Church of the Intercession on the Nerl

Andrei Bogolyubsky built the Intercession church in 1165 where the Nerl joins the Klyazma, and it is widely treated as the most perfectly proportioned building in Russian architecture - small, single-domed, white limestone, with carved reliefs of King David, lions and griffins under the roofline, and vertical proportions slightly exaggerated so it reads as taller than it is. The site floods every spring, and the builders knew it: they raised an artificial hill of clay and stone four metres high and faced it with limestone, so the church stands dry on an island when the meadow is under water, which is the image everyone photographs. Reaching it means walking about a kilometre and a half across the meadow from Bogolyubovo, over a railway crossing, with no road - which is deliberate, since a proposal to build one was defeated. It is part of the UNESCO White Monuments group and is protected as a meadow landscape as well as a building.

History

Andrei Bogolyubsky, grand prince of Vladimir from 1157 to 1174, founded the Vladimir-Suzdal school of architecture, probably with craftsmen brought from western Russia, and in 1158-1165 his builders raised a series of white-stone buildings around his capital and his residence at Bogolyubovo. According to the historian Janet Martin, he commissioned this church in 1165 to commemorate a victory over the Volga Bulgars and in memory of a son who died in the battle; it stands just over a kilometre from his palace, where the Nerl met the Klyazma at a junction of trade routes that served as the gateway to his land, so it greeted everyone approaching Bogolyubovo, and in the spring floods it seemed to float on the water. The chronicles say little, the First Novgorod Chronicle recording only that he built two stone churches to the Mother of God, and the building has changed little since, apart from a slightly altered dome and porch-galleries added in the 12th century, rebuilt in the 18th and later taken down (Wikipedia, Church of the Intercession on the Nerl).

The main sights

• The proportions - a small 1165 church widely held to be the finest in Russian architecture.
• The artificial hill - a four-metre clay and stone platform that keeps it dry in flood.
• The spring flood - the church standing on an island in water meadows, the classic view.
• The carvings - King David, lions and griffins under the roofline.

When to go

Late April to early May for the flood and reflection, which is short and varies each year; May to September otherwise. Two to three hours including the walk.

What to expect

There is no road - it is a walk of about a kilometre and a half each way across meadow, muddy in spring. The interior is often closed. The flood window is brief and unpredictable. The meadow is protected; stay on the path.

Nearby

Bogolyubovo monastery is at the start of the walk; Vladimir is west.

Key facts