For the fifth century on the steep bank of the Oka there has been a modest squat church of Cosmas and Damian, hidden in the willow thickets. This is the oldest stone building of ancient Murom.
Short story
Perhaps no temple in the city is shrouded in so many legends and traditions as this one. According to one version, the shrine was built on the place where in 1552 the royal tent was located, from which Ivan the Terrible watched the crossing of his troops across the Oka during the Kazan campaign.
A strong wind was blowing, and the tsar caught a cold, and upon his recovery he ordered to lay a church in the name of the holy brothers Cosmas and Damian - miracle healers who were martyred in Rome... The Murom squad, which took part in the assault on Kazan, turned the tide of the battle. The victory over Kazan was marked by the erection of several stone churches in Murom at once.
The legend says that five Murom governors who died in the battles for Kazan were buried under the Kosmodemyansk temple. According to another legend, Ivan the Terrible set up his tent here, considering a plan to take the Tatar stronghold. On the opposite bank of the Oka there was an enemy camp, which interfered with the crossing of the Russian troops. Not far from the sovereign's tent was the Kuznetsk Posad.
Two brothers-blacksmiths - Cosmas and Damian - offered their help to the king. Disguised in Tatar clothes, they made their way into the enemy camp and set fire to the khan's camp. Taking advantage of the commotion, the Russian detachment crossed the river and defeated the enemy army.
Cosmas and Damian died tragically, and a beautiful church was erected in their honor. There is also a version that on the site of the Kozmodemyansky temple in 1534 there was a wooden church in the name of Elijah the Prophet. In 1564, a new stone church was erected with funds donated by Murom merchants and townspeople.
Kozmodemyanskaya church - an example of Russian hipped roof architecture
The temple of Cosmas and Damian is devoid of architectural delights. The church is made up of an octagon and a ram, standing on a basement specially erected for it, which in the old days was used to bury the clergy. Each wall of the quadrangle is divided into three parts by narrow pilasters. The entrances are framed by portals in the form of arches tapering inward.
The four-sided cornice is surrounded by a curb ornament. The pride of the ancient temple was a sixteen-sided tent, which collapsed from dilapidation in 1868. For a long time, the dilapidated church was crowned with something like a flattened copper helmet, but, fortunately, in 2009 it was restored... A drum, decorated with an interlacing of keeled kokoshniks, was completed to the level of the cornice. And on top of the drum, a multifaceted ribbed tent was installed, crowned with an onion dome with a cross.
Kozmodemyanskaya church before restoration
Despite its modest size, art critics put the Church of Cosmas and Damian on a par with such famous architectural monuments as Church of the Ascension in the village of Kolomenskoye, St Basil's Church on Red Square in Moscow. This coincidence is by no means accidental: according to one version, the Kozmodemyanskaya church was built by the Pskov masters Barma and Postnik, who created the Moscow Basil the Blessed.
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