Churches of Florence. Russian Orthodox Church in Italy Russian Orthodox Church in Florence

Russian Orthodox Church in Florence

"Russian Florence" is a rich and multifaceted cultural and historical phenomenon. Its peaks are widely known: the works of Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky, Tarkovsky. The desire for the mild Tuscan climate and the “land of arts” (as Italy was called by the author of the church project, architect M.T. Preobrazhensky) was expressed not only in the frequent trips here of Russians, but also in the emergence here of a completely sedentary colony, which at first consisted of wealthy aristocrats-Italophiles and artists, and then went through social metamorphoses more than once.

One of the highest manifestations of Russian life in the capital of Tuscany is the Orthodox Church, which with its beautiful forms and decoration has enriched the heritage of the “cradle of the Renaissance”. The life of her community became an important element of the religious and cultural atmosphere of Florence.

The attachment of Russians to Orthodoxy is well known, and existence in a Catholic environment and the nostalgia for the Motherland that often arose strengthened it. To the long-term Florentine resident, Count M.D. Buturlin describes the feelings of his family at the first sounds of the Slavic liturgy: “I vividly remember how we were all deeply touched when, after three years, we almost heard the exclamation: “Blessed is the kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” and so on. Everyone’s eyes filled with tears. .."

It was the Buturlin family that founded the first permanent Orthodox church in Florence in 1818. It had the status of a brownie and at first was served by a Greek priest from Livorno. The first Russian priest in Florence was hieromonk, later archbishop, Fr. Irinarch (Popov), - it was his liturgy in 1820 that Count Buturlin recalled in his memoirs. Father Irinarch was invited to Italy by a representative of another prominent family, Princess E. Golitsyna-Terzi, who lived in Bergamo, and for a long time he was the only Russian priest on the Apennine Peninsula. He was invited to serve in different cities, and in 1827 he became the priest of the church of the Russian embassy in Rome.

The Buturlins' church was first located in the Palazzo Guicciardini-Strozzi, which they rented, near Palazzo Pitti, and in 1824 it moved to the Palazzo Niccolini, which they bought on Via dei Servi, nicknamed Palazzo Buturlin by the townspeople. The temple was often visited by Russians and travelers living in Italy. It is known that in 1819, the brother of Emperor Alexander, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, attended the liturgy there, in memory of which a marble plaque with an inscription in Latin was erected. Unfortunately, no traces of the decoration of the temple have survived: the descendants of Count Dmitry converted to Catholicism, and the Palazzo Buturlin itself was sold in 1918.

Other Russian rich people, the Demidovs, who came to Italy a little later than the Buturlins, in 1822, also built their own home church. At the first stage of their Florentine life, before the purchase of the famous estate of San Donato. they lived in Palazzo Serristori, near the walls of which a monument to Nikolai Demidov was subsequently erected. The church was not located in the Palazzo itself, but in a small rented room on the Alle Grazie bridge. When the Demidovs moved to a villa in San Donato, they built a new house church there.

The first permanent priest of St. Nicholas Church in San Donato, Fr. Platon Travlinsky, arrived in 1857. At that time, the church did not yet exist in Florence itself, and the Demidov house church became the center of the spiritual life of Russian Tuscans.

After the death of Prince Anatoly in 1870, his nephew Pavel inherited both the San Donato estate and the princely title, however, deciding to move from Italy to Russia. In 1880, the richest property of the villa was auctioned off, the temple was abolished, and the Demidovs donated its decoration for the newly built church.

At the end of the 19th century, in 1889-99, there was a third private Russian church in Florence - in the house of Anna Novitskaya, née Countess Adlerberg. Seriously ill, she could not regularly attend services and the Holy Synod allowed her to set up her own home church. After Novitskaya’s death, all church property, first of all, the magnificent iconostasis, went to the parish church (in 1924, this iconostasis was sold by the community and is now located in Belgium, in the Shevton Catholic Monastery of the Eastern Rite).

Russians living in Italy did not always receive permission to establish house churches - even at their own expense. A curious case is that of Prince Drutsky-Sokolinsky, who wanted to open a church in his estate in Galcetto, near Prato. After a long correspondence with the Holy Synod, the prince was decisively refused, because The Synod did not recognize the prince's family life as legal (his wife, Countess Zakrevskaya, at that time had not yet received an official divorce from her first husband).

In addition to the private churches of wealthy aristocrats, there was another temple-building initiative - a state one, associated with Russian foreign policy and, accordingly, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Almost all the major diplomatic missions of the Empire had their own churches, which were nominally part of the diocese of St. Petersburg, the then capital of the Empire.

And the church in Florence was closely connected with Russian diplomacy in the Apennines. The Empire always gave the Grand Duchy of Tuscany a place of honor in its foreign policy. Immediately after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1815, a diplomatic mission was established in Florence, which, in accordance with established practice, needed its own temple. It arose in the mid-1820s, and the same Fr. Irinarch (Popov), who was invited to Buturlina’s home church.

The main relic of the mission church was a folding iconostasis from the camp church of Emperor Alexander I, a witness to the military campaigns of the turbulent Napoleonic era. Folding iconostasis, painted in the 1790s. by a prominent academic artist V. Shebuev, was an integral part of the linen church, which moved along with the Russian army and the emperor’s headquarters. This church was dedicated to the Nativity of Christ, perhaps in memory of the expulsion of Napoleonic troops from Russia, which occurred on the Christmas days of 1812 (the Florentine temple has preserved this dedication to this day). The iconostasis has always been considered especially associated with the name of Alexander I, and when the emperor died in 1825, special memorial plaques were erected in the mission church. Then she occupied premises in the Palazzo Guicciardini, where the Russian diplomatic mission was located.

When Fr. Irinarch was transferred to Rome in 1827, and the mission church was temporarily abolished due to the lack of a priest. The historical iconostasis began to travel around the Apennine Peninsula, visiting Rome, Palermo and Naples, and in 1866 it returned to Florence.

It was in 1866 that the continuous history of the Orthodox community on the banks of the Arno began. Its first rector was Fr. Mikhail Orlov, who previously served in the embassy church in Naples, which, after the closure of the Russian embassy in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, was moved to Tuscany. He was also the confessor of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, daughter of Nicholas the First, who lived in 1863-74. at the Florentine Villa Quarto. In conversations between the Grand Duchess and her confessor, the idea of ​​a “real” church was first expressed. The priest helped the diplomatic services a lot and a year before his death he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir IV degree. The temple in those years was located in rented premises at Lungarno Nuovo (modern Lungarno Vespucci), no. 50.

After the death of Fr. Michael, in 1878, a young and active father was sent to Florence from Nice. Vladimir Levitsky. It was he who was able to convince both representatives of the local Russian Colony and the embassy in Rome about the need to build a temple. So the Florentine building became the first Russian church building in Italy.

To attract proper attention to the matter, Fr. Vladimir managed to give him a historical perspective. In his letters to various church and state authorities, the priest recalled Florence as the “seat” of the famous Union (1439), when Orthodox delegates signed a unifying charter with Catholics. Thus, to the temple in the capital of Tuscany, Fr. Vladimir gave a symbolic meaning: “Orthodoxy here in Florence suffered great damage through the notorious Union of Florence<...>A magnificent Russian church would be the best atonement for the involuntary sin suffered in this city."

As a result, although the church authorities declined to provide material support for the project, a blessing was received from the St. Petersburg Metropolitan Isidore, and specific assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which allocated funds and took the matter under its wing.

It’s worth dwelling in a little more detail on the personality of Fr. Vladimir Levitsky, to whom the Russian Church and the city on the Arno owe the appearance of such an outstanding monument. He was a highly educated priest, not without literary talent, who graduated from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy with a master's degree in theology and philosophy. He lived in Florence with his family for 45 years - until his death in 1923. O. Vladimir left a detailed diary of the construction of the temple, from the pages of which emerges the image of a purposeful, energetic person, who did not lose heart in the face of numerous difficulties, who delved into all the smallest details of the matter, who knew how to insist on his opinion, and was not deprived of the gift of irony, which sometimes turned into bilious criticism. The priest regularly wrote articles for Russian magazines, mainly for the Church Bulletin, which were later included in the book Modern Aspirations of the Papacy (St. Petersburg, 1908). Historical interests were not alien to him either - for example, he examined and published a list of Russian graves in Livorno. He also wrote the first historical essay about the church on Via Leone Decimo, published in a guide to Florence (Moscow, 1911).

