Church of St Michael the Archangel on Studyonaya Gora

The Church of St Michael the Archangel on Studyonaya Gora (Mikhailo-Arkhangelskaya Church) is an Orthodox church in Vladimir, at 1A Studyonaya Gora Street. Built of red brick in 1891–1893 in an eclectic style with Byzantine features, it belongs to the Vladimir Diocese and is a regional cultural heritage site of the Vladimir Region.

History

The area was once the Yamskaya Sloboda, a coachmen's settlement with wooden churches on the edge of town. In the 1880s M. M. Leontyev, chairman of the Vladimir Charitable Society and the provincial marshal of nobility, proposed a church for local residents and for the children of the society's craft school on Studyonaya Gora. It was built on the society's land with donors' money; according to one account, the site was chosen in the will of retired captain F. G. Arkhangelsky, who praised the "picturesque and fine position of Studyonaya Gora".

Archbishop Feognost of Vladimir and Suzdal laid the first stone on 13 October 1891. The provincial architect A. P. Afanasyev designed the church and the engineer I. A. Karabutov built it. Five bells were raised to the belfry in September 1893, and on 28 November 1893 the church, which held no more than 400 people, was consecrated.

The church was closed at the end of the 1920s and lost its interior, its belfry and the mirrored cross on its dome. The building was used as a warehouse and in the early 1960s as a film distribution depot. In the late 1970s and early 1980s it was restored for museum use, and in 1985 the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve opened its "Clocks and Time" exhibition here.

In 1996 the church was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church and reconsecrated on 19 April 1997. A new belfry designed by A. N. Trofimov was consecrated in 2002 and the altar in 2003. An extra dome was added over the apse, the fence was restored and the walls were painted anew. The church marked its 125th anniversary in 2018.

Architecture and interior

The church on Studyonaya Gora stands out among Vladimir's churches: its interior is round in plan, and the facades end in ogee-shaped zakomaras whose tympana once held icons of saints. The onion dome was originally topped by a mirrored cross from the Zaslavsky works in Yekaterinoslav. On 7 June 2010 a crystal cross made in Gus-Khrustalny was raised onto the dome.

The original iconostasis of black oak was made by the Moscow artist E. Kh. Bette, with icons painted by N. M. Safonov from Palekh; the chandelier and church plate came from the Moscow merchant Agapov. In 2012 the parish received a copy of the Derzhavnaya ("Reigning") icon of the Mother of God from the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.

The legend of the foundation

According to tradition, it was raining on the day the church was founded, but the weather cleared after the procession of the cross.

Good to know

The church is open daily from 7:00 to 19:00. On Thursdays at 17:00 a prayer service for the sick is held before the Vsetsaritsa ("All-Reigning") icon of the Mother of God. The grounds are wheelchair accessible, and there is a church shop at the bell tower.