Church of the Savior in Abramtsevo

The Church of the Savior in the Abramtsevo estate has more cultural than religious value. The church is small; however, all the elements of its decor are made by great Russian artists and sculptors. For many years they worked on its decoration. 

The Church of the Savior was built in 1882-1883. The sketch of the project was prepared by Vasily Polenov, and later it was supplemented by Viktor Vasnetsov. Initially, the Church of the Savior on Nereditsa in Veliky Novgorod was taken as a model, but Vasnetsov changed the proportions, making the temple brighter. The architect Pavel Samarin was engaged in the construction of the church.  

Many artists of the Abramtsevo’s society were engaged in decorating the interior decor of the Church of the Savior. The most active participants in the painting were Viktor Vasnetsov, Vasily Polenov, Mikhail Vrubel, Ilya Repin, sculptor Mark Antakolsky, as well as their assistants. After the construction was completed, the church was consecrated, and Vasily Polenov immediately got married there with his assistant Natalia Yakunchikova. 

The carved iconostasis is of great artistic value. His sketch was prepared by Polenov, and it was made by all the artists and their assistants who worked on the construction of the church. The deesis icon "Annunciation" is placed on the altar gate. This icon can be called one of the best works of Vasily Polenov. To the right of the altar gate is the Icon of the Savior, which Ilya Repin painted from a living person. He followed the canons of Orthodox iconography, nevertheless the icon is similar to a painting.

Viktor Vasnetsov also painted several icons for the Church of the Savior: an icon of the Virgin Mary, an icon of St. Sergius and several small icons in the altar. He also painted the choir stalls of the altar and other surfaces of the church with floral ornaments. The beautiful mosaic floor of the church in the Byzantine style was also assembled by Vasnetsov.  

The windows of the church are decorated with floral ornaments, atypical for Russian churches. They are made in a blue-yellow style, with multicolored flowers. In 1892, a stove was installed in the church, which Vrubel decorated with blue majolica. Above the entrance to the church there is an image of Jesus Christ, also made using the majolica technique, but it was made by Vasily Polenov. 

In 1891, a small chapel was added to the Church, which became the necropolis of the Mamontov family. In 1891, Andrey, the son of Savva Mamontov, was buried here, in 1907 – daughter Vera, in 1908 – daughter Elizabeth, in 1913 – Sergey, the son of Vera. In 1918, Savva Mamontov himself died. He is also buried in the family necropolis of the Church of the Savior in Abramtsevo.   

For the Russian culture, the artistic value of the Church of the Savior in Abramtsevo is in the fact that many great Russian artists worked there and the entire interior has been preserved to this day in its original form. To some extent, the church can be compared with the papal apartments in the Vatican. The walls some of them were painted by great Italian artists, for example, the Borgia Apartments painted by Pinturicchio or the Apartments of Julius II painted by Raphael Santi.