With the outbreak of the First World War, a period of difficult trials and temptations began. During the war, the community helped their homeland in everything, which was made easier by the alliance of Italy and Russia. She organized charity events, raised funds for the army and the wounded, and helped prisoners of war interned in Switzerland and Austria. With the help of the parish, the Russian Charitable Committee operated in Florence.

The years of the revolution became a turning point in the life of the community. Thousands of refugees poured into Western Europe. The temple was filled not with wealthy travelers or aristocrats, but with destitute emigrants. Their mood is well defined by the words of one parishioner (O. Evreinova), then recorded in the book of meeting minutes: “We, who have no homeland, have only the church left.”

The community began to experience difficult days: all funds, collected with difficulty and then placed in seemingly reliable Russian banks, were nationalized; any support from the embassy ceased. Maybe all that remained was to praise God for the fact that here, in Italy, the parish was delivered from the persecution that Christians were subjected to in their homeland, for the fact that the decoration and church walls in general survived...

In 1921, an independent parish was legally established, separating from the diplomatic structures that became Soviet. The parishioners, who numbered only 24 at the time, were seriously afraid of legal property disputes with the USSR. The Soviet side actually made a claim to the Florentine building in 1924, but this attempt was rejected with the help of a hired lawyer (the decree of the Provisional Government on the separation of Church and state was used as the main argument against the Bolshevik claims to the temple).

In those years, the wave of emigrants reached the Apennines and the size of the parish increased: in 1925 it reached its maximum - 75 people. However, it was not easy for exiles to find work in Italy and many quickly left Florence for Paris, Belgrade and other large centers of the diaspora (by 1931, for example, the number of parishioners decreased by half - 37 people).

In 1923, after the death of Fr. Vladimir Levitsky, Fr. Mikhail Stelmashenko, a graduate of the Kyiv Theological Academy, who emigrated to Prague after the revolution. He belonged to that category of refugees who believed in a quick return to Russia, and, according to his parishioners, looked at the state of affairs with excessive optimism. The priest began to have friction with the Russian Florentines, which, of course, was facilitated by their sad emigrant existence. After three years of rectorship, Fr. Mikhail left Italy.

In 1924, Metropolitan Eulogius (Georgievsky), the organizer of the Western European diocese, toured Russian churches in Italy, introducing it into the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, since ties with the Russian Church were severed. The Bishop has the following succinct words: “In Florence we have a wonderful church, the most beautiful of the churches in my diocese. A two-story building in the Russian style, many beautiful icons, paintings by the best painters.”

Not all Orthodox emigrants recognized the spiritual authority and actions of Metropolitan Eulogius: a group of bishops living in Yugoslavia at that time founded an autonomous jurisdiction - the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. This schism created sad discord in the diaspora, and some Florentine parishioners refused to recognize the diocesan authorities in Paris and left the community.

Bishop Evlogy in February 1926 replaced Fr. Mikhail Stelmashenko appointed a new rector, Fr. Ioanna Lelyukhin. This priest experienced a difficult personal drama: his family (wives and daughters) accepted Soviet power and remained in the USSR. He stayed in Florence for ten years, but his health deteriorated, and the priest left Tuscany for treatment: first to Merano, and then to Nice, where he died.

During those years, from 1925 to 1936, the community received unexpected financial support from the Greek Royal House, which decided to use one of the premises of the crypt as a tomb for exiled monarchs. In 1925, the coffin with the body of King Constantine was placed here, in 1926 - Queen Olga, who came from the House of Romanov, and in 1932 - Queen Sofia. It is interesting that when in 1934 a populist law on mandatory rent reduction was passed in Mussollini’s Italy, the Royal House tried to reduce its payments, but the community managed to prove that the room with the coffins was “not a room, but a grave.” In 1936, the political position of the monarchy in Greece temporarily stabilized and the ashes of the crown bearers were transferred to a tomb near Athens.

The main support in the post-revolutionary period was provided by M.P. Demidova (married Abamelek-Lazareva), Princess of San Donato. She, unlike most Russian Florentines, did not lose her fortune, and, driven by altruism, she spent huge amounts of money on maintaining both the church and individual parishioners. She paid many people a monthly allowance, supported the rector and the church choir. The princess's steward, F. Galka, was the head of the church for a long time and through him Demidova was involved in the smallest details of the life of the parish. When Galka converted to Catholicism in 1930 (his parents were Ukrainian Uniates), Demidova herself became the headwoman. In 1951, at the expense of the princess (and Countess Rodokonaki), a three-room house was built in the church garden, intended to house the rector. After Demidova’s death in 1955, her heir, Prince Pavel of Yugoslavia, donated a large sum to the community in memory of her church and social activities.

In 1936, Fr. was appointed rector of the parish. John Kurakin. From an old princely family, a highly educated and active member of the State Duma, in exile he became such a deeply religious person that Vladyka Eulogius ordained him to the rank of priest (although the prince had no theological education). Father John devoted himself entirely to the work of service, helping Russian parishes in other cities of Italy. The priest died in 1950 in Paris, where a few days before his death he was enthroned as a bishop.

The cultural face of the community in the 1920s-50s. largely determined the activities of the choir director A.K. Kharkevich. A graduate of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, in 1903 he was appointed psalm-reader of the embassy church. In Florence he found his destiny in the person of the daughter of Fr. Vladimir Levitsky, Anna, who became his wife. After the revolution, Kharkevich, to support the community, organized concerts of Russian sacred music in different cities of Italy, which were a great success among the Italian public. He often published articles about Russian literature in the local press: about Lermontov, Gogol, Chekhov. His main occupation remained sacred music, and the regent achieved high professionalism not only in its performance, but also in composition: his works were performed in Russian churches in a variety of countries (with the exception of his homeland!). Kharkevich's social and patriotic line was continued by his daughter, Nina, who, being a doctor, proved herself to be a talented artist and poet.

Two Russian artists who lived in Florence were close to the church life of that time: N. Lokhov (1872-1948) and F. Sokolov (1900-1956). Both of them worked as copyists at the Uffizi, and also made copies of various monastery frescoes. Lokhov arrived in Florence in 1914, and was cut off from his homeland by the revolution. He dreamed of devoting his life to creating a gallery in Russia of copies of frescoes and paintings by masters of the Italian Renaissance, and for this purpose he made sure to repeat the copies he sold, taking care of the integrity of the collection (now this collection is in America). The copyist's wife, M. Lokhova, was at one time the head of the community. The artist Sokolov was a student of Lokhov and, in addition to copying, painted icons and miniatures. He painted several portraits of the abbots of the Florentine church.

The Second World War brought further misfortune to the small immigrant community. Some parishioners, such as A. Olsufiev, died during the fighting. Others, such as the head of the community, Prince S. Kochubey, left Italy forever.

After the liberation of Florence from the Nazis, there was a temporary revival in the life of the church: there were many Orthodox Christians in the ranks of the Allied troops. However, since the late 1940s. The size of the parish and its activity began to steadily decline again.

The rectors of the temple during this period were: from 1950 to 1955 - Fr. Andrey Nasalsky, from 1955 to 1965 - Fr. Archimandrite Savva (Shimkevich), from 1965 to 1969 - Fr. Feodor Bokach, from 1969 to 1996 - Fr. John Yankin, from 1997 to the present - Fr. Georgy Blatinsky.

In the 1950s-80s. parish life was largely supported by the efforts of M. Olsufieva, who became the warden in 1956. A talented translator, she introduced the Italian public to the books of modern Russian authors: Bulgakov, Pasternak, Shklovsky and others. Solzhenitsyn, when choosing a translator for the Italian edition of the Gulag Archipelago, pointed specifically to Olsufieva. When she came out in defense of Soviet dissidents, primarily Sakharov, who was her personal friend, Olsufieva became a persona non grata for her homeland. Thanks to her in the 1970s. The community began to widely support the “third wave” of emigration from Russia. About three hundred families passed through the Florentine church, and in the local press Via Leone Decimo was dubbed the “emigrant path.”

In the mid-1980s. the temple was visited by A.A. Tarkovsky, expelled from the USSR. The municipality provided housing in Florence for the family of the director, who immortalized the beauty of the Tuscan region in one of his best films, Nostalgia. His widow, who died in 1997, was also a parishioner of the church.

In recent years, while maintaining its Russian foundation, the community has accepted into its fold many Orthodox Tuscans of non-Russian origin: Greeks, Eritreans, Italians and, before the opening of the Romanian Church in Florence, Romanians, including Queen Helena of Romania and her sister Irina. As a sign of this, during Slavic worship, some parts are read in Italian and Greek.

