The Church of St. George the Victorius, Great Martyr (Staraya Ladoga Village, Volkhov District)

Subject / Religion. Church/Orthodox churches
The Church of St. George the Victorius, Great Martyr (Staraya Ladoga Village, Volkhov District) The stone church was built according to the prince order in the Ladoga Fortress as the church of the St George Fortress Monastery (it was founded in 1146) in 1165-1166. The construction was linked with the victory of the people of Ladoga over Swedes in 1164. The one dome church having the helmet-shaped dome on the drum was constructed in the Novgorod Architecture style; it was the square plan, four columns, three apsides, with the narrow split windows. Church was buit using the alternating rows of the local Volkhov slabs and briks. From 1169 to 1170 it was decorated by the Byzantine frescos. The fresco ""St George and Dragon"", the oldest image on this theme in the Russian monumental painting, is survived . Few frescos were destroyed and few frescos were covered under the plaster during the installing of the multi-tiers iconostasis (it is not survived) in the 16th c. The church was seriously damaged during the Swedish invasion in the beginning of the 17th c. From 1683 to 1684 the warm refectory and the bell tower were added and the zakomara covering was replaced by the hipped roofing. The church was converted into the parish church after the abolishing of the monastery in 1746. In 1866 the chapel of Mother of God ""Consolation of All Who Sorrow"", the chapel of St Prince Alexander Nevsky and the new bell tower were added. In 1917 the church had three attached chapels and the clergy of the parish had the vast arable land (456 desyatin). From 1922 to 1926 the church belonged to the grope ""Alive Church"". The church was closed in 1926 and transferred to the museum. The church was restored from 1927 to December 1962 ( there were breaks); now the church has the original appearance, the added chapels and the bell tower were demolished during the restoration. Now the church is under the management of the Staraya Ladoga Historical-Architectural and Archeological Museum-Reserve. Shkarovsky, Mikhail Vitalyevich
Leningrad Oblast, the/Volkhov District/Staraya Ladoga Village
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