Torzhok. Great in small
When you go out on the banks of the Tvertsa River in Torzhok, the first thing that catches your eye is a large number of churches. Wherever you look - everywhere domes and cupolas. Somewhere small and slender. . .
Makovki St. George's Church. View from the ramparts of the Novotorzhsky Kremlin
. . . somewhere huge and majestic.
Domes of the former Ascension Monastery
But, unfortunately, many without crosses. This is already a legacy of the Soviet era. Solid stone buildings of churches were used for the needs of the national economy. By the end of the 20th century, this economy was gone, many buildings fell into disrepair. Something managed to return the ROC. But often this returned turned out to be not very necessary. Let's hope this is temporary. Well, a lot of things still stand in desolation, often in ruins.
Vlasievskaya Church. It seems like restoration even began
Resurrection Church
But my message is not to criticize local authorities and business entities. This has already been said and discussed, written and rewritten. I'm talking about something else.
I think that many, in fact, like me, when visiting the provincial Torzhok, the question arose: where did such huge temples come from in this tiny town? Definitely Roman scale. Well, yes, great in small. . .
The fact is that Torzhok has not always been a simple provincial town. And now, what is there, well, quite a village (no offense), but very charming.
st. Krasnaya Gorka
No one knows the exact date of the founding of the city, presumably the turn of the X-XI centuries. It was originally created as a place of bargaining by Novgorod merchants - Novy Torg. So it was known for many centuries as a rich trading city. Although it was repeatedly ruined by both Batu and the Poles, it was revived again and again, as it was conveniently located on trade routes. By the 19th century, 70% of the population were merchants. Rich people tried in every possible way to perpetuate their names. The most fashionable, let's say, in those days was to donate funds to a charitable cause - the construction of a temple, for example, you see, maybe it will be counted in the next world. In addition, they built their own churches, and the more, the cooler, to put it in a modern way. Yes, and not very rich townspeople built temples in settlements and settlements, and they were also not averse to competing with each other with the richness of the forms and decoration of their churches. This was, is, and will be. Only each time has its own objects of competition.
If you're interested, let's take a closer look at some of the temple objects of Torzhok. They beckon with their shapes and silhouettes. I used to take my family around the city by hook or by crook, just to look at the tuuu hulk or woo that...
The family, consisting of a father and two offspring 10 and 9 years old, made attempts to resist. Not without difficulties, as they say : ). And this fact really annoys me on family trips. And what to do, there is nowhere to put the cubs, they also need to be enlightened. But we learned to find compromises, so something worked out.
The main point of attraction for Torzhok is Borisoglebsky Monastery.
Novotorzhsky Borisoglebsky Monastery is one of the oldest Orthodox monasteries on Russian soil. It was founded in 1038 by St. Ephraim. Ephraim served as a groom for the brothers of the princes Boris and Gleb, the younger sons of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, who, due to fears of losing the throne, were killed by their elder brother, Prince Svyatopolk of Kyiv. After the death of his brothers, the faithful servant left the worldly life and went to the Novgorod lands in search of peace and quiet. After long wanderings and wanderings on a high hill on the banks of the Tvertsa River, he remained to pray for the repose of Boris and Gleb.
Monument to St. Ephraim of Novotorzhsky. Installed in 2015
Gradually, the monastery grew. And after some time, Novgorod merchants settled nearby, so the city of Novy Torg was born, which we now call Torzhok. According to another version, Ephraim settled on a nearby hill near the city that already existed at that time.
Since those ancient times, of course, nothing has been preserved.
Entrance Church of Jerusalem (1717), rectory building (1717)
The monastery wall (late 18th century)
Vvedenskaya Church (1620) - most old preserved monastery building
This was facilitated by numerous ruins, and, conversely, wealth and power. Yes, it happens. In the XVIII-XIX centuries, the monastery flourished, and he could afford to rebuild. As a result, new buildings were erected to replace the old and dilapidated ones. The architectural image of the monastery was formed by the beginning of the 19th century.
After closing in 1925, the monastery became a high-security prison for many years, then alcoholics were treated there. At the end of the 80s. of the last century, the complex was transferred to the jurisdiction of the historical and ethnographic museum. And since that time, little by little, the revival of the monastery begins. But everything is kind of slow. I saw photos of past years, Borisoglebsky Cathedral was in the woods. The scaffolding was removed, the cathedral apparently remained in its original state.
Borisoglebsky Cathedral (1796)
Borisoglebsky Cathedral (1796)
At the moment, Borisoglebsky Monastery is the brightest sight of the city of Torzhok. For ubiquitous and all-climbing tourists, an observation deck is organized in the Candle Tower.
The Candle Tower (1809)
Having learned about this event, I really urged my companions, I was afraid that I would be late, as I did not have an exact work schedule. I really love all these "viewing" cases. And I recommend it to you too.
The views are not that WOW, but very pleasant.
Well, the feeling of all-encompassing and all-encompassing always complements the impressions of the visited place.
By the way, about the "Roman scales". . . Looking at the dome of St. Boris and Gleb Cathedral, we were seized by similar feelings of grandiosity that we experienced in Pisa. Some might say it's an exaggeration. No, not the same, but close - that's a fact.
View of Pisa Cathedral from the height of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Sometimes, these views from above are the beginning of an acquaintance, once the end of an inspection, but they are always one of the most vivid emotions.
