Iberian chapel on the Red Square in Moscow. Sights of Moscow

The Red Square in Moscow is a sort of "zero kilometer", the most significant place for Russians. To get to it, you need to avoid the Resurrection Gates, which makes several million people every day. But not all of them know that very near is one of the most revered Orthodox places of Moscow. This is the Iberian chapel on Red Square. Many Muscovites consider this small structure, bent at the Voskresensky Gate, a new thing. But this is not so. It was only restored to its former place in place of the old, destroyed by the Bolsheviks. The Iberian icon of the Mother of God was considered miraculous in Russia. For such a shrine, a suitable "frame" was required. It became the chapel. Why is it not located inside a cathedral or church? Our article will tell about it. Its history, as well as the icon of the Mother of God, will also be revealed. We will give the exact address of this building, the opening hours of a small church and the services held there.

Iberian Chapel on Red Square: how to get

Find this sight of Moscow and the shrine of the Orthodox people is extremely simple. After all, it is located on the "tourist zero kilometer". Nearby - Red Square with the Kremlin and the Mausoleum. You can get there from almost anywhere in Moscow by metro. Many branches of the Moscow subway pass here. To leave it follows at the stations "Okhotny Ryad", "Teatralnaya" or "Revolution Square". The best option is the first one. From the station "Okhotny Ryad" there are road signs for pedestrians - "Exit to Red Square". Following them, you will come to the double-leaf gate. They are crowned with two towers. Under them is a small structure under the dome. This is the Iberian chapel on Red Square. The address at the building is as follows: the Voskresenskiye gates, house 1a.

Icon of the Mother of God of Iveron

Marina Tsvetaeva called this miracle-working image "Moscow's heart of hearts". And he appeared in the capital long before the first chapel was built. The Iberian icon of the Mother of God in Moscow was not all the time, it was brought from Greece, from the holy Mount Athos. This is not the original. The real icon of the Mother of God remained in the monastery on Mount Athos. But for Russia an exact copy was made - a "list". He was taken to Belokamennaya in October 1648. At first the icon was found in the St. Nicholas Monastery, but a few years later it was given to the Valdai Iberian monastery. She gave the name to the image. On the orders of Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich, the icon painters were instructed to make an exact copy of this "list." She was placed in the triumphal arch of the Neglien Gates. Through them the Russian kings drove to Red Square. Later, in 1669, these gates were renamed the Resurrection.

The history of the first chapel

Some time from the rain and snow, wind and sun rays, the "list" was protected only by a small canopy. In the year six hundred and eightieth, it was decided to build a small wooden chapel for the image. Those were the times when the icon enjoyed the glory of helping with diseases. Therefore, the face was often brought to the house of a woman who was sick or had a heavy birth. She was escorted from priests and guards, and for the time of her absence, the icon was replaced with a new "list" in the chapel. Over time, and the building in which the miraculous face was kept, became the object of worship of a pious people. Merchants before the conclusion of the transaction, students before the exam, travelers came to him to "bless". But this structure has not reached our days. In the eighteenth century, the Iberian chapel on Red Square was at least twice rebuilt. In the middle of the century it again became wooden and only in 1791 - stone.

The modern view of the Iberian Chapel

So, the end of the eighteenth century marked a new era. The icon of the Iberian Mother of God met everyone passing through the Resurrection Gate. Men had to take off their hats, Christians - to put on the image. The Iberian chapel on Red Square was not closed for the night. At any time the people crowded there. But Russian architect Matthew Kazakov decided not to make the chapel too spacious. Even today it can hold at most fifty people. The architect planned a simple square one-tiered building, topped by a dome. During the Napoleonic invasion, the chapel was looted. To restore it, Prince Nikolai Yusupov invited the Italian artist Pietro Gonzago. He decorated the building from the outside, showered the dome with metal stars, placed the gilt sculpture of an angel with a cross on the very top, decorated the interiors. And somehow it so happened that the chapel became a symbol of the triumph of the Russian people in the war with Napoleon.

