Moscow, June 21, 2017
Photo: kremlintour.com The All-Russian public movement “The People’s Council” has called for the restoration of the chapel near the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers of the Moscow Kremlin, reports Interfax-Religion.
“There are two ancient chapels standing near the Spasskaya tower, destroyed more than 90 years ago, that remain unrestored until the present day—Spasskaya and Smolenskaya—which were an integral part of the Moscow Kremlin’s architectural ensemble. They received their names in honor of the icons on the Spasskaya Tower walls—the Savior Not Made By Hands, and the Smolensk Savior,” reads the movement’s appeal to President Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill.
The chapels were built of stone in 1802, and torn down and rebuilt in 1812 as part of a new project. They were again dismantled and rebuilt in 1868 with the restoration of the Spasskaya Tower, and finally were demolished in 1925. There were another two chapels by the Nikolsky Kremlin Gates that were repeatedly rebuilt, and which were demolished in the same year.
“The question of reconstructing these chapels on their former historical place is a logical continuation of the restoration work recently done on the historical appearance of the Moscow Kremlin—the heart of Moscow and of all of Russia,” the movement believes.
According to the “People’s Council” representatives, the restoration of the chapels would be not only a significant spiritual and cultural-historical event in the life of Russia, “but an act of restoring historical justice.”
They have also asked the president and patriarch to promote the returning of the Khlynov (Vyatka) Icon of the Savior Not Made By Hands, in honor of which the main tower of the Moscow Kremlin is named, to the inner wall of the Spasskaya Tower.
An ancient icon of the Savior, depicting St. Sergius of Radonezh and St. Varlaam of Khutn prostrate at His feet, which was plastered over by the Soviets in the 1930s, was restored to its historical place over the main gate of the Moscow Kremlin and blessed by His Holiness Pat. Kirill on August 28, 2010. On November 4 of the same year, the Day of People’s Unity, the restored 15th-16th century icon of St. Nicholas of Mozhaysk on the Nikolskaya Tower was also blessed by Pat. Kirill. In November 2015, the long-awaited demolition began on the Kremlin Presidium or “Building 14,” which housed the offices of the Supreme Soviet from the 1930s until 2011, where two monasteries once stood, thus further restoring the Kremlin’s historical appearance.
