Kolomenskoye

Coordinates: 55°40′10″N 37°40′08″E / 55.66944°N 37.66889°E / 55.66944; 37.66889

Church of the Ascension, Kolomenskoye *
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Country	Russian Federation
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii
Reference	634
Region **	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	1994 (18th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List ** Region as classified by UNESCO

Wooden palace in Kolomenskoe. 18th century picture.

A modern reconstruction of the Wooden palace (2010)

Panorama of Kolomenskoye, 18th century. Watercolor from the original drawing of Giacomo Quarenghi

View of Kolomenskoye by Fedor Alekseev (19th century).

Kolomenskoye (Russian: Коло́менское) is a former royal estate situated several kilometers to the south-east of the city-centre of Moscow, Russia, on the ancient road leading to the town of Kolomna (hence the name). The 390 hectare scenic area which overlooks the steep banks of the Moskva River became a part of Moscow in the 1960s.

The White Column of Kolomenskoye

Kolomenskoye village was first mentioned in the testament of Ivan Kalita (1339). As time went by, the village was developed as a favourite country estate of grand princes of Muscovy. The earliest extant structure is the exceptional Ascension church (1532), built in white stone to commemorate the long-awaited birth of an heir to the throne, the future Ivan the Terrible. Being the first stone church of tent-like variety, the uncanonical "White Column" (as it is sometimes referred to) marked a stunning rupture with the Byzantine tradition. [1]

The church stands up toward the sky from a low cross-shaped podklet (ground floor), then follows a prolonged chetverik (octagonal body) of the church, and then an octagonal tent, crowned by a tiny dome. The narrow pilasters on the sides of the chetverik, the arrow-shaped window frames, the three tiers of the kokoshniks and the quiet rhythm of stair arcades and open galleries underline the dynamic tendency of this masterpiece of the Russian architecture. The whole vertical composition is believed to have been borrowed from hipped roof-style wooden churches of the Russian North. Recognizing its outstanding value for humanity, UNESCO decided to inscribe the church on the World Heritage List in 1994.

The great palace and other structures

Tsar Alexis I had all the previous wooden structures in Kolomenskoye demolished and replaced them with a new great wooden palace, famed for its fanciful, fairy-tale roofs. The foreigners referred to this huge maze of intricate corridors and 250 rooms, built without using saws, nails, or hooks, as 'an Eighth Wonder of the World'. Although ostensibly only a summer palace, it was the favorite residence of Tsar Alexis I. The future Empress Elizabeth Petrovna was born in the palace in 1709, and Tsar Peter the Great spend part of his youth here. Upon departure of the court for St Petersburg, the palace got dilapidated, so that Catherine II refused to make it her Moscow residence. On her orders the wooden palace was demolished in 1768, and replaced with a much more modest stone-and-brick structure. Fortunately a wooden model of the palace survives, and the Moscow Government has completed a full-scale reconstruction in 2010. The rebuilt palace stands approximately 1 km to the south of its original location, in order to preserve the historic foundations. The palace erected by Catherine the Great in 1768 was demolished in 1872, and only a few gates and outbuildings remain.

Aerial view of Kolomenskoye

During the early Soviet period, under the initiative of architect-restorer Pyotr Baranovsky, old wooden buildings and various artifacts were transported to Kolomenskoye from different parts of the USSR for preservation, so currently Kolomenskoe Park hosts an impressive set of different constructions and historical objects.

Local buildings

• Church of John the Baptist in Dyakovo, 16th century. The church stands on the Dyakovo hill, located to south-west from the Kolomenskoe hill. The church is five-tented, and was probably constructed around 1547, reputedly by architect Postnik Yakovlev, the author of Saint Basil's Cathedral on the Red Square.
• Church of St. George, 16th century
• Standalone belltower for the church of St. George, 16th century
• Standalone refectory for the church of St. George, 16th century
• Church of Our Lady of Kazan, 17th century
• Watertower, 17th century
• Front gates, 1671–73
• Polkovhichyi chambers, 17th century
• Prikaznye chambers, 17th century
• Sytnyy yard, 17th century
• Back gates, 17th century
• Park pavilion, 1825
• Park gates, 19th century

Constructions and artifacts brought from elsewhere

• Barbican church of the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery)
• Bratsk Stockade Tower
• Boris stone from Belarus
• Polovets stone idol
• Chasovoy pole, 17th century
• Tower from the Sumskoy Ostrog fortress, 17th century
• Memorial pole from Shaydorovo village, 19th century
• Mead making facility, 18th century
• Peter the Great house (18th century) from North Dvina River
• Lion's Gates from the Moscow Kremlin (surviving fragments)

Reconstructions

• Water mill on Zhuzha River

Natural sites and wonders

• Oak-trees grove (one of the oldest oaks in Moscow)
• Golosov Ravine with sacred stones and springs in it

Archeological sites

• Dyakovo settlement

See also

• Tsaritsyno Park
• Kuskovo
• Arkhangelskoye Estate
• Open-air museum

References

• Dixon, Simon. Catherine the Great (Profiles in Power). Harlow, UK: Longman, 2001 (paperback, ISBN 0-582-09803-3).

External links

• Photo (1024x768)
• German page on Kolomenskoye
• Kolomenskoye Museum Reserve (Moscow)
• Many rare photos