Transfiguration Cathedral, Pereslavl-Zalessky

{{Infobox church
 * name                  = Transfiguration Cathedral
 * fullname              = Спасо-Преображенский собор (Переславль-Залесский)
 * image                 = Spaso-Preobrazensky Cathedral in Pereslavl-Zalessky 2016.jpg
 * caption               = The main facade
 * coordinates           = {{coord|56|44|12|N|38|51|09|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}
 * location              = Pereyaslavl-Zalessky
 * country               = Russia
 * denomination          =
 * website               =
 * founded date          = 1152
 * founder               = Yuri Dolgoruki
 * dedication            =
 * dedicated date        = 1157
 * consecrated date      =
 * cult                  = orthodox
 * relics                =
 * events                =
 * status                =
 * functional status     = Museum
 * architect             =
 * architectural type    =
 * style                 =
 * groundbreaking        =
 * completed date        = 1152
 * construction cost     =
 * closed date           =
 * dem

The Transfiguration Cathedral in the Pereslavl-Zalessky was founded by Yury Dolgoruky in 1152. Completed with Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1157. It functions as a branch of the city ​​museum-reserve. Access inside is limited.

Interior of the Cathedral
This domed's cross chetyrohstolpny trohapsidny temple - the earliest of the white stone monuments of the North-Eastern Russia (as well as the Church of Boris and Gleb in Kideksha ).

The walls of the cathedral are laid out in a half-way technique from well-hewn and put almost dry white stone blocks. The thickness of the walls is from 1 m 30 cm to 1 m. The height of the temple in antiquity was about 22 m. [1]

The foundation of the temple is a ribbon (passing to the pillars from the walls), for its time already archaic. The foundation is made of large cobblestone on lime. Depth - 1.2 m, brought to a layer of dense clay. It is much wider than the walls - stands 1 m from the north and 1.5 m from the east. Up to a depth of 0.8 m, the foundation drops vertically, and then narrows. [2]

The building, in comparison with the pre-Mongolian time, "grew into the earth" by about 90 cm: two more rows of a white-stone basement lay below the ebb (3).

The decor of the temple is very strict. The drum is decorated with a curb and a city belt, on the top of the apses are the arkature belt, the curb and the carved crook. [4]

A.G. Chinyakov, who examined and restored the cathedral in the 1940s, assumed that the drum ended with a chain of carved arches, similar to the completion of the drums of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir. [5]

No stone porches and other extensions to the cathedral were preserved, no archaeological research has revealed any traces of them [6]. Probably, not a stone (as in most pre-Mongolian temples of North-Eastern Russia) adjoined to the entrance to the choirs in the second tier of the western strait of the northern wall of the cathedral, but a wooden staircase [7].

During excavations in the temple in the late 1930's. majolica tiles of yellow, green and brown color were found, covering the floor. More ornate tiles, white with blue ornaments, probably decorated with choirs [8].

Frescoes and icons
In the second half of the 12th century the cathedral was painted with frescoes. The compositions "The Last Judgment" and "The Mother of God on the Throne" were discovered in 1862 by a local historian and architect NA Artleben [9].

During the restoration of the cathedral in 1893-94, the ancient frescoes were removed in small pieces, packed in boxes and sheltered in a cold shed in disarray. In 1895 the Archaeological Commission recognized the frescoes as not deserving further preservation [10].

The surviving fragment of paintings (the figure of the apostle Simon) is now in the Historical Museum of Moscow [11].

Not representing a significant artistic value of the frescoes of the XIX century cleaned. Now inside the cathedral there are white walls.

From the cathedral of Pereslavl, there is an exceptional in its artistic merits temple icon " Transfiguration " of the beginning of the XV century, attributed to the hands of Theophanes the Greek (now - in the Tretyakov Gallery ) [12].

Graffiti of the Transfiguration Cathedral
During the restoration of the Transfiguration Cathedral on its walls, several ancient Russian graffiti were discovered. Among the graffiti was found a unique inscription-message of the XII century about the murder of Prince Andrew Bogolyubsky and a list of the names of his killers [13].

Importance of the cathedral
The cathedral is the only one of the first five white-stone temples of North-Eastern Russia, which has reached us almost completely. Many princes of Pereyaslavl were baptized in the cathedral, including Alexander Nevsky, who was born in Pereslavl in 1221.

In the XIII-XIV centuries the Transfiguration Cathedral was the burial-vault of the Pereslavl specific princes. Here princes Dmitry Alexandrovich and Ivan Dmitrievich were buried. In 1939, during the excavations under the supervision of N. N. Voronin, a rare tricle-decorated ornament of the sarcophagus was discovered from the grave of Ivan Dmitrievich. [14]

In the year of the end of the Great Patriotic War, September 2, 1945, the Alexander Nevsky Museum was established in the cathedral [15], later closed.