Church of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God at Vspolye

The parish church of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God “at Vspolye” stands on Bolshaya Ordynka Street in Zamoskvorechye and belongs to the Moskvoretsky deanery. The central altar is dedicated to the Iveron image of the Most Holy Theotokos, while the two side chapels commemorate the great martyr George the Victorious and the martyr John the Warrior. The building is recognized as an architectural monument of the late 18th century; its authorship is traditionally attributed to the architect Ivan Yegotov. To the south of the site stands the early-19th-century Kireevsky-Karpova estate, and in the courtyard between the two properties a work by sculptor Ernst Neizvestny titled “Rebirth” was installed in 2000.

The first church on this site was dedicated to George the Victorious: a wooden church was erected here as early as 1628, and no later than 1673 a stone building was built at the expense of the merchant Ivan Potapov. The present structure was built in 1791–1802 with funds from the merchant Ivan Savin. At that time the venerated copy of the Iveron icon was transferred to the new church from the chapel by the Resurrection Gate, and the church acquired its present dedication. Throughout the 19th century the building was repeatedly renovated, but its architectural appearance did not fundamentally change.

Although Ivan Yegotov's authorship is not documented, the austere, simplified classical forms of the building make this attribution convincing. Typologically the church is a cylindrical volume under a hemispherical dome — a solution characteristic of Moscow classicism of the late 18th century. The wide refectory unites three interior spaces: a square central one and two oval side ones housing the chapels of St. George and John the Warrior. The bell tower was placed directly above the entrance portal, which noticeably narrowed the central part of the refectory.

In 1930 the Soviet authorities closed the church. The premises were successively occupied by a factory club of a railcar-repair enterprise and later a venue for contemporary art exhibitions. The space under the dome was partitioned by internal floors into three levels, the bell tower was completely demolished, and the columns of the entrance portico lost their Ionic capitals and bases. The building ceased to resemble a church and for decades served utilitarian and cultural purposes far removed from its original function.

The church was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church on 12 July 1994, after which restoration work began. The bell tower was rebuilt following the model of the lost original, the interior of the refectory and chapels was recreated, and the dome regained its original appearance without the Soviet-era floors. Today the parish maintains a full liturgical life, and the church, together with the neighboring Kireevsky-Karpova estate, forms an architectural ensemble on one of the most church-filled streets of Zamoskvorechye.

Bolshaya Ordynka is renowned for its abundance of surviving parish churches, and the Church of the Iveron Icon is a characteristic example of Moscow classicism on this street. Despite the losses of the Soviet period, the building has retained the recognizable silhouette of a domed rotunda and remains a spiritual and architectural landmark of the district.