Destruction and resurrection

Immediately after the victory of the October Revolution, the Iberian Chapel experienced the hostility of the new government to religion. Already in the spring of the eighteenth year the building was plundered. Then the Nikolo-Perervinsky monastery was closed, to which the chapel was attributed. In the twenty-second year, the remaining values were "expropriated in favor of the hungry." And in seven years the chapel came to an end. In the last days of July of 1929, under the cover of night, the small building was demolished. The "lists" that were in it were lost forever. Two years later the Voskresensky Gates disappeared. They allegedly interfered with the passage of military equipment for parades on Red Square. The entire architectural complex (gate and chapel) was restored in the ninety-fifth year. And for the Orthodox flock icon-painters of Athos a new list was made. Now, from the "zero kilometer", from the Iberian chapel, many excursions around Moscow on the bus start. And the small building at the Resurrection Gates is the first exhibit on the list.

Shrine and temple

Restored in 1994-1995. The chapel was consecrated by Patriarch Alexius II himself. Now it is a temple, though of the most modest size. The new copy of the icon of the Mother of God, the Goalkeeper, made by the monks-painters from the Mount Athos in Greece, makes it the shrine of the Russian people. Attached to the image, and at the same time and admire the luxurious interior of the temple can be every day. The opening hours of the Iberian chapel on Red Square are from eight in the morning to twenty-zero, without days off. All the Moscow clergy serve there as a prayer. In this case, the akathist of the Virgin Mary is recited in honor of her icon "The Mother of God of Iverskaya." There is a small church and patronal holidays. They are celebrated with great solemnity on the twenty-fifth of February, on Tuesday of the Bright Week and on October 26. The temple is now attributed to the Patriarchal Compound, which only enhances its status. The chapel has its rector. Now his duties are performed by the archpriest Gennady Nefedov.

Iberian chapel on the Red Square in literature and painting

This small temple became a certain symbol of Orthodox Russia. When Peter the Great, returning from a military campaign, did not go to kiss the icon of the Iberian Mother of God, Muscovites almost rebelled. It is known that Emelyan Pugachev prayed here before the execution . The Iberian chapel in Moscow is often mentioned in fiction, both in poetry and in prose. In I. Bunin these stories are "Pure Monday" and "Memoirs", in I. Shmelev - "Bogomolie", in B. Zaitsev - "The Blue Star". Anton Chekhov in Moscow always stayed at the hotel "Bolshaya Moskovskaya", and asked for a room overlooking the Iberian chapel to watch the night prayer services. Laconically, but at the same time, symbolically described the church at the gate between the Red and Manege squares Lev Tolstoy in War and Peace. Pierre Bezukhov, having passed the Iberian chapel with its countless candles under the golden sacristy, finally felt at home. The temple is mentioned in Solzhenitsyn, Mandelstam, Tsvetaeva, Khodasevich. And in painting he is devoted to A. Lentulov's painting "The Iberian".

Copies

The chapel, becoming a symbol of Russian patriotism (for example, in the struggle against Napoleon Bonaparte) and Orthodox piety, was very popular at the decline of the empire. Many cities began to build similar buildings. Iberian chapel at the Resurrection Gate in Moscow served as a model for a small church in Tomsk. There, a copy was built in 1883. During the Soviet regime, this provincial church was demolished, and in its place was a square. But the inhabitants of Tomsk restored their chapel in two thousand two years. Her, like the original in the capital, was consecrated by Patriarch Alexy II. There is at least one more copy of the Iberian Chapel in Moscow. True, she is not in Russia, but in Belgrade. It was built in the New Cemetery with the money of emigrants from the USSR in the thirty-first year. For many years this chapel was abandoned, but in the summer of 2014 it was completely restored and restored. There are chapels of the Iberian Mother of God, where one of the "lists" is kept, but they are not copies of the Moscow church.

Sightseeing of the capital

Even if you are an atheist or belong to another religion, if you understand that the new copy and the old icon are not the same, still do not pass by this small temple. To examine it from the outside and inside is a matter of half an hour. A tour of Moscow by bus takes the chapel and the less time. But it's worth to look at the paintings and stucco, admire the angel on the roof and go inside. In addition to the main icon of the Mother of God of Iverskaya, attention is attracted by a double analo, all covered in carvings.