and Sunday, while the brethren celebrated vigils and liturgies twice a week. The Akathist to the Mother of God was read by the monks throughout the entire time the icon was being painted, until it was completely finished. And that newly-painted icon does not differ in anything from the first icon, neither in length, nor in width, nor in face, in a word, - new, like old.

On October 13, 1648, this copy of the icon, accompanied by the monks of the Iberian Monastery, arrived in Moscow. At the Resurrection Gate, the image was met by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and the royal family, Patriarch Joseph, the clergy, nobles and people.

Upon arrival, the icon of the Iberian Mother of God was first placed in the Moscow courtyard of the Iversky Monastery in the Nikolsky Greek Monastery on Nikolskaya, then transferred to the Assumption Cathedral, then placed in its permanent place in the house church of Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna. After the death of the queen, the icon passed to her daughter Sophia. Sophia took her with her to the Novodevichy Convent, where she was imprisoned by Peter I for trying to seize power. After the death of Sophia, the icon remained in the Novodevichy Convent and was in the Smolensk Cathedral. The last documentary news about her dates back to 1913: during the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God was exhibited in the chambers of Alexei Mikhailovich and, at the end of the festivities, was returned to the Smolensk Cathedral. Her whereabouts are currently unknown.

From the list of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God brought from Athos in 1648, by order of Alexei Mikhailovich, an exact copy was made by Russian icon painters at the same time and installed at the Resurrection Gate of Kitay-Gorod, just as the original image chose a place for itself at the gates of the Iberian monastery. It was this icon, according to legend, that became the cherished shrine of Russia.

In 1669, for the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God at the Resurrection Gate with outside a wooden chapel was built between the passages. The chapel was assigned to the Nikolo-Perervinsky monastery, and several monks who served it permanently lived in a cell attached right there to the Kitaigorod wall.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the wooden chapel was replaced by a stone one. In 1723, in connection with the decree of Peter I on the closure of the chapels, Iverskaya was also closed; it was reopened after the death of the tsar. In 1782, the chapel was replaced with a new one, built according to the project of M. F. Kazakov. In 1801, it was decorated with gilded copper pilasters and garlands; a copper angel with a cross was installed on its roof.

The miraculous image of the Iberian Mother of God and the Iberian chapel occupied a large and special place in Moscow's spiritual life.

The church calendar "Orthodox Moscow" (1994 edition) tells about her veneration in pre-revolutionary Moscow.

“Iberian,” we read in it, “perhaps was the most revered and accessible image in the Mother See. She was an object of reverent veneration not only for Moscow, but for all of Russia. The miraculous image was revered by both the Old Believers and Christians of non-Orthodox confessions. FROM early morning and until late in the evening the doors of the chapel were open for pilgrims, people were always crowded here.

In the most crucial times for the Russian state, in the days of wars and national disasters, public prayers were performed in front of Iverskaya Street, gathering tens of thousands of Muscovites. Prayer services in this holy place were an obligatory part of the ceremony of visiting Moscow by Russian tsars. Each time, entering the city or leaving it, they venerated the Life-Giving Cross in the Iberian chapel and knelt before the miraculous icon.

In Moscow, there was a custom to “invite” the miraculous icon of the Iberian Mother of God from the chapel to the houses of the townspeople in emergency cases “for prayer or in fulfillment of a vow, or due to illness, or to ask for some kind of mercy, or in gratitude to the Mother of God for Her good deeds” . "Invitations" were quite frequent, and descriptions of them are found in many memoirs. When the miraculous icon left at the “invitation”, the chapel did not remain empty: a copy was put in its place, as it was called, the “substitute”. There were three copies of the icon in the chapel.

How the “invitation” of Iverskaya happened and was carried out is colorfully and in detail (because every detail was important and significant here) is described in the autobiographical story “The Summer of the Lord” by the wonderful Moscow everyday writer I.S. Shmelev.

To prepare for the arrival of the icon in their house in Zamoskvorechye, says Shmelev, they began the day before.

“Clean up the yard,” orders the father, “so that there is no disgrace. Last year, the Lady was carried past the garbage heap.

She, Mother, of course, will not be offended, - the worker agrees, - but it’s not good.

They decide to sheathe the dump with boards, to cover the puddle with boards ...

