In 2002, the painting of the Nativity Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery, created by the great Russian icon painter Dionysius, his sons and masters who were part of his artel, turned 500 years old.

Traditionally, 1398 is taken as the date of the foundation of the Ferapontov Monastery. At this time, on a hill between two lakes, Borodaevsky and Pasky, an associate Saint Cyril Belozersky Ferapont.

01. Gate churches of the Epiphany and St. Ferapont. 1650.

In the second half of the 15th - early 16th centuries, the Ferapontov Monastery became a significant spiritual, cultural and ideological center of Belozero, one of the famous Trans-Volga monasteries, whose elders had a serious influence on the politics of Moscow.

In the center is a three-tier, hipped bell tower (1680) of a very rare type with a square bell plan and a tetrahedral tent. There are 17 bells hanging on the ringing tier. The tent contains a unique mechanism of the earliest combat clock surviving in Russia in 1638.

On the right is the church of St. Martinian. The porch was added in the middle of the 19th century. 1641
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In the XVI century. in the monastery, the monumental Church of the Annunciation with a refectory, a state chamber, service buildings - a stone dryer, a guest chamber, and a cookery were built. After recovering from the Lithuanian ruin, in the middle of the XVII century. the monastery erects gate churches on the Holy Gates, the Martinian Church, the bell tower.

Church of the Annunciation (right) with refectory. 1530 - 1531 years.

According to historians, the church with a refectory was built on the contribution of Grand Duke Vasily III to commemorate the birth of the heir to the future Tsar Ivan IV, prayed in the Kirillov and Ferapontov monasteries.

In 1798, the Ferapont Monastery was abolished by a decree of the Synod.

In the 19th century, during the parish period, the narrowed monastery territory was surrounded by a stone fence. During the construction of the fence, bricks of ancient buildings were used.

In 1904 the monastery was reopened as a convent and closed again in 1924.

05. Refectory, behind it is the Church of the Annunciation.

Currently, the monuments of the Ferapontov Monastery house the Dionysius Frescoes Museum, which has the status of a historical, architectural and art museum-reserve. The museum, which arose at the beginning of the 20th century, during the 1930s-1960s carried out the protection of monuments with the help of only one watchman.
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And now to the museum itself.

07. Frescoes, including over the relics of Martinian Belozersky. Reverend Martinian Belozersky - hegumen of the monastery. He contributed to the flowering of his spirituality, introduced rewriting, collecting books.


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10. In the church of St. Martinian. The hipped church dates from 1641.

11. In the church since 1838 there is a two-tiered iconostasis made by the Vologda tradesman Nikolai Milavin. The carved royal doors did not retain the figures of the Archangel Gabriel and Mary from the Annunciation scene. The inscription "The Immortal Meal" speaks of the sacrament of turning bread and wine into the Holy Gifts - the Flesh and Blood of Christ.

12. There is an entrance in the bell tower, we pass into it and go up to the second floor. To the right is the Church of the Annunciation with frescoes by Dionysius, but first we will go along the left corridor to the end, here is the exposition of the museum of monastic life.

The interior of the Refectory with a central massive pillar and sail-shaped vaults resting on it is completely preserved from the middle of the 16th century.

13. Vestment (XV c.), cancer (XVI, XV I I c.), phelonion (XV c.) of St. Martinian

14. Reconstruction of the monastic cell according to the charter of Cyril Bezozersky
“In the cell, no one was allowed to have anything except the most necessary things, it was not allowed to call anything his own, but, according to the word of the apostle, everything was common ... Even a piece of bread was not allowed to be in the cell, nor any drink. If someone wanted to drink, he went to the refectory and there, with a blessing, quenched his thirst. If anyone happened to enter the cell of a brother, he saw nothing else in it than icons, books and a vessel with water to wash his hands. Thus, they remained free from all attachments, having one concern - to please God, to preserve humility and love for each other, and to work for the sake of common needs ...
And everyone lazily, but according to his strength, labored; not as for people, but for God.”

Pachomius Logothete. Life of Kirill Belozersky.

15. In the far corner is a sample of a fraternal refectory.


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17. In the refectory, each novice sat in accordance with the rank of seniority in his place with meekness and silence, and no one was heard, only the reader. They were supposed to have three meals, except for fasting days, on which the monks either refused to eat at all, or lived on bread and water.

18. Workplace of the Abbot.
At this table, letters and decrees sent to the monastery were read, decisions made by the abbot and the cathedral elders were announced.

19. Solemn attire of priests.


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21. Place of the old builder.

At the southern edge there was a place of an old builder. The scope of his duties is not entirely clear. Among the cathedral elders, he occupied the first place. Apparently, his main duty was the spiritual nourishment of the brethren. In the last period of his life, Martinian was an old builder.

22. The restorers did a great job to preserve the legacy of their predecessors for posterity.
Tools used by restorers.

In the main temple of the former Ferapontov Monastery, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, there are murals created in 1502 by the famous Moscow artist Dionysius and preserved without renovation to this day.
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24. Miraculously preserved, Dionisy's wall painting was unknown until 1898.

