Name This Church Ruin Please!!

Sent by Anna from Russia. Can someone tell me what is the name of this church ruin? I can't read what's written (in Russian) at the back of the postcards. Please click the photo below :)

Name This Church Please?

Sent by Lyubov, a postcrosser from North of Russia.

I don't know what's the name of this church. Any Russian can help me?

Russian Winter

A beautiful Russian winter postcard sent by Lyudmila, a postcrosser from Zhigulyovsk in Samara region, Russia.

Russia - Church of the Ascension, Kolomenskoye

Sent by Marinella from Russia. It shows the Church of Ascension in Kolomenskoye, a former royal estate situated several miles to the south-east of Moscow city-centre, on the ancient road leading to the town of Kolomna (hence the name).

The Church of the Ascension is of great town-planning importance. It dominates the surrounding architectural and natural structures and unites all the elements of the estate. It is also a unique architectural and artistic monument as one of the earliest tent-roofed churches in Russia and as such the progenitor of subsequent architecture.

The church was built in 1532 by Prince Vasili III to commemorate the birth of the prince who was to become Tsar Ivan IV 'the Terrible'. It was consecrated with great pomp on 3 September 1532 by the Metropolitan Dionissi, the Bishops of Kolomenskoye and Zaraisk, and the whole of the synod in the presence of Grand Prince Vasili, Grand Princess Yelena, Tsarevich Ioann and the brothers of the tsar.

The church is situated in the Kolomenskoye estate, first recorded in 1339, when it belonged to Ivan KaIita, Grand Prince of Moscow. By the 16th century it had become a fortified stronghold. The palace complex was added later, in the 17th century, and it continued in use as an imperial residence and estate until the 1917 Revolution.

The ground plan of the church is in the form of a Greek equal-armed cross, with raskrepovkas (small protrusions) in the facade on either side. It is unusual in that it has no apse. It is constructed on a high basement podklet , the second gallery of which is an open gallery surrounding the staircase.

Three wide stairways with porches lead to the gallery from the north, west, and south; they are covered with vaulted roofs. There are small chambers under the north and south porches, two of which have fluted columns of brick and white limestone. Under the west porch there is the entrance to the main room of the basement; the semi-circular portal preserves the original white limestone decor of half-columns on fluted bases. The massive vertical pillar rising from the basement is in three sections. The lower part is a cube (chetvik ) with several protruding entrances (pritvors ); it serves as the base of an octagon (vosmerik ) with wails that carry smoothly up to the octagonal tent roof, which is crowned by a cupola on a drum. The principal element of the facades - the pointed pediments above the arches of the basement, the strong comer lopatki (flat vertical protrusions on the walls) with decorative arrows between the carved network of faceted beads over the tent roof - were intended to lead the eye upwards to the cupola and its cross.

The interior of the church is small, as the walls are 3-4 m thick, but it is open to the top of the roof, 41 m above. The comers are decorated with pilasters which repeat, with some variations, the decoration of the exterior. Eight arches spring from the pilasters, and the octagonal drum that they support make a smooth transition to the soft outline of the tent.

The sloping of the tent is achieved through corbelling of the courses of brick. The tent is 20 m high; this is the first use of the traditional wooden tented roof for a stone structure. With its overall height of 62 m and the very thick walls, the whole structure retains the elegance of its silhouette and the dynamics of its composition.

The original iconostasis has not survived. It was replaced at the beginning of the 19th century by that from the Monastery of the Ascension of the Moscow Kremlin. The 16th-century 'Tsar's Gates', all that survives of the original iconostasis, are now in the Kolomenskoye Museum.

The so-called Italian (Alevisovsky) small brick, introduced by Italian architects at the end of the 15th century, was used for building the church. Carved details are in white limestone from the Moscow suburb of Myachkovo. (Source)

... and thanks for the beautiful stamps.

The Cruiser Aurora

This beautiful piece of postcard was sent by Masha, who lives in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. It shows The Cruiser Aurora in Saint-Petersburg.

This is from Wikipedia : The Aurora (Russian: Авро́ра; English transliteration: Avrora) is a Russian protected cruiser, currently preserved as a museum ship in St. Petersburg. She battled the Japanese Navy in the Russo-Japanese War. One of the first incidents of the Communist Revolution in Russia happened on the Aurora.

... thanks to Masha for the beautiful stamps.

The Mother of God of Vladimir

Sent by lady-yy from Russia. It shows the work of art called Mother of God of Vladimir (early 12th century) now at The State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

This is from Wikipedia : The Theotokos of Vladimir (Greek: Θεοτόκος του Βλαντιμίρ), also known as Our Lady of Vladimir or Virgin of Vladimir (Russian: Владимирская Богоматерь) and "The Vladimir Madonna" - is one of the most venerated Orthodox icons and a typical example of Byzantine iconography. The Theotokos (Greek word for Virgin Mary, literally meaning "God-bearer or Mother of God") is regarded as the holy protectress of Russia. The icon is displayed in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. Her feast day is June 3. Even more than most famous icons, the original has been copied repeatedly for centuries. Many copies now have considerable artistic and religious significance of their own. The icon is a version of the Eleusa (tenderness) type, with the Christ child snuggling up to his mother's cheek.

About 1131 the Greek Patriarch Luke Chrysoberges of Constantinople sent the icon as a gift to Grand Duke Yury Dolgoruky of Kiev. The image was kept in the Mezhyhirskyi Monastery until Dolgoruky's son Andrey Bogolyubskiy brought it to his favourite city, Vladimir, in 1155. Tradition tells that the horses transporting the icon stopped near Vladimir and refused to go further. People interpreted this as a sign that the Theotokos wanted her icon to stay in Vladimir. To house the icon, the great Assumption Cathedral was built there, followed by other churches dedicated to the Virgin throughout Ukraine.

In 1395, during Tamerlane's invasion, the image was taken from Vladimir to the new capital of Moscow. The spot where people and the ruling prince met the icon is commemorated by the Sretensky Monastery. Vasili I of Moscow spent a night crying over the icon, and Tamerlane's armies retreated the same day. The Muscovites refused to return the icon to Vladimir and placed it in the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Moscow Kremlin. The intercession of the Theotokos through the image was credited also with saving Moscow from Tatar hordes in 1451 and 1480.

The icon of the Theotokos of Vladimir is sometimes described as expressing universal feelings of motherly love and anxiety for her child. By the 16th century, the Vladimirskaya (as the Russians call it) was a thing of legend. Church tradition asserted that the icon was painted by St Luke, though analysis of the image has disproved the legend. The venerated image was used in celebration of coronations of tsars, elections of patriarchs, and other important ceremonies of state. In December 1941, as the Germans approached Moscow, Stalin allegedly ordered that the icon be placed in an airplane and flown around the besieged capital. Several days later, the German army started to retreat.

As a work of art, the Theotokos is widely regarded as the most important icon produced during the Comnenian period. Scholars believe that it expresses deeper humanity and emotionality than that typical of previous Byzantine art. As David Talbot Rice asserts in the latest edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, "it is of considerable importance in the history of painting, for it not only is a work of outstandingly high quality but also is in a new, more human style, anticipating the late Byzantine style that flourished between 1204 and 1453."

Palace Square. The Alexander Column (RU-107990)

Sent by Lidiya, a postcrosser from Russia. Thanks for the beautiful stamps. It shows the Alexander Column, the focal point of the Palace Square.