South of the river

Zamoskvorechye, which literally means 'beyond the Moscow river', is full of architectual gems. I walked down one of the main roads in my first year and thought how boring it was - I didn't realise that I had to zig zag along the side roads. Once again Phoebe Taplin provided us with a lovely walk. We didn't go into every church, and some buildings were closed, but as you will see we found one to two treasures.

We started near Novokuznetskaya station and immediately found the Church of Theodore and Michael who were martyrs who refused to give up Christianity in the time of the Mongols.

I found this interesting plaster work on a building as we walked past.

The neo classical Church of the Virgin, Consolation of Sorrows. It was originally built in the time of Catherine the Great, and the bell tower survives from that time. The rest was rebuilt after the great fire of 1812 by Osip Bove who designed the Bolshoi Theatre.

Along the walk I found these gates

and these mosaics.

We then continued on the Church of the Resurrection in Kadashi. This is slowly being restored and I want to go back as there is a workshop in the grounds.

Just down the road was this modern memorial to the poet Anna Akhmantova. I have no idea who she is but she associated with St Petersburg.

The wooden house of the playwright Alexander Ostrovsky - apparently he wrote plays which were performed at the Maly theatre.

We then found this gem of a convent right in the middle of this busy commercial and residential district, the Convent of Mary and Martha. It was founded by Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, sister-in-law to Tsar Nicholas II. It is essentially an Art Nouveau building and built to house a clinic,a small women's hospital and a school. Sadly Elizabeth was murdered during the revolution but this legacy is enchanting.

First view from the road of the Intercession church

Wall detail

An oasis of calm in a busy city

This might be the clinic; it is hidden in the corner of the garden

The Intercession Church

Inside is so beautiful. I don't usually take pictures inside churches as I don't want to disturb the worshipers, but another lady was already snapping and this is so beautiful I permitted myself a few.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth

This convent was the highlight of the walk. It was wonderful and I will go back. But we had not yet finished.

The church of St Nicholas of Pyzhi which was funded by the musketeer regiment of Colonal Pyzhov of the Imperial Army. It has been raided by Napolion and used as a science laboratory, but is once more a place of worship.

English pubs get everywhere

One way to get your windows cleaned!!

Church of St Gregory

The roof of the church has 'kokoshniki' gables, named after the medieval headresses, with the tent roofed bell tower.

Then onto the last church of St Nicholas which is on the corner of the Museon sculputure park which we visted in our first year.

We walked through the park, which we had not done for some time, and saw these gambons with carved heads.

We then walked into Gorky Park which is undergoing a major face lift. All the rides have gone and the place is being spruced up. Last weekend was sports weekend, which considering how windy it was, made playing badminton and volley ball interesting. We did see some tango dancing going on and the water fountains are back on again.

By now the wind was gale force and it was rather alarming walking across the bridge to get to church for choir. I left Peter at the metro and continue to church. By the Lenina Library I saw this 'decoration' for Victory Day which is on Wednesday.

And so back to school for three days and then half term. I'm not sure what we are doing as the weather forecast is not very good. I did get some gardening done at church this morning but managed to leave my camera at home so no pictures.