The Church of Saint Dmitry of Solun
GENERAL INFORMATION
Dating: 1709.
Type: A monument of architecture.
Status: a cultural heritage site of federal importance.
State protection registration document: Authorization of the Council of Minsters of RFSFR No. 1327, August 30, 1960; Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 176, February 20, 1995.
Address: 1 Pervaya St., Dymkovo Sloboda, V. Ustyug, Russia.
An ensemble: An element of the ensemble of the Churches at Dymkovo.
Brief description.
The church of Saint Dmitry of Solun is the main temple of the parish at Dymkovo. According to the legend, the first wooden churches at Dymkovo were built in memory of Ustiug people participating in the battle of Kulikovo. The stone temple of Saint Dmitry of Solun was built in the early days of entry into the local architecture of the Baroque style, which is reflected in its architecture. This temple is a peculiar to Veliky Ustiug sample of a pillarless five-domed church. It is also one of the first examples of the use of octagonal drums in the local construction practices. It stands out for its elegant brick decor and well-preserved interior decoration.
Condition: satisfactory.
Contemporary use: the church is used by the Veliky Ustiug State Museum-Reserve.
HISTORY
The church of Saint Dmitry of Solun is part of the ensemble of the churches at Dymkovo. It is believed that the first wooden churches at Dymkovo were built here in 1383 in memory of Ustiug people’s participation in the battle of Kulikovo. Saint Dmitry of Solun was venerated as the patron saint of the Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy .
The stone cold church at Dymkovo was laid on April 6, 1700 near the old wooden temple. Construction was completed in 1708. On July 6, 1709, after the interior finish, consecration of the church in the name of the martyr Dmitry Solun was conducted by His Eminence Joseph, Archbishop of Veliky Ustiug and Totma. The church used to be the main temple of the Dmitrievsky parish.
In 1930 the temple was closed. Currently, the building of the church of Saint Dmitry of Solun is assign to Veliky Ustiug State Museum-Reserve.
In 1984, ten icons of the festival tier of the iconostasis of the church were stolen and transported abroad. The monuments were found by the employees of the Moscow Museum of Russian Icons, and purchased by its owner Mikhail Abramov. In 2012 they were donated to Veliky Ustiug State Museum-Reserve.
Architectural description
The cold church of Saint Dmitry of Solun refers to the monuments of the transitional type from local traditions of the 17th century to the forms of the Baroque era. Next to it (from the south) there is the warm Church of Sergius Radonezh of a smaller size.
Double-height quadrangle of the temple bulk is finished with the frieze, which is decorated with tiles, and two rows of arched gables. The temple is crowned with five domes based on octagonal drums (the central lantern drum, and decorative angular drums). The drums are crowned with complex octagonal baroque domes of interception and four-rayed forged crosses with «a halo». On the east side, the temple adjoins a triapsidal altar, and on the west side – a one-storey refectory and a high tent-roofed belfry, placed on the axis of the building. The decor of the building is original: on the north side the walls are practically devoid of ornaments; while on the other facades the pilasters are decorated with paired half-columns and square decorative brickwork; the windows are framed with architraves made of several types shaped bricks. The south and west entrances are decorated with rowlock portals of shaped bricks. At the south wall, in front of the portal a picturesque inner porch with twisted pillars is built. The western entrance is located under the belfry, leaning on the wall of the refectory and two pylons. The belfry is modestly decorated with square decorative brickwork and cornices.
One of the features of the temple is its well - extant interior. The main temple houses a baroque gilded carved iconostasis, built, probably in two stages, in the 18th century. The five tiers of the iconostasis are separated by horizontal pilaster - sided cornices, and by vertical uprights. In the upper tier the uprights are connected by arches with hanging drop ornaments, visually separating the icons with written in pairs figures. The motive of a winding vine predominates in the luxuriant carving. The richly decorated Holy Gates and twisted uprights attract our attention. The iconostasis is crowned by the carved Crucifix with Bystanders, placed in a large broken pediment. On the wall behind the Crucifix there is a painting in a stigma depicting God the Father and the angels with the instruments of suffering, and the city walls of Jerusalem. The second, two-tier iconostasis is located in the refectory. It was created in the 19th century. Its design is modest and typical for the classicism: it is of painted woodwork, decorated with columns and pilasters of the Corinthian order with gilded capitals and cornices.
Another feature of the temple is a five-meter fresco, located in an icon-case above the altar, on the east facade of the temple. It depicts a multi-figure composition with the Savior the Almighty in the center; in the clouds over his head there is God the Father and the Holy Spirit, and two angels. The most venerated saints in the north, like Procopius of Ustiug, Nicholas the Wonderworker, Barlaam of Khutyn, John of Ustiug, Demetrius of Thessalonica and Sergius of Radonezh, are the Savior’s Bystanders. To get to the fixed in the icon-case oil lamp, the wooden stairs at the north facade were used. The stairs led to a passageway inside the wall and a balcony above the altar, fenced by a railing. Judging by the fact that the icon-case reflects a gable facade of the building, overlapped in the form typical of the wooden architecture, the fresco reproduces the composition of the pre-existing wooden church.
LOSS, RECONSTRUCTION, RESTORATION
In the 19th century, the buttresses of the pylons of the bell tower were erected. The north windows and doorways were made. In the twentieth century, 8 bells were removed from the belfry. The wooden staircase to the north locker and the forged railing of the passageway to the icon-case above the altar were destroyed. The stone wall was dismantled, of which only a gate and south-eastern corner turret are partially preserved. In 1983-1986, there was restoration work carried out in the church under the guidance of the architect Eduard Nasedkin. The roof was overlapped, the walls were repaired and whitewashed inside and outside, the tiles were cleared, the wooden staircase leading to the icon-case on the northern facade was restored. The destroyed masonry of the belfry tent, covered before that with iron, was rehabilitated.
Text by Alexander Suvorov.
Translated by Olga Leonidova.
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Information about our partner
In 2013, through the funding of our project partner, the communications and mobile operator Tele2, an information plate containing a QR-code was installed on the church.