And then the day and time comes when a carriage with an icon drives into the yard, the people sing: “Most Holy Theotokos, save us…”

Father and Vasil Vasilich, often crossing themselves, take upon themselves a heavy bow with the Lady. Towels slide into golden staples, they pick them up from the other side, and, smoothly swaying, the Queen of Heaven comes over all the people. They fall like grass, and She quietly walks over everyone. And it passes over me - I freeze in awe. There is a muffled knock on the boards above the puddle - and now She is shining, rosy illuminated by the early spring sun.

Spaa-si from troubles ... your servants, Mother of God ...

She is all light, and everything changed with Her and became a temple. Dark - heads and backs, many praying hands, the whole yard crowded with people ... She, the Blessed One, graciously looks at everything ...

Bunches of candles are burning, incense is thickly swirling, censers are ringing, the bluish air is trembling, and it seems to me in the glitter that she is beginning to ascend. Sprinkles silver on everything: they sprinkle birch trees, and sheds, and the sun in the sky, and hens with a rooster on a stack ... and she rises all the time, all in radiance.

Take it ... - a whisper of Vasil Vasilich is heard.

She leans towards the people... She goes. They fall under Her grass, and She quietly walks around the whole yard, all its nooks and crannies, all the passages and sheds, timber warehouses ... Wood chips crunch underfoot, thin shavings get tangled in the legs and drag. She goes to the stables... Old Anti-gun, resembling a saint, falls in front of her at the door. Behind the bars of the stalls, hooves are tapping, horses are looking out of the darkness timidly, their eyes gleaming. She is pushed by the edge, she came in. Horses bowed to Her, and She consecrated them. She is the Queen over everything, She is Heavenly.

Sprinkle the cow... put the Intercessor to the cow! - asks, pressing her hands to her chin, old Maryushka the cook.

It must be respected, for milk ... - says Andron the carpenter. Move the bow to half, hold. The cow bowed her head. Carried through the working bedrooms. For light air, it is smoky with juniper ... They bring it into our rooms, take it out into the courtyard and again take it up to the scaffolds. They come from the street - to kiss.

The people sing - Holy Mother of God, save us!

But the "invitation" of Iverskaya was a special case. Usually people would come to her.

The well-known professor-philologist B.V. Varneke, who published ethnographic essays under the pseudonym V. Chubarov, in one of them, printed in 1915, describes a picture that could be observed near the Iberian chapel at night, when the miraculous icon left it “by invitation."

“In Moscow,” says B.V. Varneke, “apart from the boulevards, at night there was revival only near the Iberian chapel on Red Square ... They brought the icon back to the chapel at two in the morning, and many Muscovites were waiting for her return to help the monks take the icon out of carriages. In anticipation of this moment, crowds gathered near the chapel from eleven o'clock. The pilgrims sat on the steps, on the nightstands of the pavement. There were old women in shabby jackets, officials in faded old-fashioned overcoats, girls in modest headscarves, fat merchants in long-brimmed coats. There were conversations while waiting for the icon. Everyone talked about the misfortune that led him to the All-Peter. The old women complained more often about their husband's drinking, the disobedience of their sons, or they came to the Lady to help find the missing chicken. The girls were most often led by the betrayal of the insidious groom, who preferred a large dowry to a faithful and devoted heart. Officials were worried about the injustices of the authorities, and merchants - hitches in trade affairs. All this motley crowd gathered from all over Moscow, waiting for a merciful miracle and an ambulance. But there were also those in the crowd who went simply from idleness in order to sit in a sleepless night in public and listen to various varieties in this peculiar club.

As soon as the sound of hooves and the cries of the postillion boy were heard from behind the walls of the Alexander Garden, the crowd was transformed. All conversations fell silent, those who were dozing at the walls of the Historical Museum were immediately awakened, and much earlier than the carriage drove up to the chapel, the majority knelt down and devoutly made the sign of the cross. Words of prayer began to sound from all over the crowd, and many had tears in their eyes. It can be seen that every night Moscow brought a lot of grief and worries here. As soon as a fat hieromonk in a shabby chasuble has time to get out of the carriage, hundreds of hands reach out to the carriage, and everyone wants to help with at least one finger to carry out the revered icon. Those who cannot reach the icon, they try to touch at least the robe of the monks, who diligently sprinkle holy water on all sides ... "

Not only ordinary people believed in the help of the miraculous icon, but also advanced enlightened students of the Higher Women's Courses, as one of them recalls, “ran to the Iberian icon to put candles before exams.”

