Church of Saint Maron in Old Pani, Orthodox church in Yakimanka District, Moscow, Russia.
The Church of Saint Maron on Bolshaya Yakimanka Street is an Orthodox house of worship with white walls and classical architectural features. The building displays the typical design principles of Russian Orthodox church construction with its characteristic elements.
The church was first mentioned in 1642, under Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich and Patriarch Joseph, as the Church of the Annunciation "in Babiy Gorodok". On 12 June 1730, Empress Anna Ioannovna ordered a warm stone church with a Maron side chapel; the two-altar stone church with a bell tower was built between 1731 and 1747. It was badly damaged and desecrated during the 1812 Patriotic War, restored with funds from the Lepyoshkin merchant family in 1831, and fully consecrated by Metropolitan Philaret on 29 October 1844.
The main altar is dedicated to Saint Maron, a fourth-century hermit from Syria, while the church is also known as the Annunciation Church in Old Pani. In 1885 Moscow's first parish school opened here. The bell set was among the city's finest, and the bell-ringer Konstantin Saradzhev played on it, drawing Moscow musicians to listen.
The church stands in the Yakimanka district on Bolshaya Yakimanka Street, in the old Babiy Gorodok area. The 1731-1747 building was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1992 and restoration has continued since 1993 under rector Alexander Marchenkov. Visitors enter a working parish church, so access follows services.
In 2001 the church won a Moscow competition for the best results in restoring and reconstructing architectural monuments, after work begun in 1993 under its rector, Father Alexander Marchenkov. Before that, the building had been divided into four floors and housed car-repair workshops.
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