The Church of Saint Simeon the Stylite

The Church of St. Simeon Stylites (Semeona Stolpnika) was built from large bricks, laid on a white-stoned basement in 1676-1679. The church is topped with five onion-shaped domes and decorated in Russian pattern (tracery) style “Uzorochye” that was established and became popular in the second half of seventeenth century. A secret wedding of count Sheremetyev and actress Zhemchugova took place in this church. Nikolay Gogol, the famous Russian writer of 19th century, was a parishioner here, as well.

The cathedral is located at the crossroad of Povarskaya Street and Novy Boulevard, ten minutes walk in the westward direction from Moscow Kremlin. When the new concrete high-rise apartment buildings on Kalininskiy Avenue (original name of New Arbat street) were constructed in 1960s, this small and lovely church became completely overshadowed by these towering buildings, as you can see on this picture.

Photo #003 taken on November 09, 2014