At Iverskaya. Photo from the 1920s

Before the revolution, the poem of the poet of Pushkin's time E.L. Milkeev "Prayer of Iverskaya" was popular:

Source of joy sacred and pure,

O hot tears! No sound, no words

I poured them before the image of the Most Pure Virgin,

Before the image of the ancient, that so many centuries

Wonderfully stands at the cherished stronghold,

And in the bright lamps the oil does not go out,

And with faith, with prayers, wondrous shrine

The mouth touches the generations of people.

And in the joy of the heart, in an incomprehensible dream,

For a long time I stood before the ancient image,

And the Face of the Blessed One glowed with mercy,

And he promised quivering people a cover.

Oh give, Immaculate, holy life,

Give pure desires, give tears and patience,

And calm the thoughts of the frenzied rebellion!

They came to Iverskaya in full confidence that she would not remain deaf to any request, no matter how big or small it was. Before the revolution, there was a handwritten book in the chapel, in which those who wished entered stories about the Iberian requests that were fulfilled through their prayers, when the book was filled, it was replaced with a new one, but, a contemporary notes, “how many of them (that is, fulfilled requests. - V. M.) remained hidden!

The most reliable evidence of time is the details and dashes that are contained on the pages of works of art. Lines from I. A. Bunin's story "Clean Monday" essentially tell the same story as what is written in "Orthodox Moscow", but they provide an opportunity not only to see the chapel, those praying, but also to feel the atmosphere of this cherished Moscow corner .

The hero of Bunin's story has just heard from the woman he loves that she is leaving him. Rich, young, successful, a reveler, a playboy, a non-religious person, he leaves her on the morning street, brightening with the pale light of Moscow, and he is attracted to where most Muscovites in his condition would go.

“I was walking on young sticky snow - there was no more snowstorm, everything was calm and already far away you can see along the streets, there was a smell of snow and from bakeries. I reached Iverskaya, the inside of which burned hotly and shone with whole bonfires of candles, knelt in a crowd of old women and beggars on the trampled snow, took off my hat ... Someone touched my shoulder - I looked: some unfortunate old woman looked at me, wincing from pitiful tears:

Oh, don't kill yourself, don't kill yourself like that! Sin, sin!

Iverskaya was also a symbol and poetry of folk Orthodoxy for the Russian intelligentsia of the early 20th century.

Moscow! What a huge

Hospice!

Everyone in Russia is homeless.

We will all come to you...

And behind that door

Where are the people going,

There is the Iberian heart,

Red, on fire.

And hallelujah pours

To swarthy fields.

I kiss you on the chest

Moscow land!

These lines were written by Marina Tsvetaeva in 1916. The religious and spiritual experiences of the Russian intelligentsia at the beginning of the 20th century were accompanied by aesthetic and artistic impressions and were embodied in works of art. Among these works is the painting "At the Iverskaya" (1916) by the remarkable painter Aristarkh Lentulov, a futuristic artist, which became one of the best works of his work. Despite the formalistic elements, the decomposition of the form, the displacement of plans, characteristic of Lentulov's tambourine, his picture creates a bright and beautiful image of the Moscow shrine and conveys to the viewer the spiritual joy that it radiates.

Demonstration on Voskresenskaya Square in March 1917. Photo

In February - November 1917, the Iverskaya chapel found itself in the thick of revolutionary events. The Resurrection Gates adjoined closely to the wall of the building of the Moscow City Duma, which after the February Revolution became the center of the organization of the new revolutionary government, there was an uninterrupted rally in Moscow. “February 27 ... Resurrection Square was seething with crowds of people,” says A.F. Rodin in his memoirs, who was in the Duma all this time and was an eyewitness to what was happening day after day. - February 28, the streets were unrecognizable. They were crowded with crowds that marched towards the center singing the Marseillaise, with orchestras, with placards: “Down with the autocracy!”, “Long live the 8-hour working day!”, “Down with the war!”… The building of the City Duma was surrounded by thousands of demonstrators . The first groups of soldiers who left the barracks appear. The police and gendarmes are being disarmed, on March 2, on Voskresenskaya Square, all the regiments of the Moscow garrison defile with unfurled banners, to the sounds of military music.