The community in Florence, at the same time, is vitally connected with distant Russia, and its life sensitively reflects the changes taking place there. The fall of the repressive regime there restored normal ties between West and East. Many Russian tourists began to arrive in Italy again, immigrants from Russia settled in Florence - not political refugees, but people who received the right to free movement around the world and the right to choose their place of residence. This breathed new life into the old temple walls.

Temple building

The beginning of Florentine church building dates back to 1880, when Fr. Vladimir Levitsky asked for a blessing from the St. Petersburg Metropolitan for this, and the spiritual consistory sent an official book to Italy to raise funds. In this book, among the first donors, the names of the Grand Dukes Sergei and Pavel Alexandrovich, who were visiting Florence that year, and the Russian Tuscans A.A. are recorded. Zubov and the Demidov princes San Donato. In the same 1880, in accordance with tradition, a Construction Committee was formed consisting of headman G. Kushnikov, Count M. Platov, N.Ya. Protasov and A.Z. Khitrovo. However, almost twenty years passed from this moment until the laying of the first stone...

In the summer of 1882, Fr. Vladimir bought land on Viale in Curva, but members of the Committee protested against this choice, mainly because of the dissonant name of the street: the site had to be changed.

To draw up a project for the temple, the priest first negotiated with local architects, but they all ended fruitlessly: local architect Pietro Berti, for example, drew up an extremely clumsy project, which was immediately rejected. The need for domestic craftsmen became obvious. At one time Fr. Vladimir negotiated in Russia about the possibility of organizing a competition for the best project, but then, due to the high cost of such a competition, he entrusted the order to the young architect from St. Petersburg M.T. Preobrazhensky, whom the priest met during the architect’s boarding trip to Italy.

Preobrazhensky completed the initial project in 1883-85, drawing up many drawings and plans, which were successively presented to the parishioners for consideration. At the same time, in 1885, a new plot was acquired on the embankment of the Munione channel.

The final design, with estimates drawn up by local civil engineer Giuseppe Boccini, was submitted in 1885 to the Holy Synod. The cautious department, however, did not give permission to carry out the project, but asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take on this responsibility. The ministry instructed the embassy in Rome to look into the issue. The matter slowed down: it was decided that the funds raised were not enough, and Preobrazhensky was instructed to simplify the project, abandoning, in particular, the construction of the bell tower. At the same time, the Russian ambassador in Rome, Baron K.K. Ikskul, being a Lutheran, was completely indifferent, if not hostile, to the whole idea.

An unexpected acceleration occurred in 1888: the contract for the rented premises of the church expired, and Fr. Vladimir obtained permission to build at least a temporary temple on the already acquired site. In May 1888, a temporary church was founded, and on October 16 of the same year it was consecrated (a memorial cross now stands on the site of its altar). An iconostasis from the Demidov Church was installed inside it. In terms of capacity, it was quite suitable for the small parish, it was comfortable and bright, but, in the words of the priest, it had the “look of a barn.”

Then, to the obvious chagrin of Fr. Vladimir, his parishioners began to doubt the need to erect a new building, preferring to preserve the temporary church forever and only decorate it on the outside. Disputes began about the style: some were for a purely Russian style, others demanded to adhere to the Byzantine style, others wanted Romanesque, closer to the architecture of Florence. Voices began to be heard about a radical review of the entire matter.

In 1890 Fr. Vladimir decided to go to St. Petersburg and personally presented the Preobrazhensky project to the chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod. As a result, the Synod on May 18, 1891 issued a decree authorizing construction if it was considered necessary and possible by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The ministry gave the go-ahead... seven years later. One of the reasons for such red tape is the petition of the Russian Florentines, who demanded to convert the temporary church into a permanent one.

At the beginning of 1899, the necessary permission was finally received - from the new ambassador in Rome A.I. Nelidov, who took the most ardent part in the construction of the temple. Within the walls of the Russian consulate in Florence, an official contract was finally concluded with the architect.

In the final version, Moscow-Yaroslavl architecture of the 17th century, the most flourishing period of Russian church art, was taken as the basis. Preobrazhensky knew these monuments very well - he often traveled around central Russia, measuring temples and fortresses. This extensive experience allowed him to take one of the leading places in the revival of the “Russian style” at the turn of the century. In addition to the Florentine temple, the architect built two beautiful churches in St. Petersburg (alas, demolished after the revolution), a cathedral in Reval (modern Tallinn), a monastery church in Kyurämäe, and a monument church in Nice. For Florence, he created an unusually harmonious composition of a two-story temple with a high porch, the central part of which ends with a covering with kokoshniks and a traditional Russian five-domed structure. Having become an academician of architecture at the beginning of construction, he meticulously went into the smallest aspects of construction, making hundreds of sketches - from general plans to lanterns.

On June 5 (May 24), 1899, a team of masons Ricci and Cambi entered the church site. Her first task was to cut down trees that had self-sown and grown to the point of a real forest: 14 years had passed since the purchase of the land... On June 11 (May 29), 1899, work began officially, in the presence of the ambassador and with the corresponding prayer service and religious procession. A telegram was sent to Metropolitan Anthony in St. Petersburg about this and the answer was received: “I rejoice from the heart, I send my prayerful well-wishes and blessings.”

On October 28 (16), 1899, when parts of the lower vaults were already standing, the “rite of foundation of the church” was solemnly performed. Representatives of local authorities and Protestant pastors took part in the celebration (Catholics, according to their church rules, could not accept the invitation). Of course, both Russian diplomats and members of the colony arrived. The rector of the embassy church, Archimandrite Clement, arrived from Rome with psalm reader Kh. Flerov. V.K. was also present. Sabler, comrade chief prosecutor of the Synod. A tent was erected on the vaults, decorated with Russian, Italian, Greek, Romanian and Montenegrin flags. and a foundation stone and a lead pipe with coins and a parchment charter signed by diplomats and Russian Florentines were walled into the foundation.

The lower church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was consecrated on October 21 (8), 1902. The ambassador and new rector of the Roman church, archimandrite, later bishop, Vladimir (Putyata) arrived from Rome for the consecration ceremony. Despite the decision not to send out invitations, many Russians living in Italy gathered.

In the winter of 1902-03. O. Vladimir realized that the available funds were not enough to complete the construction: the magnificent interior decoration turned out to be expensive. At this difficult moment, Princess E.P. again came to the rescue. Demidova San Donato: the temple was built on time.

The ceremony of consecrating the temple took place on October 26, 1903 and was very solemn. This was facilitated by the unexpected participation of an entire detachment of Russian sailors from the battleship Oslyabya, which was stationed at the docks of La Spezia. The officers, the squadron commander Admiral Virenius, the battleship commander Mikheev and others, were dressed in shiny uniforms. Numerous Russian clergy arrived from Rome and Nice. Present at the consecration, of course, was Ambassador Nelidov, who put so much effort into the construction of the temple, and other Russian diplomats. The religious procession was photographed by many Florentine photographers, and these photographs soon went on sale. But the documentary film depicting the consecration, which for a long time attracted crowds of spectators in the cinema on Victor Emmanuel Square (present-day Republic Square), aroused particular delight.

In general, the church building was a magnificent result of collaboration between Russian and Italian craftsmen. It should be especially noted that the Florentines, who were the first to participate in such an unusual construction, coped with their task brilliantly. An important role in the precise implementation of Preobrazhensky’s artistic ideas was played by local producers of the work: the builder Giuseppe Boccini (1840-1900) and, after his unexpected death, the engineer Giovanni Paciarelli (1862-1929). The stone cutting work was carried out by the “partnership of Bicchielli and Mayani”, which owned good quarries near Fiesole, where the pietra forte and pietra sirena stones used for the construction were mined. The forged fence, with two monumental gates, was cast in Michelucci's workshop in Pistoia (symbolically, its main gates are decorated with Russian and double-headed eagles, and Florentine lilies). The same Michelucci company made the window bars, the porch door and the openwork crosses of the “Russian form” above the crescent. The crosses were gilded using the “mordan” method by the artisan Nencione (unfortunately, the gilding later came off). The copper coverings were made by the coppersmith Lüder, the iron connections and structures of the five domes were made by the mechanic Grazzini, the copper gutters and cast iron pipes were made by the roofer Faberi, and the garden was laid out by the gardener Pucci. All the majolica that adorns the friezes of the building, the porch tent and the fifty-two kokoshniks with six-winged cherubs was made by the Cantagalli factory.

