The last decade of the Chudov Monastery history: from the October Revolution to demolition.

Abstract

The article examines the last stage of the existence of the Chudov Monastery of the Moscow Kremlin in its last decades. This period is one of the least studied in the history of the monastery, and yet, it is at this time that both the personal dramas of the inhabitants of the monastery before the closure of the monastery and the procedure for transferring valuables to the Armory that began immediately are exposed. Using the example of the monastery, we see how the new government forms a position regarding valuable monuments. It is noteworthy that the inhabitants of the monastery believed to the last that they would be able to find a compromise solution and leave at least a few monks to guard the monastery and perform divine services, but, unfortunately, the plans of the new government were completely different. In parallel with the process of evicting the monks, there is a struggle for the preservation of the complex exclusively as a monument of architecture and culture, where the main role is played by the Department for Museums and the protection of monuments of Art and antiquity, in those years it was headed first by I. Grobar, and a little later it was replaced by N.Sedova-Trotskaya, which led to the strengthening of the department - this allowed us to do a lot for the preservation of monuments. The work introduces new sources that describe in detail the plot of the relationship between the monastery and the new government, the scrupulousness of preparing for the restoration of the monastery and the feat that scientists performed to save the monument from further destruction as a result of shelling. But all the efforts of scientists for the restoration were in vain, in a great hurry, on the night of December 16-17, 1929, the Cathedral of the Miracle of Archangel Michael was blown up. The restorers did not have time to finish the work on measurements, photo fixation, and even save the frescoes already removed from the walls, which were prepared for museumification.