On March 14, at a regular meeting of the Moscow Duma, its member N. A. Shamin proposed renaming Voskresenskaya Square into Revolution Square, another Duma member, attorney at law V. A. Pogrebtsov, supporting the idea of ​​renaming, proposed his own version of the new name of the square - Freedom Square. The proposal was approved by the Duma and submitted for consideration to one of the commissions.

Rallies and demonstrations on Voskresenskaya Square continued throughout the summer.

On November 2, 1917, on the final day of the Reds' advance on the Kremlin, a White machine gun mounted on the Resurrection Gate tried to stop a detachment of Red Latvians, but was suppressed.

The Iverskaya chapel was not closed during the revolutionary days.

Describing the consequences of the October battles in Moscow and listing the damaged buildings, the Moskovsky Listok newspaper wrote in those days about the Iverskaya chapel: “The Iverskaya chapel suffered little. It is remarkable that, as in 1905, the bullets hit the icon of Our Lady of Kazan. But just like then, the bullets pierced only the glass of the frame, without causing any harm to the icon itself. Two bullets also hit a small icon located on the right side of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God. The interior of the Iberian chapel was not damaged at all.”

On March 11, 1918, the communist government headed by V. I. Lenin moved to Moscow, which was declared the capital of the republic.

Having occupied the Kremlin for housing, the communist leadership first of all forbade free access to it. All the Kremlin gates were tightly closed, except for the only one - Troitsky, which was guarded by Latvian riflemen. Figures with rifles loomed between the battlements on the Kremlin walls.

Previously, the Kremlin, with its public shrines, had never been locked; it could be entered at any time of the day. Only twice in its entire history it was inaccessible to the people: in the Troubles of the 17th century, when False Dmitry sat in the Kremlin, and in 1812 under the French.

Therefore, the Iverskaya chapel - in the center of the city, under the walls of the dark locked Kremlin, with its always open doors, with burning candles, with its pilgrims - a stream, now overflowing to a small crowd, then thinning to two or three people, but endless and inexhaustible, was perceived some as reproach and challenge, others as encouragement and hope.

On the Resurrection Gates, as their amulets, icons of the patron saints of Moscow were installed during construction: George the Victorious, Sergius of Radonezh, Moscow saints Metropolitans Peter and Alexei. These images stood on the right and left sides of the Holy Goalkeeper, like Her army.

In 1918, for Marina Tsvetaeva, one of them appeared as a sign from above - the icon of St. George the Victorious. Tsvetaeva writes a poem, which included the theme of George in her work, which then developed and became one of the main ones in her worldview and life destiny.

Moscow coat of arms: the hero pierces the reptile.

Dragon in blood. Hero in the beam. So it is necessary.

In the name of God and the living soul

Get off the gate. Lord sentinel!

Give us back our liberty. Warrior, they - the stomach,

Guardian of fatal Moscow - get off the gate!

And prove - to the people and the dragon -

That men sleep - icons fight.

According to the memoirs of the first Soviet commandant of the Kremlin - a Baltic sailor, a party member since 1904, Pavel Malkov - it is clear what hostile attitude towards Moscow was experienced from the very first days of their stay in the ancient capital by the new government that came from Petrograd. Irritation, apparently, was intensified by the fact that this move was a forced and - what is there to hide - a humiliating flight in order to save one's own life and power.

Malkov, who led the security of the Smolny in Petrograd, ensured the security of the movement of the Council of People's Commissars and was supposed to organize the security of V. I. Lenin and other members of the government in Moscow.

“This is Moscow! writes Malkov. - Some kind of it, the Mother See, which has now become the capital of the world's first state of workers and peasants?

I had never been to Moscow before and looked at everything with particular interest. Admittedly, the first impression was not favorable. After Petrograd, Moscow seemed to me somehow very provincial, neglected. Narrow, crooked, dirty streets covered with chipped cobblestones differed unfavorably from the spacious, straight, like an arrow, avenues of St. Petersburg, dressed in paving stones and butt. The houses were shabby and shabby. Here and there, traces of October bullets and shells have been preserved on the walls. Even in the center of the city, not to mention the outskirts, high five-six-story stone buildings were interspersed with shabby wooden houses.

Immediately after the government moved to Moscow, the commandant, of course, had no time to inspect the outskirts of the city, so his first impression of Moscow was from the central part and, moreover, a small patch around the Kremlin, where it was necessary to place the heads of the people's commissariats and a large army of employees.

