Onion domes of the 17th century Church of Saint Simeon Stylites where writer Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) was mourned before his burial in Moscow, Russia
Image details
Contributor:
DE ROCKER / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
BX163WFile size:
60.2 MB (1.8 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
5616 x 3744 px | 47.5 x 31.7 cm | 18.7 x 12.5 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
12 May 2010Location:
Church Of Simeon Stylites, New Arbat Street, Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russia, Eastern Europe, EuropeMore information:
The picturesque Church of St. Simeon Stylites sits between Novy Arbat and Povarskaya Ulitsa. St. Simeon 'of the pillar', as his name means, is perhaps, the most famous example of those early self-denying hermits who chose to live on the tops of pillars as a form of mortification and solitude. When constructed between 1676 and 1678, the church was located in the kitchen gardens of the royal court's cooks. This lovely white church has three apses, a cluster of five bright blue cupola rising from drums above several rows of kokoshniki and an attached tent-shaped bell tower. The chapels are dedicated to Reverend Semyon Stolpnik, Saint Nikolai Chudotvortsa and Saint Dmitri Rostovski. The church was renovated in the 1960s as an exhibition hall and craft shop for the Society for the Preservation of Nature. Today it has been restored as a working church, but nothing remains of the original interior. Some believe that the secret marriage of Count Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev to his serf actress wife, Praskovya Kovaleva-Zhemchugova was performed here in 1801. (See Ostankino for more information about this famous couple). Gogol, who lived nearby, attended services here. The last service during Soviet times was held in April 1938 after the great bass opera singer, Fyodor Shalyapin, died in Paris. His daughter, Irina Fyodorovna, demanded a memorial service here for her father. The church was closed soon after. The world famous Ukrainian-born Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol was mourned at the Church of Simeon Stylites on New Arbat Street in Moscow, Russia, before his burial as it is located just around the corner from where he lived. On Sundays he would attend mass at this church.