Church of the Intercession at Fili

In one of the western suburbs of Moscow visitors will find the spectacular Church of the Intercession at Fili, built between 1693 and 1694 and considered a masterpiece of Baroque style. Emperor Peter the Great presented the village of Fili, nestled on the steep banks of the Moscow River, to his Uncle Prince Lev Naryshkin in the late 17th century, and it was the Prince who commissioned the church. Built in the shape of a Greek cross, the church rises in elaborately decorated wedding cake tiers featuring intricate white-stone ornamentation and topped by a single glittering golden onion dome.

The interior features a smaller summer chapel reached by three stairways incorporating sharp turns that were intended to heighten the drama of religious processions. The church's imposing nine-tiered iconostasis rises right up to the vault's of the building's ceiling and pride of place goes to the tent-roofed Tsar's pew, created by the notable 17th century craftsman K. Zolotaryov.

Peter the Great attended services at the church on a number of occasions and one of the paintings on the pews is thought to be a portrait of the Emperor as a young man.

During Napoleon's invasion of Moscow in 1812, the French devoted the church to the decidedly less-secular purpose of a tailor's workshop and stables. Today the church has been thoroughly restored and hosts regular concerts of traditional Russian music. The former stable building has also long since been returned to the church and now organizes temporary exhibitions of religious art.