“Against the entrance of the National Hotel, where Lenin and a number of other comrades settled after moving to Moscow, there was some kind of chapel topped with a hefty cross (the chapel of St. Alexander Nevsky. - V. M.) … - Malkov continues his description of Moscow. - Narrow Tverskaya from the house of the Governor-General, now occupied by the Moscow City Council, ran down steeply and rushed past the National, Okhotny Ryad, and the Patchwork Hotel straight to the Iverskaya Chapel that blocked the entrance to Red Square. On both sides of the chapel, under vaulted arches, there were only small passages, in each of which two carts could hardly pass each other. Beggars, speculators, swindlers constantly crowded near Iverskaya, there was an incessant rumble of voices, thick abuse hung in the air ... "

From this description, one could foresee what fate and what kind of "reconstruction" awaited Moscow, including the Iberian chapel.

A month later, Moscow began to be brought into the form corresponding to the "capital of the world's first state of workers and peasants": the city was being prepared for the celebration of the revolutionary holiday of May 1. These first steps were called "monumental propaganda" by Lenin. He proposed to implement the idea of ​​the 17th century Italian utopian socialist Tommaso Campanella, described in his utopia City of the Sun. A. V. Lunacharsky recalled that Lenin explained to him how it should be implemented at the present time.

“For a long time this idea, which I will present to you, has been hovering before me,” said Lenin. - Do you remember that Campanella in his "Solar State" says that frescoes are painted on the walls of his fantastic socialist city, which serve as a visual lesson for young people in natural science, history, excite civic feeling - in a word, they participate in the education, upbringing of new generations. It seems to me that this is far from being naive and, with a certain change, could be assimilated and implemented by us right now.

I would call what I think monumental propaganda... Our climate is unlikely to allow the frescoes that Campanella dreamed of. That is why I speak mainly of sculptors and poets. In various prominent places on suitable walls or on some special structures, brief but expressive inscriptions containing the most lengthy, fundamental principles and slogans of Marxism, such, perhaps, strongly cobbled together formulas, giving an assessment of this or that great historical event. Please don't think that I am imagining marble, granite, or gold lettering. For now, we must do everything modestly.”

On April 14, 1918, the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars was issued, signed by Lenin, Stalin and Lunacharsky, "On the removal of monuments erected in honor of the tsars and their servants and the development of projects for monuments of the Russian Socialist Republic." The decree included a clause concerning Moscow: “It is instructed to hastily prepare the decoration of the city on May 1 and replace the inscriptions, emblems, street names, coats of arms, etc. with new ones that reflect the ideas and feelings of revolutionary labor Russia.”

In pursuance of this decree, by May 1, 1918, Voskresenskaya Square was renamed Revolution Square; on the other side of the Iberian chapel, at the Historical Museum, they placed a wooden carved memorial plaque with reliefs of a star, a sickle and a hammer and with the saying of Friedrich Engels: "Respect for antiquity is undoubtedly one of the signs of true enlightenment."

On the night of April 28, 1918, the Iverskaya chapel was robbed, the robbers tried to break the precious salary from the miraculous icon, but they did not succeed. The police did not find the perpetrators.

In 1919, in connection with the closure of the Nikolo-Perervinsky monastery, to which the Iverskaya chapel was assigned, the monks who served it and lived in the house of the former Provincial government were evicted, and the chapel remained ownerless. The formed community of believers at the chapel entered into an agreement with the Moscow City Council and received the right to use it "to satisfy religious needs."

In 1922, the State Commission for the Seizure of Church Valuables seized from the chapel all more or less valuable liturgical items: salaries, robes, vessels, crosses adorned with precious stones, which was reported in the Pravda newspaper. In the same year, Voskresensky passage was renamed Historical in commemoration, as they explained, of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Historical Museum.

In 1924, the administrative department of the Moscow City Council discussed the issue of demolishing the chapel and proposed "liquidating it under the guise of repairing the Resurrection Gate, since otherwise it would cause a lot of talk and undesirable ferment among the faithful." But then they did not dare to demolish it, and the liquidation of Iverskaya was postponed until a more convenient time.

