Saint Basil Church, Eastern Orthodox wooden church in Kholmogorsky District, Russia.
Saint Basil Church is a wooden Eastern Orthodox church with traditional Russian features in Kholmogorsky District. The structure displays vertical lines and tiered levels that create the typical profile of a northern Russian wooden church.
The church was built in 1824 when wooden religious architecture was common throughout northern Russian regions. It represents the building traditions of that era in the Arkhangelsk area.
The church was the warm church of the Chukhchenem-Ilyinsky troynik, a trio of wooden buildings that also included the nine-domed Ilyinsky Church (1657) and a bell tower (1783). In the late 19th century this parish served nine villages with about 1,000 people. Since 1824 it has been dedicated to Basil the Blessed, the Moscow holy fool.
The church collapsed on 31 July 2023, so there is no interior to visit; the site lies in the former village of Chukhcherma, now the village of Tarasovo, in Kholmogorsky District. The free-standing bell tower of 1783, part of the same triple ensemble, still stands beside it. Access is by road from Arkhangelsk or Kholmogory; the ground is uneven after the collapse.
Architect I. A. Bartenev dated the church to the 18th century, not 1824, because of its pointed gable roof and the large five-sided barrel over the altar annex. The building may have reproduced the burnt St George's Church "in likeness". It collapsed on 31 July 2023.
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