A few kilometers from the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra, you can admire one of the most beautiful churches in the Moscow Region – the Uspenskaya Church. In the place where it now stands, there used to be the village of Klementyevo, which in the 15th century was granted to the Lavra by its owner, Prince Andrei Radonezhsky.
Klementyevo already had its own church back then; chronicles from 1513 mention the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God. The wooden buildings were rebuilt several times, because this material deteriorates quickly and burns easily. After another extremely destructive fire in Sergiev Posad in 1746, the peasants of Klementyevo decided that it was time to build the church in stone, which was done in the second half of the 18th century.
The Uspenskaya Church became a magnificent example of Baroque architecture. The composition of the church is built in tiers – above a broad quadrangle rises a polygon with a wide round dome and a slender drum crowned by a small cupola. The facades are decorated with pilasters, ornate cornices, and carved window surrounds, and the contrasting color scheme emphasizes the beauty of the design.
The Uspenskaya Church has a refectory and a beautiful three-tier bell tower with a tented dome. They suffered greatly during revolutions and wars, but in the 1990s extensive restoration work was carried out here.