Under the tent, in the pediment, was erected a mosaic icon of the Mother of God “The Sign” framed by lilies. On the southern (right) and northern side pediments, paired mosaic icons of the supreme apostles Peter and Paul are installed in carved icon cases. All these mosaics, based on the cardboards of the Russian artist F.P. Reiman, were made in Venice, by the Societa Musiva Veneziana factory.

Interior decoration

The interior of the upper church in honor of the Nativity of Christ is in tune with the general idea of ​​the monument - to adequately express the spiritual and artistic values ​​of Russian Orthodoxy.

The painting scheme was developed by the architect Preobrazhensky together with Fr. Vladimir Levitsky, striving to follow the Byzantine concept of the temple, which embodied “heaven on earth” and conveyed in visible forms ideas about human history, its beginning and end. At the same time, the special position of the Florentine church, which became the representative of Orthodoxy in Catholic Italy, was taken into account: not only symbols from the ancient Roman catacombs and images of the Roman Popes, revered by the Ecumenical Church, but also images of St. Patriarch Photius, an opponent of the filioque, and St. Mark of Ephesus, the only eastern hierarch who did not sign the Florentine Union of 1439. All paintings were carried out in one winter season, from October 1902 to spring 1903.

The decoration of the lower church looks different, coming mainly from the house church of the Demidov princes San Donato and dating mainly to the middle of the 19th century.

The Florentine church was built two-story at the suggestion of Fr. Vladimir: in this way, the typology of Russian northern churches was embodied, with an upper (cold, or summer) and lower (warm, or winter) church, and in addition, an opportunity was created to adequately place the icons, icon cases and iconostasis donated by the Demidovs.

The vestibule is formed from a church porch, glazed and covered with a tent. To the left and right, under the stained glass windows, there are mortgage boards with text in Russian and Italian, briefly outlining the history of temple construction.

To the left of the entrance is a historical relic, the Almaz bell, which belonged to the cruiser of the same name, which was sunk in 1924 in Bizerte after the exodus of the Russian fleet from Soviet Russia. This bell was given to the community by the Allied forces after the liberation of Florence from the Nazis.

The entrance doors are one of the main artistic attractions of the temple. Carved from walnut in 1855-61. Rinaldi Barbetti in the neo-Renaissance style, they previously decorated the house church of the Demidov princes in their Villa San Donato. In 1861, the work was successfully exhibited at the National Exhibition held in Florence. The composition of the three-meter doors is inspired by Ghiberti’s famous work “The Gates of Paradise” at the Florentine Baptistery. At the top, in the lunette, God the Father is represented; twenty-two reliefs with events from Sacred history are inserted into the frames - from the Creation of the world to the Babylonian captivity. When installed in a new location, the single-leaf doors were converted into double-leaf ones; The carpentry work was carried out by Master Tully.

On the sides of the “Demidov doors” is the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the right and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. These paintings were to be performed by the St. Petersburg artist P.S. Sharvarok, but being mortally ill, he did not have time to finish his work, which was continued by his student, E.M. Cheptsov.

In the pronaos (narthex), in the western part of the upper temple, on the entrance wall there is a large painting of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, by Giacomo Lolli, a professor at the Bologna Academy of Fine Arts. This plot replaced the image of the “Last Judgment” originally planned here. The painting was made, like the rest of the mural, using tempera technique.

To the right and left, on the doorways, there are tall carved icon cases donated by the Demidovs from the abolished San Donat Church. All the icons installed on them were painted by Russian icon painters in the mid-19th century. On the right door, above - St. Anatoly, Patriarch of Constantinople, below, in frames - St. Luke and John, Sts. Andrey Kritsky and Dimitry Rostovsky. On the same doors, on the opposite side, - St. Sergius of Radonezh and St. Anna the Prophetess. This door leads to the library room, previously used as a baptismal room, where a large image of St. Trinity, by icon painter V. Vasilyev (1856; also from the Demidov house church).

On the left door leading to the lower church, at the top is St. Catherine the Great Martyr, framed by St. Matthew and Mark, Sts. Alexander Nevsky and Equal Apostles Tsar Constantine. On the other side of the same door is St. equal to app. Vladimir and Olga.

The central part of the temple is without pillars, limited by powerful pylons on which the temple vaults rest. On these pylons are placed images of Russian Saints. At the entrance, on the right - Rev. Anthony of Pechersk and Sergius of Radonezh, on the left - St. Theodosius of Pechersk and St. Jonah, Metropolitan of Moscow (author P. Sharvorok). Four frames remain empty for now.

On the pylons near the altar, on the right - St. Prince Gleb (D. Kiplik) and the early Christian symbol of the Savior, a fish with five loaves (M. Vasiliev) On the left at the altar is St. Prince Boris and the symbol of Christian souls, two doves drinking water from a source (A. Blaznov). The iconography of the images of the passion-bearers was borrowed from Vasnetsov's paintings of the Kyiv Cathedral of St. Vladimir.

The paintings of the southern (right) part are dedicated to the events of the earthly life of the Savior. On the altar wall, above the right choir, there is a temple image of the Nativity of Christ (P. Sharvorok). Between the windows of the southern wall is the Baptism of the Lord (A. Blaznov), below it, in the circle, is an image of a deer. On the western wall is the Transfiguration of the Lord (P. Sharvarok).

In the northern (left) part there are scenes dedicated to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. On the western wall is the Prayer for the Chalice (P. Sharvarok). In the interwindow wall there is the Crucifixion of the Lord (A. Blaznov), under it, in the circle, there is the Lamb of God. On the altar wall, above the choir, is the Resurrection of Christ (P. Sharvarok).

The high place is decorated with paintings of the Mystical Eucharist: God the Father and God the Spirit, surrounded by seraphim; God the Son emerging from the temple (Russian architecture) with a paten and a bowl; on the sides there are angels with ripids (this picture became the last work of the artist P. Sharvarok, who selflessly worked on decorating the temple: in winter Florence, while painting an unheated temple, he undermined his health and, mortally ill, in the spring of 1903 returned to his homeland, where he soon died at the age of 33.

On the altar vault is the ancient monogram of the Savior “Chi-Rho”.

The altar is carved from a monolithic piece of marble according to a drawing by M. Preobrazhensky. On the left, on the wall, there is a board with the names of the main donors: “In this temple are written for eternal remembrance Prince S.S. Abamelek-Lazarev, Prince S.D. Abamelek-Lazarev, Prince E.H. Abamelek-Lazarev, Prince P.P. Demidov San Donato, Prince E.P. Demidova San Donato."

The iconostasis amazes visitors with its beautiful shapes carved from marble. This splendor is not accidental, for the iconostasis is a gift from Emperor Nicholas II. The previous, historical iconostasis from the camp church of Alexander I was taken to Russia by Grand Duke George Mikhailovich in October 1899 for the Museum. Alexander III (modern Russian Museum; after the revolution the iconostasis disappeared without a trace). In May 1900, Ambassador Nelidov personally presented the plan and estimate of the new marble iconostasis to the Tsar, who wished to donate it to the Florentine church - as if in exchange for what had been taken to St. Petersburg.

Like the entire temple, the iconostasis had to comply with the traditions of ancient Russian art, and therefore Preobrazhensky, when creating its sketch, relied on the material he collected on research trips. Of course, in Russia, iconostases were carved from wood, but early on in Florence they decided to use marble. All work on marble - white Carrara and yellow Verona - was carried out by a carver from Genoa, Giuseppe Novi (the same maestro had previously carved the iconostasis for the St. Petersburg Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, when he met Preobrazhensky, who recommended him).

The high single-tier iconostasis is completed with kokoshniks with floral patterns, at the base of which are the monograms of Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, with an imperial crown. The Royal Doors, according to tradition, are decorated with images of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John, Luke, Mark, Matthew, with the corresponding symbols (M. Vasiliev).

To the right and left of the bronze Royal doors are the Savior on the throne and the Mother of God; above them is the Last Supper. The southern (right) and northern (left) side doors, according to custom, are dedicated to the deacon's ministry and are decorated with images of Sts. Archdeacons Stephen and Lawrence, with censers. Other icons remind of the royal gift: in the foreground, along the edges of the local row, on the pylons of the altar arch, there are icons of the Heavenly Patrons of the Imperial couple, St. Nicholas of Myra (according to the ancient rite, “Nicholas of Mozhaisk”, with a sword and with a model of the temple in his hands) and St. Queen Alexandra, with a palm branch and a cross, attributes of a martyr, in her hands (according to the original program, these places should have had icons of the Nativity and Resurrection of Christ). Neighboring them, on the sides of the pylons, are icons of St. Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky, patron saint of the Russian capital, and St. equal to Vladimir the Baptist.