Demonstration on Red Square. Painting from the 1930s

Despite the atheist agitation, the veneration of Iverskaya in Moscow was still widespread. The authorities put obstacles to the removal of the icon to other churches and private apartments. However, in the early 1920s, it was still worn around the city. The writer L. A. Avilova, who lived in one of the Arbat alleys, witnessed such a removal of the icon to the city and described it in her diary:

They brought Iverskaya. A carpet was spread out in the yard and a table with a bowl and candles was placed. They were waiting for Matushka from minute to minute from 10 o’clock in the evening ... The icon was already in the church of Blasius, and they were already carrying it in neighboring courtyards, and now and then there was a cry: “They are carrying the Iberian!” ... At ten minutes after two (at night) Anyuta called and shouted to me that the prayer service had already begun in the yard... There was a large crowd of people in the yard, candles were lit, but the dark icon was still hard to see. The face was unrecognizable. And all the more solemn and mysterious was this prayer under the open sky with the barely flickering light of thin wax candles. How many sighs, almost groans, indistinct whispers! .. “Mother! Help! After all, we are perishing, we are perishing!“ Very quickly they served (a prayer service), they carried the icon. I went out of the gate and heard heavy footsteps in the dark for a long time. There were no more lights in the windows. And the icon, they said, would be worn all night ... "

After the revolution, handwritten books were not kept in the chapel to record the requests fulfilled by the Iberian. But stories about this are sometimes found in memoirs, making it possible to assume that in reality there were many such cases. There were healings from a fatal illness, support for those who fell into despair, salvation from suicide and help in everyday, domestic affairs. One such incident is described in the memoirs of Mikhail Makarov, this incident occurred in 1926, the memoirs were published in 1996.

“I was unemployed in 1926, when the NEP was in full bloom,” writes Makarov. - Once a month I went to check in at the labor exchange, but each such visit to the exchange only aggravated my condition: on the horizon there was no hope of getting a job soon ... My situation became simply nightmarish.

It was the beginning of September. In a depressed state, I sat at home one day. There was a knock on the front door. I opened. In front of me stood a straight, cheerful old woman. On the head is a scarf tied in a monastic manner ...

The old woman entered the kitchen, made three prostrations with the sign of the cross in front of the icon, bowed to me and said:

Give me, well done, a drink of water.

I scooped up a bucket of water in a tub and gave it to the old woman. She crossed herself again and, after taking three long gulps, returned the ladle to me.

What, well done, is hard on the heart?

I was confused, not knowing what to answer.

It’s bad without work, - the old woman continued, - but don’t despair, go to Iverskaya, put a candle for a nickel in front of the icon of the Mother of God and pray fervently with tears. I will be a dog if the Mother of God does not help you. She will give you a job. - With these words, the old woman crossed herself on the icon and, saying: - Christ save you for the crust of water, - went out.

I was stunned and did not know what to do, but automatically rushed after her and asked:

What's your name?

Wanderer Pelageyushka, - she answered, accelerating her steps and moving away.

The next day I went to Iverskaya ... I did everything as Pelageyushka told me. And so, believe me, old man, leaving the chapel, I felt that a stone had fallen from my heart. I felt light and confident in the future.

A few days later I received a summons calling me to the labor exchange ... "

He was given a free ticket to a rest home, and then he got a job in his specialty.

“The first day of my work,” Makarov continues, “fell on October 1 (14), the day of the Intercession of the Mother of God. I regarded this as a sign of the obvious help of the Queen of Heaven and mentally thanked the pilgrim Pelageyushka for her good advice ... I set myself a rule: when I visit Iverskaya, every time I thank the Mother of God for this help and in memory of this put a candle in front of Her icon ... "

The decision to demolish the Iberian Chapel and the Resurrection Gates was apparently made in 1926. An indirect confirmation of this is the lack of information about them in the guide “Museums and Sights of Moscow” published that year by the publishing house of the Moscow Communal Services, edited by V. V. Zgura, which is very complete and qualified. This omission can only be explained by the information received by the publishing house about their imminent demolition, which then for some reason did not take place.

In 1928, the Council of People's Commissars again discussed the issue of the demolition of the Resurrection Gate and the Iverskaya Chapel "in connection with the proposed reorganization of Red Square" (the proposal of Emelyan Yaroslavsky, a member of the Central Committee, the head of atheistic propaganda), the Moscow Council added another reason for the demolition of the chapel - "strongly restricts traffic ”and assured that the chapel “provided that the cult objects were cleaned, the MKH could be dismantled in one night.” In 1929, the chapel was closed and demolished really in one night - from July 28 to July 29, 1929.