The Holy Gates with the Gateway Church of the Savior and the bell tower. Prior to the restoration, the observation deck was built on the bell tower
The Annunciation Church flaunts on the neighboring hill from the Borisoglebsky Monastery.
View from the ramparts of the Novotorzhsky Kremlin
There is information about it from the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries. It was devastated by the Lithuanians, burned, rebuilt... The current look is the construction of 1864. The church is notable for the fact that after closing in the 30s, it was reopened in 1946. And until 1995 it was the only functioning church in the city.
St. George's Church. Like most churches, it was built in stone at the end of the 18th century on the site of a dilapidated wooden church.
The building took its modern shape at the end of the 19th century. From the 30s of the last century to this day, the building has been used for the needs of the first socialist, and now I don’t understand what kind of economy. And in 1968, worse than that, it was almost demolished to build a new road. But the activists and local historians managed to defend this graceful beauty.
Savior Transfiguration Cathedral. He has a long history.
The first mentions date back to 1163. Then, of course, it was a wooden church located on the territory of the Novotorzhsky Kremlin. The temple burned several times, was ruined, restored, rebuilt. The temple had to endure a terrible tragedy: in 1372, during the internecine wars, in the cathedral, just built in stone in 1364, the townspeople were martyred from fire and smoke, hiding there from the army of Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich of Tver, who captured and ruined city. Cruel times…
And one more sad story accompanies this cathedral: “. . . In 1406, the holy noble princess Juliana, who is revered as an example of marital chastity, was buried here. Juliania was the wife of the Vyazma prince Simeon Mstislavovich. After the conquest of Smolensk by Lithuania, they shared exile from their native land along with Prince Yuri Svyatoslavich of Smolensk. Grand Duke Vasily of Moscow gave them the city of Torzhok. And everything would be fine, but here Prince Yuri began to pester Juliana and received a worthy rebuff. Then, during the feast, Yuri killed Juliana's husband, and cut off her arms and legs herself. The sick peasant saw that the body of the murdered princess was floating against the current along the Tvertsa River, and heard a voice commanding to gather the clergy and bury the body at the southern doors of the Transfiguration Cathedral. Since then, people constantly came to the grave of the princess with faith in the grace-filled help of the saint. The relics, by the way, were opened and lost in 1930” (Taken here )
This majestic building was built already in 1812-22. designed by the famous architect of that time, Carl Rossi. At the moment, another large-scale restoration is underway; in the 70s of the last century, one was already carried out.
View from the ramparts of the Novotorzhsky Kremlin
The temple turned out to be so big that it was very expensive to heat it. As a result, 20 years later, in 1842, the winter Church of the Entrance of Jerusalem appeared nearby, built according to the project of the provincial architect Ivan Fedorovich Lvov.
For a general idea of how it looked, I stole a photo from the Internet:
Author Eugene (https://sonic-off. tourister. ru/)
On the way to my cherished goal - the complex of the former Ascension Monastery, whose domes are visible from everywhere, I unexpectedly met another curious church from the "former" ones right at the intersection of roads - Exaltation of the Cross.
This building was built in 1842, as usual, on the site of an old dilapidated church. Before that, it was wooden. I did not find information about what was in the building after it closed in 1929. In recent years, it seems like an atelier.
At the moment, it has been transferred to the Borisoglebsky Monastery, but so far, as they say, the hands have not reached.
Resurrection Convent:
Photo by S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky, 1910. Compare with the second photo by text
The first mention of it dates back to 1584. But in fact, the monastery arose long before that date. There is a legend that there was an underground passage between the Resurrection Convent and the Borisoglebsky Convent, located on the opposite bank of the Tvertsa. But this, of course, is just empty chatter, generated, perhaps, once by someone's joke. In any case, historians and archaeologists refute this fact.
By the 19th century, the monastery had become a rich and influential monastery. Under him, there was a shelter for orphan girls, and later a school for poor clergy girls was opened. Many graduates have become rural teachers. There were workshops for gold embroidery in the monastery, in which outfits were also created for royal persons. Largely thanks to the monastery, this ancient craft has survived to this day.
With the advent of Soviet power, the monastery was closed. Some of the buildings are now used by a garment factory. Are they used?
To this day, the Resurrection Cathedral built in 1796, the bell tower, the unusual Forerunner Church, built in 1840 according to the project of I. F. Lvov, have survived.
Resurrection Cathedral
The bell tower of the Resurrection Cathedral
Church of the Baptist
Church of the Baptist
Being in Torzhok, we stayed at the Torzhok Hotel 3*. The hotel is very nice, honestly, even pleasantly surprised. It is not so that in the very central center, but taking into account the toy size of the town (well, what is interesting for a walking tourist), then this fact does not matter : )). However, more about it in separate review.
So, it so happened that the first sight that we met in the city, and then finished our route in the evening, was the Ilyinsky Church, located not far from the place of lodging for the night.
This is just a few that we were able to "hook" along the route on foot.
We've seen many different cities and towns. But, perhaps, Torzhok is one of the "richest" in churches and temples per unit area, so to speak. And so majestic for a small town. It is very sad, of course, to see devastation and desolation. But all these temples, like persistent heroes, hold on. Waiting…
P. S. From the same series:
About a walk through the streets of the city "Torzhok. There are no ugly cities".