Above the large icons there are small ones, the so-called. “piadnye” (i.e. in a span), forming something like a second tier: these are the images of the patrons of the children of the imperial couple, Sts. Tatiana the Martyr, Mary Magdalene and Equal Apostles. Princess Olga, as well as the patron saint of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, St. Prince Mikhail Tverskoy (the iconostasis was created before the birth of Princess Anastasia and Tsarevich Alexei, when Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich was the heir to the throne). All images of the iconostasis (except for the Royal Doors and the upper icons, painted by M. Vasiliev) were executed by Academician A. Novoskoltsev.

On the lecterns in front of the iconostasis: on the left is the ancient miraculous icon of the Savior, the Image Not Made by Hands (presumably from the 17th century); on the right is an icon of St. Nicholas of Myra, in a silver frame.

Two triptych icon cases in front of the choirs, for fencing the choirs, were also made according to the drawings of M. Preobrazhensky in the Novi workshop, and their images were painted by M. Vasiliev. In the right icon case there are three Ecumenical saints: Sts. Basil the Great, John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian. In the left icon case there are three Russian saints: Sts. Peter, Alexy and Philip. These triptychs stylistically echo the iconostasis.

The vaults of the temple are painted based on cardboards by M. Vasiliev, D. Kiplik and A. Blaznov. The ornamental works, also based on their cardboards, were created by Italian artists, with the exception of the faces of the cherubs, which, at the insistence of Preobrazhensky, were entrusted to the Russian master, Cheptsov. On the arch of the western vault, above the entrance to the temple, in medallions - St. Popes: Clement the Martyr, Leo the First and Gregory the Theologian, in holy vestments, with the Gospels (all twelve medallions on the arches are by Szarvarok).

Above the window, in the vault - ev. Luke, with a little body, on the sides - St. brothers of Thessalonica, Cyril (left) and Methodius, and zealous defenders of the Orthodox Church Patriarch Photius and St. Mark of Ephesus (the last two images were added at the suggestion of Father Vladimir Levitsky). These figures, as well as the figure of the evangelist (and the other three), were painted by Kiplik.

On the arch of the southern (right) vault, in medallions - St. forefathers: Joseph the Betrothed, with a blossoming rod; King David, with harp; righteous Abraham, with a scroll. The images of the forefathers are combined with the “program” of mural painting of this branch of the cross, dedicated to the Nativity of Christ and His earthly life.

Above the window, in the vault - ev. John the Evangelist, with an eagle, on either side are six apostles facing the altar. Three figures, based on Kiplik’s cardboards, were painted by A.S. Dukhovich, free Serbian artist; the other three (and all other apostles) belong to the brush of Blaznov.

On the arch of the northern (left) vault, in medallions - St. Wives of the Myrrh-Bearer: Mary of Cleopas, Mary Magdalene and Salome. The placement of the images of the Myrrh-Bearers, who were the first to witness the Resurrection of Christ, corresponds to the mural below. Above the arch are images of the six apostles and saints. Stamp, with a lion.

On the arch of the altar vault, in medallions - the high priest Aaron, with a censer; king high priest Melchizedek, with bread and wine for communion; righteous Abel, with a lamb (all three images are the personification of the Eucharist).

In the window there is a stained glass window of the Savior on the Throne. The original glass, according to a drawing by Preobrazhensky, a gift from Ambassador Nelidov, was destroyed during the bombing of Florence by British aircraft in 1942; in 1945, the Allied military command donated to the community the existing stained glass window, made in the workshop of R. Fanfani.

The Mother of God, John the Baptist, angels (artist Blaznov), as well as the twelve apostles (on the southern and northern vaults) pray to the Savior, forming a composition of Deisis (“prayers”). It thus unfolds throughout the main vault of the temple, including 18 figures. It was supposed to place an image of God the Father in the dome, but, for unknown reasons, this was not done.

Above the stained glass window, in the vault - ev. Matthew, with an angel.

The attractions of the upper church also include: the altar Gospel of 1823 in a silver frame; sacred objects made of silver - tabernacles, spoons, reliquaries, copies, bowls, made in the workshops of D. Shalaputin, the Grachev brothers and others, at the end of the 19th century; gifts of Nicholas II - Russian coat of arms with the Savior (silver embroidery, 18th century) and the imperial emblem (shield with monogram and crown); beautiful forged chandeliers in the Russian style, according to the sketches of Preobrazhensky.

The lower church in the name of St. Nicholas of Myra has both a separate entrance in the northern wall of the building and an entrance from the upper church. The staircase lobby is decorated with a large image of the Apostle Philip, part of a series of icons located in the crypt.

St. Nicholas Church is a historical continuation of the house church of the Demidov princes, founded in 1840 in their villa near Florence in San Donato in Polverosa. A dedication has also been preserved in honor of the heavenly patron Nikolai Nikitich Demidov, the founder of the “Florentine branch” of the family. Prince Pavel Demidov, who decided to leave the San Donato estate for the sake of Pratolino, in 1879 donated to the embassy church all the decoration of his house church, and after his death in 1885, his widow donated a large sum for the construction of the Florentine church, amounting to almost a fifth of all expenses for construction (in memory of this, a small image of St. Queen Helena, patroness of Princess E.P. Demidova, was installed above the front door).

The beautiful iconostasis, carved in Barbetti's workshop in the 1840s, contains traditional images of the Savior and the Mother of God in the local row; archangels Michael and Gabriel (on the southern and northern doors); St. Nicholas of Myra (on the right pylon) and St. Anatoly the martyr, patron of Prince Anatoly (on the left pylon). To install the “Demidov” iconostasis in the altar arch, it had to be deformed somewhat - the side doors were placed at an angle, and the outer images were placed on the pylons: thus, it was placed along a concave broken line (the work was done by carpenter Talley).

The “program” of small upper icons representing the Heavenly patrons of members of the Demidov family is unusual. This is St. Anuvius the confessor, patron of the legendary founder of the clan, Anufty; St. Mary Magdalene, patroness of the wife of Prince Anatoly, Matilda Bonaparte, niece of the famous Corsican; St. Alexandra the Martyr, patroness of the sister of Prince Anatoly, who died in infancy; St. Akinf, patron of Akinfiy Demidov, founder of the family business. Above the Royal Doors, with canonical images of the Annunciation and the Evangelists, is the Last Supper. The iconostasis images were painted by an unknown Russian artist in the 1840s.

In the altar there is an interesting triptych of the Mother of God, St. George and St. Nicholas, painted in 1877 by the Roman Pre-Raphaelite artist Guglielmo De Sanctis, commissioned by Prince P. Demidov.

On the walls of the temple there are ten icon cases with icons of the apostles: James, Matthew, Simon, Peter, Thaddeus, Thomas, Paul, John, Bartholomew, Andrew. The other two icons, St. Philip and James are placed, respectively, above the flight of stairs and in a room in the north-east corner of the building, which has a separate entrance.

On the low vaults of the crypt, the painter J. Lolly painted four symbols of the evangelists. The rest of the decorative paintings were also painted by this artist.

The lower temple has one interesting feature: around its perimeter, in the thickness of the walls, there is a corridor (scanafosso), the purpose of which is to isolate the room from the dampness of the adjacent ground. The corridor, 0.5 m wide and 2.6 m high, according to legend, was used as a shelter during the occupation of Florence by the Germans.

As in previous times, the lower church is used for services in winter, and the transition to the upper church is carried out by procession during Holy Week - starting from Easter, services take place at the top.

I have the honor as rector to present to you this wonderful first Russian Orthodox church on Italian territory. Despite its youth - our temple was consecrated in November 1903 - it united in its historical existence the memories dear to the heart of the events of the last centuries of Russian history. Russian, of course, not in an ethnic sense, but in a national sense, and maybe even more likely, a civilizational one.

Indeed, the banners located on both sides of the entrance to the upper church were present at the Easter service of 1814 at the place de la Concorde in Paris, the first Easter celebrated in the Marching Church of Alexander the First, after the capture of the capital of France by Russian troops, when the entire army present here in the square, she took communion. By the way, the dedication of the upper church of our church to the Nativity of Christ originates from the camp church of Alexander the First.

In the vestibule, immediately at the entrance, on the left, on a small makeshift belfry hangs a bell from the cruiser Almaz. This cruiser was a participant in the Tsushima Battle of the Russian-Japanese War of 1905, the only cruiser that survived that battle and managed, despite numerous damages, to reach Vladivostok under its own power. After repairs, she served as an Imperial yacht, and in 1921 she headed one of the groups of ships carrying out the exodus of Russian emigration from Crimea.