The icon painter Dionysius, known for his icons and murals in Moscow and in the monasteries of the Moscow Principality, was invited with his artel to paint the first stone cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery.

Inside, the cathedral is divided into three naves by four square pillars, on which elevated girth arches under the drum rest. Murals, numbering almost 300 subjects and individual characters.
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27. Christ the Pantocrator is represented in the dome of the cathedral, under it are archangels and forefathers, evangelists in sails, saints in medallions on girth arches,

28. Fresco in the drum - Christ the Almighty.

29. In the churches above the gates, all elements of architecture have been completely preserved.


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32. Another remarkable collection of the Museum was formed from objects of peasant and urban economy and everyday life, and from the very beginning the Museum staff collected things originating from the Kirillovsky district, or rather, from the near and far neighborhoods of Ferapontov.

33. Residents of many villages willingly donated to the Museum the objects of the 19th and 20th centuries that they had preserved: icons, books, pottery, crochets, tackle for crochets, grindstones and millstones, scales and steelyards, glass and wooden utensils, spinning wheels and rolling pins, chests and boxes , vintage fabrics, everyday and festive clothes, old letters, photographs and documents and many other obsolete items.

34. This is how the ethnographic collection in the Museum was formed, giving a good idea of ​​the peasant culture of the Belozersk region. Dozens of villages around Ferapontovo have existed since the 15th and 16th centuries, and one must think that the peasant life of those ancient times was not much different from the life of the 19th or early 20th centuries, so the ethnographic collection of the Museum also has historical significance.

35. Ruffled, carded, spinning wheels and looms were covered with sacred (mainly solar) patterns, and the fabric woven on them had a light power that protected the human body from hostile influences.

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In a low light room, a light burns.
A young spinner is sitting by the window.
Young, beautiful, brown eyes,
A blond braid is developed along the shoulders.
(Russian folk song)

The spinning wheel accompanied the girl from birth to marriage. Spinning was usually done by girls. By the time they reached adulthood, they fully mastered this skill and became skilled spinners, which, according to popular belief, predicted happy love and marriage.

In the museum of the Ferapont Monastery there is a pagan Slavic Siver idol - a symbol of fertility and worship of the god Rod or Yarila. It dates from the 4th-9th centuries, the height is about 1 meter. Found in the village of Siverovo, Sukhoverkhovsky Village Council, Kirillovsky District.
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At the exhibition, you can see three types of krosna: root, whose hind legs and ponies were made from a single piece of wood, composite, assembled from separate parts, and mixed, that is, machines in which the root part of the tree was used for ponies, but it was not associated with back legs. The main decoration of the krosen were stuffings and eyelids covered with carvings. There are now more than 20 crosses in the museum's collection. On such machines, you can weave any patterned fabrics, the only limitation in this case will be only the width of the resulting fabric.

44. In the Vologda dialect: " Harness the cross" - prepare a hand loom for work.

Wonder marvelous in the Russian wilderness!

And heavenly-earthly Dionysius,
From neighboring lands,
This marvelous marvel exalted
To hell, hitherto unprecedented ...

Address: 161120, Vologda region, Kirillovsky district, s. Ferapontovo.

Arriving in Kirillov, Vologda region, do not miss the chance to see unique frescoes Dionysius, which are almost completely preserved in the Feropont Monastery. I prefer to visit famous monasteries with a guide, so the day before we agreed with a local private guide, who agreed to show several interesting sights, and, of course, the monastery.

In the morning we met with the guide Lidia in the center of Kirillov and went by our car to travel around Kirillov. It takes no more than half an hour to drive from the city to the monastery, during which we listened to the history of the monastery, got acquainted with the exhibits of the museum in absentia from a book, because outside guides cannot conduct excursions on the territory of the Ferapontov Monastery. Of course, we could take a guide on the spot, but then we would not get a full-fledged program.

Around the monastery you can admire Russian nature, I can imagine what a breathtaking picture it is here in the summer.

It is worth saying that visiting the Feropontov Monastery is not a cheap pleasure. Taking into account that we did not take an excursion from the monastery guides, we paid for the entrance to the museum, watching the film and the right to look at the frescoes for about 800 rubles per person. Of the visitors, we were alone, at the checkout our guide tried to hint very transparently that we should not take money in full, but rules are rules. I was struck by the fact that we had to check with the caretakers how long we can watch the frescoes. Usually they allow no more than 10 minutes (and this is for such a lot of money), but we were lucky - they did not limit the time.

Frescoes of Dionysius

At the end of the 15th century, a stone Cathedral of the Nativity was erected on the territory of the monastery. Holy Mother of God, which, by the way, is seven years earlier than in the neighboring Belozersky monastery, which was much richer.

The cathedral was painted by Dionysius, a well-known Russian icon painter. For example, his hand touched the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The master's style is easily recognizable thanks to bright colors, elongated, light figures, and smooth lines. Dionysius is one of the most famous temple artists in Rus', along with Theophanes the Greek and Andrei Rublev. Thanks to the work of the master and the wonderful preservation of art, the monastery is included in the World Heritage List under the protection of UNESCO.

