Church of Saint Sophia Holy Wisdom, Eastern Orthodox church in Meshchansky District, Moscow, Russia.
The Church of Saint Sophia Holy Wisdom stands at 15 Pushechnaya Street, built in stone by 1692 to replace a wooden church that burned in 1685. Its facades were renewed in the second half of the 18th century and the dome covering altered; a bell tower was added in 1816, and the refectory and side chapels rebuilt in 1842. The church has two side chapels: one dedicated to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and one to Saint Nicholas.
A wooden church on this site is first recorded in 1480; a replacement of 1650 burned in 1685. The stone church was built by 1692, with services held meanwhile in the St Nicholas chapel added in 1691. Facades and dome covering were reworked in the second half of the 18th century, a bell tower was added in 1816, and the refectory and chapels rebuilt in 1842. Closed in 1932, the bell tower's top was dismantled and the colonnade demolished; the building housed the Dynamo sportswear factory, passed to the KGB in 1990, and was consecrated by Patriarch Alexy II on 6 March 2001.
The church has two side chapels: the main altar is consecrated to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, and a chapel to Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. Services were held in the Saint Nicholas chapel, built in 1691, while the stone church was still going up. The parish belongs to the Sretensky deanery of the Moscow city eparchy; its rector is Archpriest Alexander Mironov.
The church stands at 15 Pushechnaya Street in the Meshchansky District, a short walk from Lubyanka and Kuznetsky Most metro stations. It is an active parish of the Sretensky deaneryery, so visits fit around services rather than fixed opening hours. The building is a federal cultural heritage site.
The church stands on Pushechnaya Street, named for the Cannon Yard (Pushechny Dvor) that once operated nearby, which also gave the church its epithet "u Pushechnogo dvora". Its side chapel was dedicated to St Nicholas in 1691, a year before the stone church was completed, and services were held there during construction.
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