The shrine of the temple is the cross-reliquary of Metropolitan Philaret Romanov (later the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'), which became a shrine of the Royal House with the election of the sixteen-year-old boy Mikhail Romanov to the kingdom. The Romanovs prayed before him until 1698, when Peter the Great, wanting to marry Anna Mons, imprisoned his first wife Evdokia, née Lopukhina, in the Suzdal monastery, who took the cross with her. He never returned to the Romanov family, but was passed down from generation to generation in the Lopukhin family. The last Lopukhina from this branch died in Florence in 1922 and since then the reliquary cross has been in the Altar of the temple.

The iconostasis of the upper church, donated by the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, the holy martyr tsar, is made of white Carrara marble and yellow Verona marble and contains, as additional icons of saints, heavenly patrons of the last Royal family and the monogram of the Sovereign.

The Lower Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker inherits the dedication of the House Church of one of the branches of the famous Ural family of mining owners, the Demidovs, who settled in Florence in 1822 and already had their own church from the early 50s. Due to the forced sale of the San Donato estate in 1880, all the decoration of the House Church - the iconostasis, icons, church vessels and utensils, liturgical books - everything was preserved for the already planned Orthodox church in Florence, so when visiting the lower church, you have a truly unique the opportunity to see in what conditions our eminent ancestors prayed.

Unfortunately, at present the appearance of the temple building is in critical condition. The local soft stone pietra serena, which has a major disadvantage of absorbing water over time, and therefore losing its original shape, has passed all possible periods of normal functioning and, without external intervention, is destroyed at high speed. A roof leak in the Altar added to the bleak picture of the deplorable state of the church building. You can get acquainted with the progress of work and the necessary means for this in the section of the site dedicated to restoration, which is carried out under the guidance of our engineer, who is also the author of the corresponding section of the site. His high professionalism gives us confidence in the successful completion of the work, subject to the availability of funds, in the upcoming 2013 anniversary year, the year of celebration of the 400th anniversary of the House of Romanov.

So, I welcome you to our website and wish that your visit to it in virtual space will continue for you in real space - the space of the city of Florence, the true cradle of classical European culture, where on the street of Pope Leo the Tenth, who wrote, in his time, two letters to Tsar Ivan the Terrible, there is a five-domed Russian temple.

The Orthodox Church of the Nativity of Christ and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Florence returned to the fold of the Russian Orthodox Church.

There would be no happiness, but misfortune would help.” The words of this Russian proverb show in the best possible way that God’s Providence is sometimes accomplished through tragic moments in history. Thus, today’s schism with Phanar, whose danger to the entire Orthodox world cannot be underestimated, has begun to bear good fruit. These include the transition of one of the most famous parishes of the Russian Abroad - the Church of the Nativity of Christ and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Italian Florence - from the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Russian Church Abroad, which reunited with the Patriarchate of Moscow back in 2007.

A marvelous shrine, erected at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries in the style of Moscow-Yaroslavl architecture of the 17th century, the Florentine Church of the Nativity of Christ and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker became a true decoration of the famous Italian city, and at the same time - the center of Russian culture in this region. But less than two decades had passed before the revolutionary turmoil in the Fatherland led to the forced break of this parish with the Russian Church and its annexation to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The Tsargrad TV channel contacted the rector of the Church of the Nativity of Christ and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archpriest George Blatinsky, who told us about what prompted the Russian Orthodox community of Florence to break off communication with the Phanar and come under the omophorion of the Russian Church Abroad, which is in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate. For many years, Father George was the dean of the Russian parishes of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Italy, and therefore the fact of his reunification with the Russian Church can become an example for other Russian foreign parishes under the jurisdiction of Phanar.

Archpriest Georgy Blatinsky: “Everyone who is associated with the Patriarchate of Constantinople is outside Orthodoxy”

Constantinople: Father George, on social networkFacebookinformation has appeared that your parish has ceased communication with the Patriarchate of Constantinople and was accepted under the omophorion of the Russian Church Abroad. Is this true, and if so, what prompted you to take this step?

Archpriest Georgy: Unfortunately, the non-canonical decisions adopted on October 11 by Patriarch Bartholomew and his Synod placed everyone associated with the Patriarchate of Constantinople outside Orthodoxy. This part broke away from the Church, just as Rome had broken away before. Therefore, the only way out for us, Russian Orthodox Christians, was to enter the canonical structure, which is the Russian Church Abroad. Our church council and our parish meeting unanimously supported this decision. And there is no other way for us.

C.: Do you have any information about whether there are other Russian parishes of the Patriarchate of Constantinople that are ready to follow the example of the Florentine Orthodox community?

Father George: Too little time has passed so far. I think that this will definitely happen, but only when they themselves realize that they are outside the canonical field, outside Orthodoxy.

As we know, in liberal circles around the church there have already been accusations of “betrayal” against Archpriest George and his Orthodox community. There is no doubt that the information war against supporters of unity with the Russian Orthodox Church will only intensify in the near future.

Thus, it is no coincidence that His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, speaking today at the “Faith and Word” festival, especially emphasized that what is happening is an order “to destroy the unity of our Church, which has a global dimension.” Moreover, “this is not just a fight for jurisdiction, it is a fight to destroy the only powerful Orthodox force in the world.”

And that is why all of us, Orthodox Christians, now need to strengthen our conciliar prayers for the unity of the Russian Church, as well as for people like Archpriest George Blatinsky and the Orthodox community of the Florentine Church of the Nativity of Christ and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, spiritually nourished by him.

In 1885, a plot of land was purchased on the embankment of the Munione channel. The project was developed by architect M.E. Preobrazhensky. In the final version, Moscow-Yaroslavl architecture of the 17th century was taken as the basis. An unusually harmonious composition was drawn up for a two-story church with a high porch, the central part of which ends with a covering with kokoshniks and a traditional Russian five-domed structure. Work began in 1899. The lower church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was consecrated in October 1902. The consecration ceremony of the temple took place on October 26, 1903. The upper church was dedicated to the Nativity of Christ. The consecration was attended by Russian sailors, numerous Russian clergy from Rome and Nice, Ambassador Nelidov, who invested a lot of effort in temple construction, and other Russian diplomats. The procession was photographed by Florentine photographers, and these photographs quickly went on sale. But the documentary film, which has long attracted crowds of spectators to the cinema, aroused particular delight.

The years of the revolution became turning points in the lives of parishioners of the Russian Church. All funds collected with such difficulty and invested in Russian banks were nationalized. Any support from the embassy stopped. In 1921, the parish was legally established as independent, separated from the diplomatic Soviet structures that tried to claim rights to the Florentine building. In 1924, the temple was visited by Metropolitan Eulogius, the organizer of the Western European Diocese, who introduced it into the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, because ties with the Russian Church were severed.

The church building was a magnificent result of collaboration between Russian and Italian craftsmen. The Florentines, who participated in such an unusual construction for the first time, coped with their task brilliantly. An important role in the accurate embodiment of Preobrazhensky’s artistic ideas was played by local producers of the work: builder Giuseppe Bochini and engineer Giovanni Paciarelli. The stone cutting work was carried out by the "partnership of Bicchielli and Mayani", which owned good quarries near Fiesole. The forged fence with two monumental gates was cast in Michelucci's workshop in Pistoia (symbolically, its main gates are decorated with Russian double-headed eagles and Florentine lilies). The same Michelucci company made the window bars, the porch door and the openwork crosses of the “Russian form” above the crescent. The crosses were gilded using the "mordan" method by the artisan Nencione. The copper coverings were made by the coppersmith Lüder, the iron connections and structures of the five domes were made by the mechanic Grazzini, the copper gutters and cast iron pipes were made by the roofer Faberi, and the garden was laid out by the gardener Pucci. All the majolica that adorns the friezes of the building, the porch tent and the fifty-two kokoshniks with six-winged cherubs was made by the Cantagalli factory. The mosaic icon of the Mother of God “The Sign” framed by lilies, located under the tent, in the pediment, as well as the paired mosaic icons of the supreme apostles Peter and Paul, located on the southern and northern side pediments, were made from cardboards by the Russian artist F.P. Freyman. The mosaics were made in Venice by the Societa Musiva Veneziana factory.

http://zarubezhje.narod.ru/italy/

Construction of the church (Chiesa Russa Ortodossa della Natività) began on June 11, 1899 on the initiative of Archpriest Vladimir Levitsky and emigrants of Russian origin. Construction was carried out according to the design of architect M.T. Preobrazhensky. The Moscow-Yaroslavl architecture of the 17th century, the period of the highest flowering of Russian temple culture, was adopted as the basis for the building style. The temple is a two-story composition with a high porch, the central part of which ends with a covering with kokoshniks and a traditional Russian five-domed roof. P.S. took part in the painting of the upper Church of the Nativity. Sharvorok, A.P. Blaznov, M.N. Vasiliev, D.I. Kiplik. All images of the iconostasis (except for the Royal Doors and the upper rows by M.N. Vasiliev) were performed by academician A.N. Novoskoltsev.