The murals occupy an area of ​​more than 700 square meters. meters, and this is almost the entire inner surface of the cathedral. Only separate parts of the murals were not preserved, which suffered during the reconstruction of the iconostasis. In general, the frescoes made the Ferapontov Monastery famous throughout the world, as it is the only one where the original frescoes of the early 16th century have been fully preserved.

Before entering, you will be given a map of the frescoes, with the help of which the painting can be “read” even by a person who is not very well prepared.

You can read about paints and painting technology before entering.

In addition to the painting of the temple in the Feropont Monastery, you can watch an introductory film about the frescoes and visit the museum, which contains a number of curious exhibits.

Museum of the Ferapontov Monastery

First we went to the museum, which is a large hall.

For example, here you can see the reconstruction of the cell of a monk according to the charter of Cyril Belozersky, in which there is not even a bed.

In the cell, no one was allowed to have anything except the most necessary things, it was not allowed to call anything one's own, but everything was shared. Even a piece of bread was not allowed to be kept in the cell, just as there should not have been drinks. If a monk wanted to eat or drink, he would go to the refectory, where, with a blessing, he could quench his hunger and thirst.

In the far corner is a sample of the fraternal refectory.

In the refectory, each novice sat in accordance with the rank of seniority in his place with meekness and silence, and no one was heard, only the reader. They were supposed to have three meals, except for fasting days, on which the monks either refused to eat at all, or lived on bread and water.

Behind the display windows you can find a copy of the Cathedral Code of 1649.

Here you can see the icon of Patriarch Nikon, who was in these parts during the period of exile.

This is, presumably, a piece of tiles from Nikon's cell.

Of course, the exposition demonstrates the solemn attire of the priests.

And here are the jobs of Igumeni.

About the founding of the monastery

Ferapontov Monastery was founded in 1398. The monastery is named after the founder of Ferapont, who, before staying here, was a novice in the Simonov Moscow Monastery, and then even became one of the founders of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. To find greater solitude, Ferapont went further and settled on a small hill near Borodava Lake.

Here Thepapont built for himself a small wooden cell and lived in solitude with his labors and prayers. But one day the robbers came to him and demanded to give them the treasures or leave this place (surprisingly, how similar it is to an ordinary racket). True, the Monk Ferapont was not afraid of them and shamed them, so much so that the robbers left and no longer disturbed the elder.

People began to come to Ferapont and ask permission to settle nearby. So there was a small settlement, about ten people. But St. Ferapont refused to become hegumen, and the newly minted monastery was headed by another man, whose name history has not preserved. But Ferapont appointed himself the blackest work, as he called himself a "great sinner." He carried water, chopped wood, cleaned stoves. By the way, this is how Sergius of Radonezh lived, who was the mentor of St. Ferapont.

Ten years later, a church was erected here, which was consecrated in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. It seems that everything turned out the way Elder Ferapont wanted: he lived in silence and repentance, prayed, worked, but soon he had to leave the monastery. The prince of Mozhaisk wanted to establish a similar monastery nearby and asked the Monk Ferapont to help him in this. The reverend elder did not want to start all over again, but humility is a virtue that Christians should possess, so Ferapont humbled himself. But at that time he was already seventy years old. It is worth noting that the reverend elder stayed in the Luzhetsky Mozhaisk monastery for another twenty years, there is a church of the Nativity of the Virgin, as well as in Feropontovo, where the elder is buried. Despite the fact that Ferpont spent the last twenty years elsewhere, he is remembered and revered as the Belozersky elder. Around the monastery dear to his heart on Lake Borodava, a village was formed, which to this day is called Ferapontovo, part of Lake Ferapontovsky, and the monastery, which grew up on the site of the first cells, was named Ferapontov.

It is interesting that the Ferapontovsky Monastery always remained in the shadows, as if in the background, but at the same time the monastery had a very great spiritual influence. Here there were kings, princes, famous people, and everyone found here peace and answers to disturbing questions.

After the Monk Ferapont left the monastery, Prince Mozhaisky sent the promised help here, but there was no confessor who would properly dispose of the funds received. Years passed, abbots changed, but the Ferapontov Monastery remained the same as during the life of its founder. But then the Monk Martinian came to the monastery, a disciple of Kirill Belozersky rector of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery. Reverend Martinian came to this Holy place a simple pilgrim, but his brothers persuaded him to stay here and become rector of the Ferapontov Monastery.

In the 15th century, bloody events took place, which, although they occurred in Moscow five hundred kilometers away, were reflected in the Ferapont Monastery. In Moscow, there was a struggle for the throne of the Grand Duke and the then Prince Vasily II was overthrown by Dmitry Shemyak. They took an oath from him on the cross that he would not oppose the new prince, and singled him out. Vasily, who was nicknamed the Dark One because he was blind, came to bow and pray at the Ferapontov Monastery. Here the Monk Martinian freed Basil from this oath and even blessed him to oppose the invader, who illegally sat on the throne of the Grand Duke. The support of the church at that time had great importance, therefore, many supporters joined Vasily the Dark, which sealed the fate of Shemyaka, he had to flee urgently.

