Church of the Intercession (Krasnaya Reka)

The Church of the Intercession (Pokrovskaya Church) is an abandoned stone church dedicated to the Intercession of the Mother of God, standing in the centre of the village of Krasnaya Reka in the Staromainsky District of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia. Finished in 1912 in the Russian-Byzantine style, it was closed in 1930 and now stands half-ruined. A new wooden Church of the Intercession, built in 2012, is active next to it.

History

According to local historians, the village was founded in the 1660s by Mordvin settlers from the Nizhny Novgorod area. Its first church appeared in the mid-18th century and was dedicated to the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica, so the village was known as Dmitrievskoye Krasnaya Rechka. In 1771 it almost entirely burned down, and in 1773 the rebuilt wooden church was given an altar of the Intercession. In 1858 the parishioners rebuilt it on a stone foundation with an iron roof.

Work on the stone church began in 1894 and was paid for by the parish. Old residents recalled that it took 18 years, ending in 1912.

The church did not serve for long. It was closed in 1930; its priest, Yakov Semyonovich Kolchin, was arrested on 22 March that year and later shot. The bells were taken down, and the largest, weighing 150 poods, was thrown from the bell tower and shattered. The building became a warehouse and then a distillery, and the main entrance was widened by breaking out part of the brickwork so that carts and lorries could drive in.

In 1999 the church was listed as a potential heritage site, and in 2018 it became a regional architectural monument. In 2012 a wooden church, also dedicated to the Intercession, was built beside the old one, and services are now held there.

Architecture and what to see

The church stands on a large square in the middle of Krasnaya Reka. It follows the "ship" plan: from east to west come a semicircular apse, the main body, the refectory and the porch with the bell tower. The main body is a cube with cut corners, with projecting north and south fronts topped by gables. A massive octagonal drum with a ring of 16 arched windows once rose over the centre.

The walls, about one and a half metres thick, have survived, and from a distance the church looks like a fortress. The interior is spacious, with arched niches and windows. The floor was laid with stone slabs and encaustic tiles, some coloured fragments of which remain; no traces of wall paintings are left.

Good to know

The old church is not in use and is partly ruined. Water and frost are wearing away the masonry year after year, no conservation work is under way, and locals doubt it will ever be fully restored because of the cost. An old school building stands next to the church. Services are held in the new wooden church.

Getting there

From Ulyanovsk, take the Dimitrovgrad highway (R-178) towards Dimitrovgrad. Just past the settlement of Lesnoy, turn left at the sign for Yeryomkino, and after the railway crossing in Bryandino turn left again towards Cherdakly. In Krasnaya Reka the main road leads straight to the old church; the new wooden one stands in front of it on the left side of the road.