Kolomenskoye

Kolomenskoye is opened air Museum, Former Country Residence of Russian Tzars.
The history of Kolomenskoye is intertwined with the history of the Russian monarchy, It was a home for Peter the Great during his early years. It was the scene of festivities marking the coronations of Catherine I, Peter II and Empresses Anna and Elizabeth. Peter II often hunted in the woods nearby, and in the late 18th century Catherine the Great used to come here with her grandchildren, including the future Emperor Alexander I.

The first document to mention the village of Kolomenskoye is the will chart of Moscow’s Grand Duke Ivan Kalita from 1339. But its history dates from around 1240 when the inhabitants of Kolomna, seeking refuge from the Tatar-Mongol invaders led by Batu Khan, a grandson of Jenghiz Khan, founded a settlement here.

From the 14th century on, Kolomenskoye was the family estate of the Grand Dukes of Muscovy and later the Tsars of Russia.

The luxurious chambers of Vasily III (1479-1533, Grand Duke of Moscow 1505-33) burned down during a raid by Khan Mukhammed Girei I of Crimea.

In 1532 Vasily III built the church of the Ascension in the village of Kolomenskoye, to commemorate the birth of his son Ivan IV.

It was the first known stone church in the Russian kokoshnik, or tent style. Some researchers think that foreigners participated in its construction, in particular the Italian Petrok Maliy (“Little Peter”), who was later to gain fame for, among other things, erecting the Kitaigorod wall.

Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-1584) lived here as a child, and later with his first wife Anastasia.

In 1606, during the so-called Time of Troubles, the troops of Ivan Bolotnikov, leader of the first Russian peasant uprising, pitched camp here when they laid siege to the capital for five weeks.

Unfortunately, the wooden palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a unique masterpiece of Russian architecture built in 1667-1668 by carpenter foreman Semen Petrov and serf carpenter Ivan Mikhailov, has not survived. This beautiful palace, considered by its Russian contemporaries to be the “Eight wonder of the world”, consisted of a large number of buildings interconnected by passageways. The entire ensemble must had been very impressive with all its towers, cupolas, Kokoshniks, ogee-shaped roofs, spires, globes, gilded double headed eagles etc. Today the visitors to the museum can form an idea of what the palace looked like from the model skilfully executed by the woodcarver D. Smirnov in 1867.

The young Peter I the Great was taken to Kolomenskoye during the Streltsy riot of 1682. Later, as tsar, he returned several times. Partly because of changes in taste, and because the capital had been moved from Moscow to Saint Petersburg, the palace was neglected and the old wooden structure became unsafe for living. In 1769 Catherine II ordered it to be taken down.

Nowadays Kolomenskoye Museum-Preserve is one of the most picturesque and popular places in Moscow. In autumn, 2002 the government approved the program of the museum development. On the territory of Kolomenskoye it is planned to create the Ethnographic complex. The city government is responsible for restoration of some Kolomenskoye architectural monuments, including the Ascension Church, Our Lady of Kazan Church, the railing of Gosudarev Yard, Sytni yard, water tower, and St. George temple with belfry.