The church consists of lower and upper temples. The lower church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was consecrated on October 8, 1902, and the upper church in the name of the Nativity of Christ on October 26, 1903.

After the 1917 revolution, support for the parish from the Russian Church ceased; in 1921, the parish became independent, despite attempts by Soviet diplomats to claim rights to the building. In 1924, the parish came under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. From 1925 to 1936, the temple served as a temporary tomb for members of the Greek royal family - King Constantine I, Queen Olga, Queen Sofia.

Currently, the temple operates as part of the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox Churches in Western Europe.

http://ru.esosedi.org/

The Florentine Church is one of the outstanding monuments of Russian church art abroad. Metropolitan Eulogius (Georgievsky), founder of the Western European Archdiocese, called it “the most beautiful church” of his diocese. The emergence of an Orthodox church on the banks of the Arno is connected both with the Russian colony in Florence, which initially consisted of wealthy aristocrats-lovers of Italy, and with the activities of the Russian diplomatic mission.

In 1818, a house church was founded in Florence. Buturlins, who was served by a Greek priest from Livorno. Other Russian rich people - the Demidovs, who came to the banks of the Arno, set up in 1823 (near the rented palazzo) in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, where priests from Russia were invited to serve. In 1840, the Demidovs moved this church to the San Donato estate on the outskirts of Novoli. For some time it remained the only one for Russians in Florence. In 1845, Emperor Nicholas I and his wife visited her and presented her with an image of St. king Alexandra. In 1856, the decoration of this church was updated.

After the end of the Napoleonic wars, in 1815, a Russian mission was reopened in Florence, and nine years later the house church of the Nativity of Christ was consecrated in the Palazzo Guicciardini. The traveling iconostasis, created in the 1790s and served by Emperor Alexander I, and the utensils were sent from St. Petersburg. The icons were painted by academician. V.K. Shebuev. He was appointed priest. Irinarcha (Popova), who previously served with the Marquise Tertia, born. Golitsyna. In 1833 he was recalled to Russia, and the church did not function for a long time, and at the beginning of 1836 it was transferred to Rome, and in 1844 to Naples.

In 1866, the city became the capital of united Italy for several years, and the Russian Embassy was opened there with the Nativity Church attached to it. She was returned from Naples. The rector became Fr. Mikhail Orlov, who previously served in the Neapolitan church. He was also the confessor. book Maria Nikolaevna, daughter of Nicholas I, who in 1863-1873 lived in her villa Quarto in the vicinity of the city, and who was the first to speak out for the construction of a separate Russian temple in Florence. The church bore the honorary title “embassy” until 1911, although there was no embassy in Florence for a long time. When Fr. Michael Orlov, the church was located in the rented palace of Ranucini-Laiatico on the Lungarno Nuovo promenade, 50 (now Amerigo Vespucci). It was in this palazzo that she was consecrated on August 26, 1866. In 1869, Duke Evgeny Maximilianovich of Leuchtenberg, nephew of Nicholas I, married D.K. Opochinina in it.

After the death of Fr. Michael in 1878 from Nice was appointed Fr. Vladimir Ioannovich Levitsky (1842-1923), an energetic and educated priest who managed to convince the Russian colony and the Russian ambassador in Rome A.I. Nelidov of the need to build a separate temple in Florence. As an ideological argument, he pointed out that it was in Florence that the union of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches was signed in 1439, “which local Latinity still boasts of,” and therefore the temple should symbolize the historical inviolability of Orthodoxy as a true apostolic faith. The new rector wrote to the Synod: “The Russian Church in Florence should be the first representative in Italy of Orthodoxy, which in this country does not yet have open churches (Russian) ... It should arise in a city world-famous for all kinds of artistic treasures, including and religious: it must at the same time be compared not only with the most wonderful churches of the Latin confession... as well as with the numerous Protestant chapels, which are multiplying every year.”

Church authorities in Russia, blessing the initiative on July 28, 1880, allowed the rector to collect money for a new temple. Five years later, 158 thousand francs were collected, which were contributed primarily by representatives of the Russian nobility: State Secretary A. A. Zubov, A. Z. Khitrovo, Ya. B. Mansurov and others who lived for a long time in Florence. Especially a lot - 75 thousand liras - was donated by Prince. Elena Pavlovna, widow of Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, Prince. San Donato, as today recalled by a marble plaque in the lower church. Her daughter Prince. M.P. Abamelek-Lazareva financed the construction of a house for the clergy next to the temple. In October 1879, before the furnishings of the Demidovs' villa in San Donato went under the hammer and its house church was abolished, the furnishings of this church were donated to the Florentine community.

In the spring of 1885 Fr. Vladimir purchased for 39 thousand francs a plot of two hectares on the Lungo Mugnone embankment, 35 (the previously purchased plot on Viale in Curva was sold), where on October 16, 1888 a temporary temple was consecrated, although it looked more like a carriage house. In 1899, thieves stole all the utensils from it, but the St. Petersburg company of the Grachevs made new ones with money issued from the treasury.

The design of the permanent church was drawn up by the St. Petersburg architect M. T. Preobrazhensky, with whom Fr. Vladimir met during the young architect’s retirement trip to Italy. This project was repeatedly reworked and simplified - in particular, the bell tower had to be abandoned. After much debate, the Moscow-Yaroslavl style of the 17th century was chosen as the most “Russian-Orthodox”. On December 12, 1886, the project was approved by the Synod after its discussion at the Academy of Arts. The abbot believed that construction could already begin, but the embassy objected, pointing out that the amount collected was not enough. A building committee was created in Rome, but it soon disbanded.

In 1890 about. Vladimir again proposed to begin construction, promising to complete it in five years, but the matter was again slowed down by the embassy, ​​which insisted on its leadership, especially in financial matters. In the end, the church authorities accepted this condition, and Preobrazhensky drew up a new “simplified” project, approved by the Synod on May 18, 1891, with an estimate of 189 thousand lire, but this time the start of work was delayed for several more years by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They began only on May 29, 1899 after the consecration of the place; The laying of the two-story church took place on October 16 of the same year in the presence of the comrade chief prosecutor of the Synod V.K. Sabler, the new ambassador to Rome Nelidov, the chairman of the construction commission, representatives of heterodox faiths, city authorities and members of the Russian colony. The construction progress was supervised by local engineer Giuseppe Boccini, and after his death by Giovanni Paciarelli. The stone work was carried out by the company of Bichielli and Maiani, which owned the quarries in Fiesole, and the bricklaying was carried out by the company of Ricci and Cambi. In November 1900, the leader visited the construction site several times. book Sergei Alexandrovich with his wife.

On October 8, 1902, the lower church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker - P. P. Demidov, book. San Donato asked to do this in memory of Emperor Nicholas I. The consecration of the upper church in the name of the Nativity of Christ, accommodating 350 people, was performed a year later - on Sunday, October 26, 1903 by Archimandrite. Vladimir (Putyata) from Rome in concelebration with other Russian priests. The Russian diplomatic corps took part in the celebration, as well as the crew of the cruiser Oslyabya, which was then stationed in La Spezia. The abbot was awarded a miter for his labors. The Italians made a documentary about the consecration. The entire construction cost 140 thousand rubles. (450 thousand liras).

When drawing up the project, Preobrazhensky used materials from his studies of church architecture of the 16th-17th centuries, therefore the traditional cross-dome scheme with a five-domed structure was used especially successfully. The main volume of the temple, made of pink brick and bluish-gray stone, is completed with a patterned frieze and kokoshniks, which (like the domes) are decorated with multi-colored majolica made in the famous city workshop of Cantagalli. Openwork gilded crosses rise on the domes, the porch is covered with a tent made of polychrome tiles; below it, framed by Florentine coat of arms, is a mosaic icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”, created in Venice based on cardboard by F. P. Reiman; on the side walls there are images of app. Peter and Paul, made by the same masters. The wrought iron fence and openwork crosses were made according to the design of the architect in the workshop of Cesare Michelucci in Pistoia. The garden around the building was laid out by gardener Pucci.