Grand Duke Vasily summoned the Monk Martinian to the capital and asked him to take the abbotship at the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. And despite the fact that Martinian did not want to leave Ferapontovo, he, like his predecessor Ferapont, had to take the position of hegumen in another monastery.

After some time, the Monk Martinian returned to the beloved monastery in Ferapontovo and began to arrange it. And for the next twenty he arranged everything here so diligently that everyone marveled. Here he rested in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Church of the Annunciation was erected with a refectory, which was built in honor of the birth of Tsarevich John, who went down in history as Ivan the Terrible. Approximately at the same time, the Treasury Chamber was built - a unique civil building on the territory of the monastery. Rooms for books, barns were equipped here, a hiding place for the monastery treasury was equipped.

In the Ferapontov Monastery you can see a lot of interesting and unique things, but before you enter the walls of the holy monastery, you will pass through the Holy Gates. It is worth noting that the stone walls, arches, gate churches of Ferapont and Epiphany and even windows have not changed since the day of construction. The floor in the churches is covered with small tiles, the vaults are supported by oak beams, which have already darkened with time, black altar altars.

The fate of the Ferapontov Monastery, similar to many other monasteries that survived Soviet times, was closed. But, fortunately, it did not suffer the fate of being a state farm, the Ferapontov Monastery was transferred to the museum and today it is under the protection of UNESCO. But prayers are still heard here - Nikon's temple has been given to the brethren for worship.

When you arrive Kirillov, you will understand the connection between several holy places located around: Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery , Nillo-Sor desert , Feropontov Monastery and the Goritsky convent, to which we headed further (read about it).

Address: Vologda region, Kirillovsky district, Ferapontovo village, st. Kargopolskaya, 8.

Museum opening hours:

In one of the remote areas of the Vologda region, near the city of Kirillov, there is an ancient monastery founded in the 14th century by the Moscow monk Ferapont. More than 600 years ago it arose from small chopped cells. Over time, the surrounding lands began to retreat to the monastery. Money flowed into the monastic treasury, for which new lands and villages were acquired, and craftsmen were also invited to build stone fortress walls, temples and other buildings. Many books were also purchased: the Ferapontov Monastery started a huge library, books copied by order were sent from here throughout Rus'.

At the very beginning of the 16th century, an artel of painters appeared within the walls of the Ferapontov Monastery, who painted the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. For more than four hundred years, the stone walls have patiently kept the colors of the frescoes, the inscriptions and the memory of the masters who created them. One of them is Dionysius, whose name was read by scientists at the beginning of the 20th century. According to its geographical location, the cathedral was a travel temple. At a time when, with the fall of Constantinople, a new trade route was being established to the Russian state, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in the Ferapont Monastery just happened to be on this great route, which passed through the White Sea along the Onega and Sheksna. It was the first stone cathedral on this path and was quite suitable for fresco painting. Kargopol, located on the same Onega, was still a completely logged city, and there were no stone churches in the Solovetsky Monastery yet. All the work assigned to them by the artel of masters and apprentices (carpenters, plasterers, gesso, etc.) was completed in a little over two years.

Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin

The iconography of the frescoes of the Ferapontov Cathedral has no precedent in the wall painting of Russian churches in many respects. Never before, for example, was there an image of John the Baptist on the altar, there were no images of Ecumenical Councils, and much more. Some researchers (in particular, G. Chugunov) believe that the akathist to the Mother of God also first appeared in Ferapontovo. In Greek and South Slavic churches, the whole life of Mary was usually depicted, starting from the “Nativity of the Virgin” and ending with her “Assumption”. The Akathist to the Mother of God, if included in the painting, usually occupied an insignificant place somewhere in the side chapels of churches. Dionysius, on the other hand, creates a painting glorifying Mary, a painting similar to the hymns that were composed in her honor. Of course, Dionysius did not arbitrarily introduce into the frescoes many subjects that had not been depicted before him. To take such a bold step, he had to see the previous paintings, and not just hear about them, and he could see them only on Athos. But the solution of many gospel stories by Dionysius also differs from those of Athos. There were no strict canons then, and Dionysius could take advantage of this circumstance. For example, he independently tried to comprehend some provisions of Christianity, in particular, about the life of the Mother of God. What was the main goal for previous painters, became secondary for Dionysius. The main task for him is the akathist to the Mother of God, her glorification, therefore the entire large cycle of murals of the Nativity Church is presented as a single hymn: "Rejoice!".

The frescoes created by Dionysius should be considered as an integral part of the architecture of the Nativity Cathedral itself. Its entire interior space - from the dome to the base - is filled with radiant paintings. Dionysius willingly surrenders to the vivid impressions of life, he can revel in the colorful patterns of precious brocade, the bright colors of overseas silks, the radiance of gemstones.

