Nikolo-Naberezhnaya Church
Nikolo-Naberezhnaya Church is an ancient Orthodox church located on a high terrace of the left bank of the Oka River, in the ancient city of Murom. The church was consecrated in honor of Nicholas the Wonderworker – the savior of the drowning, the patron saint of fishermen, sailors and all travelers, and according to the ancient Russian tradition is built near the water. The inhabitants of the city call it the Temple of Nikola the Wet. In spring, the Oka overflows and fills the entire wide floodplain, the water comes up to the temple itself, so the Murom people say, “Nikola has wet feet.”
Video: Nikolo-Naberezhnaya Church
Highlights
Nikolo-Naberezhnaya Church was erected in the early 18th century and was an active temple until the 1930s, when the country began an active anti-religious campaign. In the middle of the last century a poultry farm was set up in the church, and then the ancient buildings were given to the Murom museum. Museum workers wanted to organize inside a permanent exposition about the Oka River, as well as an exhibition of wooden carved sculpture. However, for a long time, the temple was empty.
.In 1991, it was returned to the believers. Gradually Nikolo-Naberezhnaya church restored, consecrated and transferred here the relics of the Orthodox saint – Juliana Lazarevskaya (1530-1604), which became the main temple shrine. Interestingly, it was in this church that the baptism of television inventor Nikolai Kozmich Zworykin (1889-1982) took place.
.From the temple opens a picturesque panorama of the river valley and a beautiful view of the right bank of the Oka River. At the bottom, next to the church beats Nikolsky spring, the water from which the Murom people consider healing. It tastes strongly of iron.
.Near the spring is located bathing, and rises a neat wooden chapel, which is consecrated in honor of the revered icon of the Mother of God “Life-bearing spring”. From the temple to the spring and the chapel pilgrims and tourists descend on a metal staircase.
.History of Nikolo-Naberezhnaya Church
Before the famous campaign against the Kazan kingdom, Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible stopped in Murom and lived in the sovereign’s court. According to legend, it was at the will of the tsar that the first wooden Nikolo-Naberezhnaya Church appeared near the palace. It had two side chapels consecrated in honor of Saints Cosmas and Damian, and Theodore Stratilat.
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Gradually around the temple grew Merezhskaya Sloboda, where lived fishermen who supplied fish for the tsar’s table. Since the church on the bank of the Oka River was considered “sovereign”, the tsars ruling in Russia showered it with various favors. Thanks to the decree of Mikhail Fedorovich, the church received rich fishing and bortniki lands on the Oka River.
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The fate of the first temple is not exactly known. Maybe it burned down in a fire, or perhaps it simply weathered from time. In 1700 in Murom began to build a new stone Nikolo-Naberezhnaya church. With the initiative of construction was a priest from Moscow Dmitry Christoforov, who wanted to preserve the memory of his father Archpriest Christopher, who served in the old Murom church.
At the beginning of the 18th century, Russia was involved in the heavy Northern War. It took so much money to equip the army that Peter the Great forbade stone construction throughout the country. An exception was made only for St. Petersburg, so the erection of a stone church in Murom was an extraordinary event.
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In 1714 in the still unfinished church put a new wooden carved iconostasis with images painted by the famous isographer from Murom Alexander Ivanovich Kazantsev. A year later the iconostasis was gilded, and two years later the new church was consecrated with the participation of the Metropolitan of Ryazan, His Eminence Stephen..
At the beginning of the XIX century to the church was added refectory with a side chapel consecrated in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and in the middle of the XIX century in the church there was another side chapel, which was dedicated to the patron saint martyr Vlasius of Sebastia, the patron saint of animals. Curiously, it was built on the money of the Murom merchants Suzdaltsev-Ushakovs, who made their fortune in the cattle trade.
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Before the closure of the Nikolo-Naberezhnaya Church kept an icon of St. Nicholas, painted in the XIV century. Nowadays this ancient image can be seen in the city museum of Murom.
Features of the architecture
The parish of Nikolo-Naberezhnaya Church never had enough money for large-scale reconstruction, so the Murom temple has survived to our days almost in pristine condition. In its architecture you can see obvious features of the Moscow Baroque. The church is characterized by simple clear lines, proportionality of all parts and laconic decor.
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The two-light base volume is completed with a four-pitched roof and topped with a traditional five-domed roof. The high drums of the chapels are decorated with small expressive arches. The bell tower is completed by a sloping helmet-shaped dome with a small gilded onion chapter. In addition, the bell tower is decorated with rounded windows, which are located above the level of the bells.
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The white-yellow facades and domes casting in the sun are beautifully visible from the side of the Oka River and from the Oka City Garden. From the southeast of the temple are a border pillar and a cross in memory of the first defenders of the city and all the soldiers who died on the borders of ancient Russia.
.The old carved iconostasis was in the Nikolo-Naberezhnaya Church until the 1960s, but during the last restoration a new iconostasis was put in the church. Today the church interiors look very solemn, and especially beautifully decorated is the casket with the relics of Juliana of Lazarevskaya.
.How to get there
Nikolo-Naberezhnaya Church is located on the left bank of the Oka River, in Murom, on Plekhanov Street, 27, 4 km from the railway station. The church can be reached by cab or on foot from Moskovskaya Street, on the side of Murom bus station.
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