Kolomenskoe

For the first time the village Kolomenskoe was mentioned in 1339, in documents of prince Ivan Kalita. Since XIV centuries Kolomenskoe became a country residence of great Moscow princes, and Russian tsars then. In 1606 I.Bolotnikova's rebellious army was encamped here. Peter I spent his childhood in Kolomenskoe. After a capture of Azov in 1696 and victories near Poltava in 1709 he stopped here before solemn entrance to Moscow.

In XIX centurythe buildings of Kolomenskoe strongly decayed. In 1860-1880th years, after a partial restoration,  national celebratings and even bear fights were arranged in Kolomenskoe.

Since 1925 Kolomenskoe became a museum department off "Pokrovsk cathedral" (Vasily Blazhennogo's cathedral), and since 1928 - a branch of the State Historical museum. In 1930-1959 the architectonic museum under an open-air was created in Kolomenskoe. Different monuments of Russian wooden art of XVII centuries were transported here: a tower of the Bratsk burg from Siberia, a small house of Peter I from Arkhangelsk.

Achitectural ensemble of the manor Kolomenskoe, developed in XVI-XVII centuries, represents big art and a historical value. The complex Kolomenskoe includes the Ascension church, Church of Beheading of John the Forerunner in Djakovsky, George Pobedonostsa's temple-belltower, church of the Kazan Mother of god, the Water platoon tower and the two stone entrance gates constructed at tsar Alexey Mihajloviche times.

The pearl of this architectural ensemble by the right it is possible to name the Ascension church which became one of the first stone tent churches in Russia. The church was constructed in 1532, in honour of a birth at grand duke Vasily of III long-awaited successor - the future Ivan Grozniy. It is supposed, that the Italian architect Petrok Maliy (Peter Frjazin) who erected walls of "China-town" in Moscow built the Ascension church. The harmonous temple with a high octahedral tent intended was only for the members of an imperial family.

Unfortunately, the wooden palace constructed in 1667-1671 for tsar Alexey Mihajlovicha was not saved up to now. In opinion of contemporaries, the palace was "  the eighth wonder of the world". It was consisted of the picturesque high cribs connected by roofed-in transitions, and was decorated by rich carvings and internal paintings. In 1681 the palace was reconstructed, but it did not help to save it - in 1768 the decayed palace was disassembled. Archeologists found a whitestoned foundation of the palace in summer, 1996.

In 1971 the manor Kolomenskoe got the status of the state memorial estate. Today it is the State art istoriko-architectural and landscape memorial estate "Kolomenskoe". Museum collections are various and really unique - from neolithic finds of the territories of the Djakovsky site of ancient settlement to rare editions like the first Russian printing book "Moscow Apostle", published by Ivan Fedorov and Peter Mstislavtsem on March, 1st, 1564. The unique collection of a carving on a white stone includes a decor of the destroyed temples and architectonic monuments of Moscow - Lion's gate, the Amusing palace of the Moscow Kremlin, the Nikolay Chudotvortsa's church, "Big cross" on Ilyinka, etc.

Today the memorial estate Kolomenskoe - one of the most popular places in Moscow. In the autumn of 2002 the government of Moscow confirmed the complex program of development of the memorial estate "Kolomenskoe" on 2003-2007. According to this program, it was planned to create an ethnographic complex in the territory of Kolomenskoe. Besides, at Moscow expense some of the monuments were restored at once: the Ascension church, the church of the Kazan Mother of god, the Nourishing yard side, the Water platoon tower and the Georgievsky temple-belltower.