"Marriage in Cana of Galilee," for example, appears to him as a joyful feast. Cathedrals and towers, which frame numerous scenes of painting, remind the viewer of the architectural monuments of Moscow and Vladimir. The rhythmic construction of the scenes, the movement of the figures speak of the artist's observation and brilliant skill, and Dionysius always translates life impressions into the realm of beautiful and sublime poetry. Even the most ordinary characters - servants filling vessels with wine, or blind beggars eating miserable alms - acquire special nobility and dignity in frescoes.

Marriage at Cana of Galilee

In the center of the cathedral, in the dome, Christ the Almighty is depicted.

According to many researchers, this image is reminiscent of the "Pantocrator" from St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, but this connection is felt purely outwardly - in the arrangement of hands and the Gospel. The essence of Ferapontov's Christ the Almighty is very different from Novgorod's. In Ferapontov, Christ the Almighty does not have that formidable and inflexible will, like the Novgorod Pantocrator.

On the north side of the cathedral, the Mother of God sits on a throne, surrounded by archangels, and at the foot of the throne crowds of mortals chant the "Queen of the World." On the south side, hosts of singers praise Mary, as if in her womb she carried deliverance to the captives.

On the western side, instead of the “Assumption”, which is more familiar to South Slavic churches, the composition “The Last Judgment” is depicted, in which Mary is glorified as the intercessor of the entire human race. In the eastern lunette of the temple, the Mother of God is depicted in a purely Russian, national spirit - as the patroness and protector of the Russian state. She stands with a "veil" in her hands against the background of the walls of ancient Vladimir, which in those years was a symbol of the religious and political unity of Rus'. Maria is no longer surrounded by singers and saints, but by Russian people.

Protection of the Mother of God

The cathedral was painted by Dionysius and his comrades not only inside, but partly outside as well. On the western facade, a fresco is well preserved, which met the one entering the temple and gave the right direction to his thoughts and feelings. (later a porch was built in this part of the cathedral, and the painting ended up inside the temple).

The painting is dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin and consists of three belts: the upper one is the deesis, the middle one is the scenes of the Nativity of the Virgin and the Caressing of Mary by Joachim and Anna, the lower one is the archangels. To the right of the portal, Gabriel is depicted holding a scroll in his hands, on which is written "The angel of the Lord will write the names of those entering the temple."

The portal fresco is a kind of prelude to the painting of the cathedral, because the akathist to the Theotokos begins right here. Before Dionysius, other artists interpreted the plot of the Nativity of the Virgin as a purely family scene in the house of Joachim and Anna, Mary's parents. Dionysius also left genre details dictated by the very content of the painting, and at the same time, his frescoes differ sharply from the works of his predecessors. In the middle tier of the murals, Dionysius placed not scenes from the life of Mary, but illustrations for twenty-four songs of the akathist to the Theotokos. Here the artist was least of all bound by the canons, and completely original images came out from under his brush. He did not show the turbulent movements of the human soul, the artist is attracted to reflection, to the original interpretation of traditional gospel themes.

Caress and Mary

Here, for example, Anna and the elderly Joachim, who learned that his wife was expecting a baby. Usually other masters depicted this scene as full of dramatic explanations. Joachim rushed to his wife, and Anna answered him with no less expressive gestures. Dionysius does not even have anything similar. His Joachim already knows about the “immaculate” conception, he reverently bows before the newborn Mary, holding out his hand to her and repeating the gesture usual for “anticipations”. Anna on the fresco of Dionysius does not make an attempt to get up, does not reach for food. Filled with dignity and humble grace, she sits on the couch, and the woman standing behind the couch not only does not help Anna to rise, but does not even dare to touch the cover of the one who gave birth to the future mother of Christ. The woman to the right of the bed does not just hand Anna a bowl of food, but solemnly brings it. And this golden bowl, receiving a special semantic meaning, becomes the center of the whole composition. Dionysius shows the viewer that before him is not the usual worldly fuss that accompanies the birth of a child, but the accomplishment of a sacred sacrament.

Nativity of the Virgin

The images of all the characters from the life of Mary are performed by Dionysius with extraordinary spiritual delicacy. Their movements are smooth, gestures are only outlined, but not completed, the participants in many scenes only indicate touch, but do not touch each other. This applies, for example, to the scene "Bathing Mary". The compositional center of this part of the fresco is a golden font. Women bathing a newborn do not dare to touch her, and the one who brought Anna a gift holds it carefully, like a vessel with incense.

Bathing Mary

The researchers noted that the soft rounded contours of one form are repeated in another, all the figures are painted lightly and picturesquely, as if they are devoid of weight and hover above the ground. The frescoes of the cathedral are distinguished by tenderness, muted and bright colors, soft color transitions, they lack contrasts and sharp comparisons. Experts (though not all) believe that when painting the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, Dionysius deliberately “replaced” the red tone with pink or pale raspberry, green with light green, yellow with straw yellow, blue with turquoise, so his paints almost lost their power and masculinity inherent in his works of an earlier period.

