Church of St. John the Warrior, Orthodox church in Yakimanka District, Moscow, Russia
The Church of St. John the Warrior is a red brick building with white trim, its facade divided into tiers. The lower tier has round white columns and arched openings, above which runs a band of diamond-patterned tiles in green, yellow and red. A narrower tier with tall arched windows is topped by a green dome with the same diamond pattern, then a slender green and white lantern crowned by a small golden dome. A red and white fence with white piers runs in front.
Peter I ordered the church rebuilt on higher ground after examining flood damage to the old St. John's church (1625), financing it to commemorate the Battle of Poltava; tradition holds the plan followed the tsar's own drawing. Construction ran from 1704 to 1713, the refectory with the south chapel was finished in 1711, and the whole church was consecrated on 12 June 1717 by Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky of Ryazan. The north chapel was completed in 1759.
The church houses religious artworks and reliquaries rescued from other Moscow sanctuaries that were closed during the Soviet era. Visitors can see sacred objects here that might otherwise have been lost.
The church stands at 46 Bolshaya Yakimanka Street, set back from the roadway behind a wrought-iron fence on a brick base. The fence's east side was moved closer to the building in 1984 when the street was widened. The grounds are entered from Bolshaya Yakimanka; the nearest metro is Oktyabrskaya.
The main volume stacks two coaxial octagons, each capped by half a dome, instead of the single octagon usual in Moscow churches. The lower facade carries round white columns and arched openings beneath a band of green, yellow and red diamond tiles, repeated on the green dome. A red and white fence with white piers runs in front.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,261 contributors worldwide.
