Many churches in Russia and abroad are consecrated in honor of the feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. According to sacred tradition, on this day, the disciples of I. Christ, who preached in different countries, miraculously gathered in Jerusalem to perform the burial of the Mother of God.
Short story
The meaning of the holiday is that death (dormition) is a temporary sleep for human flesh until resurrection at the Second Coming of Christ, which will be followed by eternal life. The soul, separated from the body, appears before the living Lord. Thus, the Dormition symbolizes the triumph of eternal life over death. Since the time of Prince Vladimir, Assumption churches were built throughout Russia.
One of the churches dedicated to the repose of the Blessed Virgin Mary is located in Murom, at the intersection of Sverdlova and Krasnoarmeyskaya streets. It is still visible from afar thanks to the high two-tiered bell tower. The first mentions of the Assumption Church date back to 1566 - it was wooden, like all buildings of that time. In 1790, 28-year-old merchant Dmitry Likhonin, who sells yuft (tanned leather), provided the amount sufficient for the construction of a stone church. A single-domed stone temple appeared in place of a fragile wooden building. He had two thrones: the main one, consecrated in the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God, and a chapel in honor of the Christian saint Dmitry Thessaloniki, who was martyred for his faith. In 1829 the refectory was redesigned, and in 1836 a bell tower was added to the church. The interior of the Assumption Church is furnished with church utensils, icons, there are liturgical books, but there are no particularly revered antiquities in the church.
Assumption Church - a monument to the era of classicism
For more than 220 years of its history, the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God has undergone significant changes in appearance, but even in this form, it is valuable as a typical monument of the era of classicism. The main chapel of the church - the altar one - was destroyed. The refectory and the bell tower, connected by a small porch (porch), have survived to this day. The geometric, rectangular building of the refectory is covered with a gable roof topped with a dome with a cross. The middle part of the facade is made in the form of a protruding projection, creating a volumetric-spatial composition, and completed with a triangular pediment. Risalit combines three tall windows, decorated with decorative elements in the form of a recessed rectangle.
The cornice is decorated with "croutons" - small rectangular projections forming an intermittent row. The faceted bell tower of the Assumption Church, rectangular in plan, is crowned with a hemisphere with a spire. The first tier of the belfry is decorated with arched openings framed by vertical columns. Each of the facades of the first tier is completed with a triangular pediment. The second tier has semicircular windows and arched ringing openings through which the bells are visible. In September 2011, the first step was taken to restore the altar of the temple. Vladimir-Suzdal Archbishop Evlogiy took part in this spiritually significant event., which laid the first stone in the foundation of the future main chapel of the church.