In the vault of the southwestern pillar of the Nativity Cathedral there is a composition depicting Jesus Christ and Moscow Metropolitans Peter and Alexei. Beneath them, near a reservoir, stand a gray-haired old man, an elderly woman, and two youths. Connoisseur of antiquity S.S. Churakov hypothesized that the reservoir symbolizes the source of "God's bounties", and the people who receive them form one family - a husband, wife and their sons. Perhaps Dionysius portrayed himself and his family here, because in Ferapontov two of his sons, Vladimir and Theodosius, worked with him.

S. S. Churakov believes that real people are introduced by Dionysius into another composition. So, in the scene of the Last Judgment among the Fryazins (foreigners), the artist depicted the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti, who built the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. And indeed, this portrait is very expressive: the head of the depicted is somewhat thrown back, a large forehead, a nose with a characteristic hump, brown eyes, a shaved face, a bald skull ... Before the viewer appears a middle-aged man, independent, wise with experience and knowledge, not even bowing rulers. So far, this is only a hypothesis, which, perhaps, will be answered by future studies.

Text by Nadezhda Ionina

In one of the remote areas of the Vologda region, near the city of Kirillov, there is an ancient monastery founded in the 14th century by the Moscow monk Ferapont. More than 600 years ago it arose from small chopped cells. Over time, the surrounding lands began to retreat to the monastery. Money flowed into the monastic treasury, for which new lands and villages were acquired, and craftsmen were also invited to build stone fortress walls, temples and other buildings. Many books were also purchased: the Ferapontov Monastery started a huge library, books copied by order were sent from here throughout Rus'.

At the very beginning of the 16th century, an artel of painters appeared within the walls of the Ferapontov Monastery, who painted the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. For more than four hundred years, the stone walls have patiently kept the colors of the frescoes, the inscriptions and the memory of the masters who created them. One of them is Dionysius, whose name was read by scientists at the beginning of the 20th century. According to its geographical location, the cathedral was a travel temple. At a time when, with the fall of Constantinople, a new trade route was being established to the Russian state, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in the Ferapont Monastery just happened to be on this great route, which passed through the White Sea along the Onega and Sheksna. It was the first stone cathedral on this path and was quite suitable for fresco painting. Kargopol, located on the same Onega, was still a completely logged city, and there were no stone churches in the Solovetsky Monastery yet. All the work assigned to them by the artel of masters and apprentices (carpenters, plasterers, gesso, etc.) was completed in a little over two years.

Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin

The iconography of the frescoes of the Ferapontov Cathedral has no precedent in the wall painting of Russian churches in many respects. Never before, for example, was there an image of John the Baptist on the altar, there were no images of Ecumenical Councils, and much more. Some researchers (in particular, G. Chugunov) believe that the akathist to the Mother of God also first appeared in Ferapontovo. In Greek and South Slavic churches, the whole life of Mary was usually depicted, starting from the “Nativity of the Virgin” and ending with her “Assumption”. The Akathist to the Mother of God, if included in the painting, usually occupied an insignificant place somewhere in the side chapels of churches. Dionysius, on the other hand, creates a painting glorifying Mary, a painting similar to the hymns that were composed in her honor. Of course, Dionysius did not arbitrarily introduce into the frescoes many subjects that had not been depicted before him. To take such a bold step, he had to see the previous paintings, and not just hear about them, and he could see them only on Athos. But the solution of many gospel stories by Dionysius also differs from those of Athos. There were no strict canons then, and Dionysius could take advantage of this circumstance. For example, he independently tried to comprehend some provisions of Christianity, in particular, about the life of the Mother of God. What was the main goal for previous painters, became secondary for Dionysius. The main task for him is the akathist to the Mother of God, her glorification, therefore the entire large cycle of murals of the Nativity Church is presented as a single hymn: "Rejoice!".

The frescoes created by Dionysius should be considered as an integral part of the architecture of the Nativity Cathedral itself. Its entire interior space - from the dome to the base - is filled with radiant paintings. Dionysius willingly surrenders to the vivid impressions of life, he can revel in the colorful patterns of precious brocade, the bright colors of overseas silks, the radiance of gemstones.

"Marriage in Cana of Galilee," for example, appears to him as a joyful feast. Cathedrals and towers, which frame numerous scenes of painting, remind the viewer of the architectural monuments of Moscow and Vladimir. The rhythmic construction of the scenes, the movement of the figures speak of the artist's observation and brilliant skill, and Dionysius always translates life impressions into the realm of beautiful and sublime poetry. Even the most ordinary characters - servants filling vessels with wine, or blind beggars eating miserable alms - acquire special nobility and dignity in frescoes.

Marriage at Cana of Galilee

In the center of the cathedral, in the dome, Christ the Almighty is depicted.

According to many researchers, this image is reminiscent of the "Pantocrator" from St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, but this connection is felt purely outwardly - in the arrangement of hands and the Gospel. The essence of Ferapontov's Christ the Almighty is very different from Novgorod's. In Ferapontov, Christ the Almighty does not have that formidable and inflexible will, like the Novgorod Pantocrator.

