Iberian Gate and Chapel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Resurrection Gate (Russian: Воскресенские ворота, also called Иверские ворота, for Iberian Gate) is the only existing gate of the Kitai-gorod in Moscow. It connects the north-western end of Red Square with Manege Square and gives its name to nearby Voskresenskaya Square. The gate adjoins the ornate building of the Moscow City Hall to the east and the State Historical Museum to the west. Just in front of the chapel is a bronze plaque marking kilometer zero of the Russian highway system.
The first stone gate leading to Red Square was erected in 1535, when the Kitai-gorod wall was being reconstructed in brick. When the structure was rebuilt in 1680, the double passage was surmounted with two-storey chambers crowned by two octagonal hipped roofs similar to the Kremlin towers.
Until 1731, the chambers were shared by the neighbouring Mint and the Central Drug Store. After Mikhail Lomonosov founded the Moscow University in the latter structure, the university press moved into the gate chambers. Nikolay Novikov, who ran the press in the late 18th century, turned the second storey into his headquarters.
Since 1669, the wooden chapel in front of the gate has housed a replica of the holy icon of Theotokos, whose original is preserved in the Georgian Iveron monastery on Mount Athos. Hence, the name Iversky (that is, "Iberian") that stuck both to the chapel and the gate. In 1781, the Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery constructed a new brick chapel on the spot. The star-splattered cupola of the structure was topped with a statue of an angel bearing a cross.
According to a popular custom, everyone heading for Red Square or the Kremlin visited the chapel to pay homage to the shrine. Beggars and outlaws would pray there next to the highest royalty and the tsar. It was there that the rebel Emelyan Pugachev asked Russian people for forgiveness a few hours before his execution. The ever-overcrowded chapel, with candles burning day and night, figures in works by Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Bunin, Marina Tsvetayeva, and H.G. Wells, to name only a few.
In 1931, the Resurrection Gate and the chapel were demolished in order to make room for heavy military vehicles driving through Red Square during military parades. Both structures were completely rebuilt in 1994-1996.
 View of the gate at the turn of the 19th century. |
 The gate and chapel before their destruction in 1931. |
 The reconstructed gate and chapel at night. |
 View through the gate toward Saint Basil's Cathedral. |