In the mid-1920s, the Resurrection Gates were transferred to the Historical Museum and restored. In June 1931, the Moscow Council ordered the museum's directorate to "clear the premises of the Iberian Gates within two days due to their demolition scheduled for the 25th." The gates were demolished, as was stated, due to the fact that they interfered with the passage of columns of demonstrators to Red Square on the days of revolutionary holidays. Scientists, architects, cultural figures objected to the demolition, arguing that the destruction of a valuable architectural monument would damage the aesthetic perception of the ancient Red Square ensemble. To which the then "leader of the Moscow Bolsheviks" L. M. Kaganovich replied: "And my aesthetics requires that columns of demonstrators from six districts of Moscow simultaneously pour into Red Square." And the fate of the Resurrection Gate was decided - in July 1931 they were demolished.

The construction of the Kitaygorod wall began from the Resurrection Gates, and 398 years later, its destruction began from them.

The fate of the main image of the Iberian Mother of God is mysterious. According to some sources, it was transferred to the Church of the Resurrection in Sokolniki, where it is still located on the left kliros of the northern aisle. P. Palamarchuk, the author of the most complete and authoritative modern guide to Moscow churches, Forty Forties, said that Moscow old-timers repeatedly confirmed to him that this particular icon, brought from Athos, is located in Sokolniki.

According to other sources, one of the substitute icons (also miraculous) got into the Resurrection Church, and the main one disappeared during the destruction of the chapel.

In the brochure “Stories about the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God” (M., “Russian Chronograph”, 1997), a photograph of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, which belonged to the priest hieromonk Father Seraphim (Sutorikhin), was first published.

From 1924 to 1926, Father Seraphim served as a psalmist in the Iberian chapel, then he left for Leningrad and took monastic vows there. In 1929, he received from friends a photograph that was taken from the main icon of the Iberian Mother of God with the salary removed, before it was seized by the authorities. In 1932, Father Seraphim was arrested, he spent fifteen years in the camps, upon his release he served as a priest in the Kirov region and in Samarkand. He managed to save this cherished photo.

There is a persistent rumor in Moscow that main icon The Iberian Mother of God is whole and will appear at the appointed time ...

They say that after the demolition of the Iberian chapel and the Resurrection Gates, for many years people came to the place of the demolished chapel and silently prayed ...

On November 7, 1931, for the first time, troops and columns of demonstrators entered Red Square not in two ranks, seeping through the arches of the Resurrection Gate, but in an avalanche.

The leaders at the Mausoleum were satisfied.

Half a century later, the same goal is to create favorable conditions for holding parades on Red Square - was the reason for the restoration of the Resurrection Gate and the Iberian Chapel.

It began with the fact that on July 20, 1988, the Moscow City Council issued Order No. 2675 to Mosinzhstroy and Mosvodokanalstroy for work on the reconstruction of underground utilities and pavement in Istorichesky Proyezd. Repairs were undertaken in connection with the approaching 71st anniversary of the October Revolution, a military parade and a demonstration on this occasion on Red Square. It was necessary to strengthen the road surface.

The leaders of the Moscow City Council and personally its deputy chairman A. S. Matrosov, who ordered the work in the Historical passage, knew that, according to the law, archaeologists must examine the excavation before carrying out these works. But this, of course, would delay the road builders. Therefore, the warrant was signed without the consent of the authorities for the protection of monuments and without informing the Moscow archaeological expedition, which is required by law, and work in the Historical passage began without prior notice. Excavators and bulldozers rumbled, paving stones creaked, earth exploded by buckets flew. The speed of the work ensured the success of the Moscow Soviet violators of the law; rather destroy what the law requires to preserve, and then say with satisfaction and a smirk, the phrase very beloved by the destroyers: "The train has left."

However, the work on Red Square, carried out by powerful machinery, could not go unnoticed. Moreover, the archaeologists of the Moscow Archaeological Expedition at that very time were excavating nearby, on the territory of the Mint. Hearing the rumble of excavators, they hurried into the passage. The road workers managed to remove only the surface layer, under which the laying of the foundation of the Resurrection Gate from large bricks was opened. Young guys archaeologists jumped under the excavator bucket in the excavation to stop the destruction of the foundation.

The head of the Moscow archaeological expedition, S. Z. Chernov, sent telegrams to the addresses of the monument protection authorities, the leaders of the Moscow Council and construction, a group of Moscow television from the Good Evening, Moscow! driveway. The management of the builders promised to suspend work. All these events took place on July 29, Friday.