On the north side of the cathedral, the Mother of God sits on a throne, surrounded by archangels, and at the foot of the throne crowds of mortals chant the "Queen of the World." On the south side, hosts of singers praise Mary, as if in her womb she carried deliverance to the captives.

On the western side, instead of the “Assumption”, which is more familiar to South Slavic churches, the composition “The Last Judgment” is depicted, in which Mary is glorified as the intercessor of the entire human race. In the eastern lunette of the temple, the Mother of God is depicted in a purely Russian, national spirit - as the patroness and protector of the Russian state. She stands with a "veil" in her hands against the background of the walls of ancient Vladimir, which in those years was a symbol of the religious and political unity of Rus'. Maria is no longer surrounded by singers and saints, but by Russian people.

Protection of the Mother of God

The cathedral was painted by Dionysius and his comrades not only inside, but partly outside as well. On the western facade, a fresco is well preserved, which met the one entering the temple and gave the right direction to his thoughts and feelings. (later a porch was built in this part of the cathedral, and the painting ended up inside the temple).

The painting is dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin and consists of three belts: the upper one is the deesis, the middle one is the scenes of the Nativity of the Virgin and the Caressing of Mary by Joachim and Anna, the lower one is the archangels. To the right of the portal, Gabriel is depicted holding a scroll in his hands, on which is written "The angel of the Lord will write the names of those entering the temple."

The portal fresco is a kind of prelude to the painting of the cathedral, because the akathist to the Theotokos begins right here. Before Dionysius, other artists interpreted the plot of the Nativity of the Virgin as a purely family scene in the house of Joachim and Anna, Mary's parents. Dionysius also left genre details dictated by the very content of the painting, and at the same time, his frescoes differ sharply from the works of his predecessors. In the middle tier of the murals, Dionysius placed not scenes from the life of Mary, but illustrations for twenty-four songs of the akathist to the Theotokos. Here the artist was least of all bound by the canons, and completely original images came out from under his brush. He did not show the turbulent movements of the human soul, the artist is attracted to reflection, to the original interpretation of traditional gospel themes.

Caress and Mary

Here, for example, Anna and the elderly Joachim, who learned that his wife was expecting a baby. Usually other masters depicted this scene as full of dramatic explanations. Joachim rushed to his wife, and Anna answered him with no less expressive gestures. Dionysius does not even have anything similar. His Joachim already knows about the “immaculate” conception, he reverently bows before the newborn Mary, holding out his hand to her and repeating the gesture usual for “anticipations”. Anna on the fresco of Dionysius does not make an attempt to get up, does not reach for food. Filled with dignity and humble grace, she sits on the couch, and the woman standing behind the couch not only does not help Anna to rise, but does not even dare to touch the cover of the one who gave birth to the future mother of Christ. The woman to the right of the bed does not just hand Anna a bowl of food, but solemnly brings it. And this golden bowl, receiving a special semantic meaning, becomes the center of the whole composition. Dionysius shows the viewer that before him is not the usual worldly fuss that accompanies the birth of a child, but the accomplishment of a sacred sacrament.

Nativity of the Virgin

The images of all the characters from the life of Mary are performed by Dionysius with extraordinary spiritual delicacy. Their movements are smooth, gestures are only outlined, but not completed, the participants in many scenes only indicate touch, but do not touch each other. This applies, for example, to the scene "Bathing Mary". The compositional center of this part of the fresco is a golden font. Women bathing a newborn do not dare to touch her, and the one who brought Anna a gift holds it carefully, like a vessel with incense.

Bathing Mary

The researchers noted that the soft rounded contours of one form are repeated in another, all the figures are painted lightly and picturesquely, as if they are devoid of weight and hover above the ground. The frescoes of the cathedral are distinguished by tenderness, muted and bright colors, soft color transitions, they lack contrasts and sharp comparisons. Experts (though not all) believe that when painting the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, Dionysius deliberately “replaced” the red tone with pink or pale raspberry, green with light green, yellow with straw yellow, blue with turquoise, so his paints almost lost their power and masculinity inherent in his works of an earlier period.

In the vault of the southwestern pillar of the Nativity Cathedral there is a composition depicting Jesus Christ and Moscow Metropolitans Peter and Alexei. Beneath them, near a reservoir, stand a gray-haired old man, an elderly woman, and two youths. Connoisseur of antiquity S.S. Churakov hypothesized that the reservoir symbolizes the source of "God's bounties", and the people who receive them form one family - a husband, wife and their sons. Perhaps Dionysius portrayed himself and his family here, because in Ferapontov two of his sons, Vladimir and Theodosius, worked with him.

S. S. Churakov believes that real people are introduced by Dionysius into another composition. So, in the scene of the Last Judgment among the Fryazins (foreigners), the artist depicted the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti, who built the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. And indeed, this portrait is very expressive: the head of the depicted is somewhat thrown back, a large forehead, a nose with a characteristic hump, brown eyes, a shaved face, a bald skull ... Before the viewer appears a middle-aged man, independent, wise with experience and knowledge, not even bowing rulers. So far, this is only a hypothesis, which, perhaps, will be answered by future studies.

