The Last Stone Building in Moscow

By Mendeleyeev

During rush hours, Moscow’s Taganskaya Square is one of the most congested points in Moscow with a multi-junction intersection with six lanes of traffic in each direction.At the far right you can make out the Golden Arch of a McDonald’s cafe and below it is the logo of a KFC restaurant.

The beautiful onion domes call attention to the Church of Saint Nikolas on Bolvanovka at Taganskaya Square with a view of the electric tram & trolleybus cables overhead.

The sign is in Russian Cyrillic and reads “stop.” Seen in the lower part of the photo is the red “M” denoting a Metro subway station, the Taganskaya station.

The Church holds a special place in Moscow history, not only because it is a Bulgarian Orthodox Church, but construction was barely completed in the year 1712, just before Peter the Great’s order than no stone buildings could be built in Russia outside of his great capital city, St. Petersburg.

During the oppressive Soviet period the Communists closed the church and used it as a warehouse. It was returned to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in 1990 and today it is an active parish.