The lower (winter) church is often called the “Demidov church”, since almost all of its decoration comes from the Demidov church in San Donato. Icons were painted for it in 1853-1856 by Russian artists, including V.K. Vasiliev, and the iconostasis was carved from walnut in the workshop of the famous carver R. Barbetti. He is also the author of the unique carved door (1854-1861, cost 25 thousand rubles) at the entrance to the upper temple, which echoes the “Gates of Heaven” of the Florentine Baptistery by L. Ghiberti.

The interior of the upper church is designed in the Old Russian style. Tempera painting was performed by masters from St. Petersburg: M. M. Vasiliev (he is the author of icons in marble icon cases), P. S. Sharvarok, D. I. Kiplik, E. M. Cheptsov, A. P. Blaznov, who were advised by the historian Academician. V. A. Pokrovsky. Traditional iconography in the spirit of V. M. Vasnetsov is supplemented with images of Sts. Roman popes, as well as St. Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and St. Mark of Ephesus, famous zealots of Orthodoxy. In the paintings, criticism noted “the variety of tones in the colors, the high artistry of their combinations, the beauty of the ornaments.” All the ornaments were painted by the Florentine artist Giacomo Lolli, who used the encaustic technique. His brush belongs to “The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem” on the western wall.

The main decoration of the upper church is a marble two-tiered iconostasis, which, according to Preobrazhensky’s sketch, was carved in Genoa by Giuseppe Novi (the same carver made the iconostasis for the St. Petersburg Cathedral of the Savior on Spilled Blood) with the help of Paolo Triscorni from Carrara. The Royal Doors are made of cypress. Funds for the iconostasis (14 thousand rubles) were donated by Emperor Nicholas II, who wanted to thank the parish for returning the historical iconostasis of Alexander I to Russia in 1899 (now in the State Hermitage). The images, which include images of saints named after the royal family, were painted by academician A. N. Novoskoltsev. The bronze doors were cast in Moscow, at the Vishnevsky factory. The altarpiece stained glass window “The Lord on the Throne,” donated by Ambassador Nelidov, was lost during the war, but was soon replaced by another from the workshop of R. Fanfani. In 1899, the temple received utensils from the abolished Sretenskaya Church of A.V. Novitskaya in Florence. Other sacred silver vessels were made by Moscow workshops.

After the revolution of 1917, the life of the community changed dramatically. In 1921, an independent parish was created at the former embassy church (it consisted of 24 people), but parishioners for a long time feared property claims from the Soviet authorities, as happened in Rome and, later, in Bari. Claims were also made against the Florentine temple in 1924, but the Italian court rejected them.

In 1925-1936, the impoverished small community unexpectedly received financial support from the Royal House of Greece, which decided to use one of the premises of the crypt as a temporary tomb for its monarchs. In 1925, the coffin with the body of King Constantine was placed here, in 1926 - Queen Olga (nee Grand Duke Olga Konstantinovna of the House of Romanov), in 1932 - Queen Sophia, sister of the German Emperor Wilhelm II. When the position of the monarchy in Greece stabilized in 1936, the ashes of the crown bearers were transferred to the family tomb near Athens.

Maria Pavlovna Demidova, Prince, helped the temple especially a lot during difficult years. San Donato (married Prince Abamelek-Lazareva), owner of a villa in Pratolino. Unlike most Russian Florentines, she did not lose her fortune after the revolution and therefore could spend large sums of money to support both the church and the poor parishioners.

World War II forced many prominent parishioners to leave for America. For example, the headman, Prince, left Florence. S. Kochubey. However, immediately after the war, there was a temporary revival in the life of the community, for there were many Orthodox Christians in the ranks of the allied troops, but it was purely external and did not last long.

The liturgical life of the parish was never interrupted. After the death of Fr. Vladimir Levitsky was appointed in Florence by: Prot. Mikhail Stelmashenko (1923-1925), “smart, educated, but a man of tough character,” graduated from the Kyiv Theological Academy; prot. Ioann Lelyukhin (1926-1935), whose family remained in Arkhangelsk; O. John Kurakin (1935-1950), prince, former deputy of the State Duma, who became the Bishop of Messina before his death; O. Andrey Masalsky (1950-1955); archim. Savva (Shimkevich, 1955-1961); O. Theodore Bokach (1965-1969), after whom there was no permanent priest for a long time.

In the 1920s-1950s, the choir was led by regent Adrian Ksenofontovich Kharkevich, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. In 1903 he was appointed psalmist and then regent of the church in Florence. Kharkevich achieved high professionalism not only in performing spiritual chants, but also in composing them - his works were heard in Russian churches in different countries. He was also one of the leaders of the “Russian Colony in Tuscany,” a socio-cultural association of emigrants.

The Church in Florence has been subordinate to the Western European Exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate since 1927. Its current rector is a native of St. Petersburg, priest. Georgy Blatinsky was appointed in 1997 after the death of Fr. John Yankin, who came to serve from Nice for a quarter of a century.

In the post-war years, parish life was preserved largely thanks to the long-term (1956-1988) elder M. V. Olsufieva, a famous translator of modern Russian literature, especially A. I. Solzhenitsyn. In the mid-1980s, film director A. A. Tarkovsky, who was expelled from the USSR and settled in Florence, was a parishioner of the temple. The composition of the modern community is mixed: they are representatives of emigration of different generations, recently arrived Russians and Ukrainians, Italians, Ethiopians, Greeks, Serbs.

In 1987, restoration work began in the temple under the leadership of the architect Vincenzo Vaccaro, who in 1996-1999 returned the building to its previous appearance. In November 2003, with the participation of city and church authorities, the centenary of the church was solemnly celebrated.

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- a unique ancient city in Italy, preserving many ancient Christian shrines. Among them is the head of St. John Chrysostom, as well as miraculous icons of the Mother of God. And, of course, Florence will not be itself without ancient cathedrals and churches, frescoes and sculptures.

Florence has hospitably welcomed Russian travelers and pilgrims for many centuries. In the 19th century there was already a Russian colony here. Many aristocrats (Musins-Pushkins, Buturlins, Kochubeis, Demidovs, etc.) lived in this city for a long time, and writers, artists, composers (Dostoevsky, Tchaikovsky) also stayed.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a beautiful five-domed building was built in Florence at the expense of the Russian community. Orthodox church in honor of the Nativity of Christ and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

This is where we started our day in Florence.

This is the first Russian Orthodox church in Italy. It was consecrated in November 1903. thanks to the efforts of Father Vladimir Levitsky and donations from Russian parishioners, in particular the Demidov family, and Emperor Nicholas II. It is a unique example of creative cooperation between Russian and Italian masters.

We were lucky enough to meet with the rector, Father Georgy Blatinsky.

The iconostasis of the upper church, donated by the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, the holy martyr tsar, is made of white Carrara marble and yellow Verona marble and contains, as additional icons of saints, heavenly patrons of the last Royal family and the monogram of the Sovereign.

The shrine of the temple is the cross-reliquary of Metropolitan Philaret Romanov (later the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'), which became a shrine of the Royal House with the election of the sixteen-year-old boy Mikhail Romanov to the kingdom. The Romanovs prayed before him until 1698, when Peter the Great, wanting to marry Anna Mons, imprisoned his first wife Evdokia, née Lopukhina, in the Suzdal monastery, who took the cross with her. He never returned to the Romanov family, but was passed down from generation to generation in the Lopukhin family. The last Lopukhina from this branch died in Florence in 1922 and since then the reliquary cross has been in the Altar of the temple.

Cross - reliquary

After serving a short prayer service and praying, we set off to explore Florence. It was founded in 59 BC personally by Julius Caesar.

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore- Cathedral in Florence, the most famous architectural structure of the Florentine Quattrocento. The relics of St. rest here. John Chrysostom and St. . ap. Andrew the First-Called. The cathedral contains pieces of the relics of many martyrs of Christianity. Including pieces of the relics of Mary Magdalene, small particles of the Life-Giving Tree of the Lord. Under the main altar rest the relics of St. Zenobius, the first bishop of the city of Florence.

This cathedral also contains icons by the Italian icon painter Giotto di Bondone.

We visited , located on the site of the 8th century convent of the Archangel Michael in the Garden. In 1240, a market arose on the site of the monastery, where grain was traded on the ground floor in an open loggia, and there was a granary on the second floor.

In the 14th century the market was moved to another location. A church was built on the ground floor, which became very rich during the plague epidemic of 1348; the second floor continued to be used as a granary until 1569.

And then we just walked around this ancient city