Text by Nadezhda Ionina

Historical reference:

Ferapontov Belozersky Nativity of the Virgin Monastery was founded at the turn of the XIV-XV centuries, during the expansion of the political influence of the Moscow Grand Duchy, for about 400 years it was one of the prominent cultural and religious educational centers in.

The history of the Ferapontov Belozersky Nativity of the Virgin Monastery, founded at the end of the 14th century, is closely connected with the historical events of the 15th - 17th centuries: the capture and blinding of Grand Duke Vasily II the Dark, the assertion of the power of the first "sovereign of all Rus'" Ivan III, the birth and reign, the formation of a dynasty Romanovs, .

In the second half of the 15th - early 16th centuries, the Ferapontov Monastery became a significant spiritual, cultural and ideological center of Belozerye, one of the famous Trans-Volga monasteries, whose elders provided.

The entire 16th century is the heyday of the monastery. This is evidenced by the preserved contributions and letters of commendation of the secular and spiritual authorities, primarily Ivan IV. Vasily III and Elena Glinskaya, Ivan IV come to the monastery on a pilgrimage. The deposit book of the monastery, begun in 1534, names among the contributors “the princes of Staritsky, Kubensky, Lykov, Belsky, Shuisky, Vorotynsky ... Godunov, Sheremetev” and others. The lords of Siberia, Rostov, Vologda, Belozersk, Novgorod are also mentioned here.

In 1490, with the construction of the first stone church of Belozerye, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, by the Rostov masters, the formation of the stone ensemble of the Ferapontov Monastery of the 15th - 17th centuries began. In the XVI century. the monumental Church of the Annunciation with a refectory, a state chamber, service buildings - a stone dryer, a guest chamber, and a cookery are being built in the monastery. After recovering from the Lithuanian ruin, in the middle of the XVII century. the monastery erects gate churches on the Holy Gates, the Martinian Church, the bell tower.

After the destruction by the Nazis during the Second World War of the famous Novgorod churches of the 12th-15th centuries (the Savior on Nereditsa, the Assumption on the Volotovo Field, the Savior on Kovalev, the Archangel Michael on Skovorodka), the murals of Dionysius remained the only completely surviving fresco ensemble of Ancient Rus' of the Moscow school of murals.

The current state of the property:

Currently, the monuments of the Ferapontov Monastery house the Dionysius Frescoes Museum, which has the status of a historical, architectural and art museum-reserve. Since 1975, the formation of a modern museum began, which turned into a research and educational center that spreads knowledge about the unique monuments of the Ferapontov Monastery ensemble through various forms of museum work. At the end of 2000, the ensemble of the Ferapontov Monastery with the paintings of Dionysius was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Frescoes of Dionysius

Dionisy is an outstanding icon painter, the most revered artist of Rus' in the late XV - early XVI centuries, a contemporary of Raphael, Leonardo, Botticelli, Durer. The miraculously preserved wall painting of Dionysius in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos in the Ferapontov Monastery (1490) was unknown until 1898. Dionysius painted the cathedral in 1502, together with his sons Vladimir and Theodosius, in 34 days.

Ferapontov's paintings are not classical frescoes, they are made in the technique of multi-layered painting. The mural area of ​​the cathedral is about 600 square meters. m. The murals of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, numbering more than 300 plots and images of individual characters, occupy all surfaces of the walls, vaults, pillars, window and door slopes. The dimensions and proportions of Dionysius's compositions are subordinated to the architectural divisions of the cathedral, organically connected with the interior of the temple and the surfaces of the walls. Elegance and lightness of the drawing, elongated silhouettes emphasizing the weightlessness of “floating” figures, as it were, as well as exquisite paints radiating unearthly light and a unique tonal richness of colors and shades determine the uniqueness of Ferapontov’s painting.

The frescoes of the Ferapontov Monastery are united by the common theme of the glorification of the Virgin Mary, headed by the akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos. This is a picturesque embodiment of poetic hymns written by the Byzantine poet Roman the Melodist in the 6th century. The desire to glorify the Mother of God in this way was introduced into the work of Dionysius by the Orthodox tradition. The murals adorn not only the interior, but also the facade of the temple, which depicts the plot - "The Nativity of the Virgin". The theme of the glorification of the Mother of God was not chosen by chance as the basis of the system of murals. At the end of the 15th century, the Mother of God began to be regarded as the patroness of the Russian land.

The restoration of the Ferapontov Monastery debunked the legend that Dionysius used local pebbles in the painting of the cathedral, with which the shores of local lakes were dotted. Microchemical analysis of the mineral raw materials of genuine painting showed that Dionysius, like all other artists, painted with imported paints (probably Italian and German), purchased in bulk at the trading floors of Rostov or Moscow.

Dionysius used both artificial and natural pigments: malachite, poznyakite, atakamite, pseudomalachite. Such a quantity of green copper pigments is not contained in the paintings of any of the studied monuments of Western European painting. There is no such diversity in ancient Russian icon painting, which is the individual handwriting of the master.