Visiting Kolomenskoye
Russian Royal Estate and a Weekend Retreat from Moscow
Just a few metro stops from the centre of Moscow, a royal estate offers fine architecture amid lovely countryside.
Kolomenskoye was the tsars’ summer estate just south-east of Moscow. Now, ordinary Muscovites make it their weekend retreat too. Simply take the metro to Kolomenskaya – just five stops from the Bolshoi – and you’re there. (In summer, you can also reach the park by boat on the Moskva river. But remember the estate isn't open on Mondays.)
There are fine lawns, and secluded forests with five hundred year old oaks. You can walk all day if you like. But there’s also fine architecture, including one of the most interesting churches in Russia.
The First Russian 'Tent' Church
The Ascension church, a magnificent, stark white spire, was built in 1532 to comemorate the birth of Ivan the Terrible. It was the first Russian church to break with the Byzantine domed tradition, instead thrusting upwards, with tier upon tier of ‘kokoschnik’ corbel arches, named after the Russian women’s headdresses they resembled. In adapting the form of wooden churches to a stone building, the unknown mason began a revolution in Russian architecture - the 'tent' church.
The octagonal church has massively thick walls, making the interior rather small; but it’s the outside which impresses. Even the arcaded staircases leading to the doors contribute to the rhythm, wrapping round the base of the spire like tree roots.
Take the path through the trees and across a ravine, and you’ll find St John the Baptist. This church was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible himself, perhaps from Italian architects, though other people say it was designed by the same master who built St Basil’s cathedral on Red Square, Moscow.
There’s not much left of Tsar Alexei’s huge wooden palace; almost all of it was demolished in the eighteenth century. But the impressive gateway remains, and so does the pretty Kazanskaya church.
More recently, the grounds of Kolomenskoye have been filled with wooden buildings brought from other sites in Russia, as a building museum. There’s a monastery gate tower from Karelia, on the borders with Finland, and a stockade tower from Siberia.
Peter the Great's Cabin
Perhaps the most touching exhibit is Peter the Great’s log cabin, which he lived in at Archangelsk when he was supervising the building of a new fortress there. It’s a modest building of just four rooms, reflecting the pragmatism of this unusual monarch. And since it was here at Kolomenskoye that the young Peter the Great found refuge when the Streltsy rose against him, it’s fitting that the cabin has ended up on this site.
Russian Holidays with Medieval Displays
In the summer, Kolomenskoye is a great place for a picnic. Russian holidays often see the estate full of actors in medieval Russian costume, singing and dancing. But perhaps the nicest time to visit is in winter, when deep snow and sunshine show off the churches at their best.
