Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in the Serebryankiy (Silversmith Quarters) with the Bell Tower and Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist (Moscow)

 Baroque (architecture), Classicism, interesting place, Russian Orthodox Church, 18th century construction, object of cultural heritage of federal importance (Russia), Orthodox church

at the far end of the square is the very pretty turquoise and white Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in the Silversmith Quarters (Храм Троицы Живоначальной в Серебряниках). Located in the former jewelers' quarter, this was the territory of the tsar's silversmiths who minted coins and made art objects, including silver frames for icons. A wooden church was mentioned on this site in 1620. The first stone church was built in 1657 and then it was rebuilt in 1721. A new building was commission by a wealthy merchant who owned a nearby estate, Afanasii Gonchorov, great grandfather of Natalia Goncharov, wife of Pushkin. The new structure was a separate bell tower on the site of the old dismantled one. In the middle of the bell tower was arranged the Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist. Karl Blank may have designed this structure by Karl Blank.

The church, bell tower and refectory were remodeled and restored several times before being closed immediately after the end of the 1917 Revolution.

The large but squat, uneven octagonal drum, wave-like cornice and stucco ornamentation of this 18th century church were highly unusual for their time. The façade of the church has four flat Corinthian style pilasters, decorative dentil cornices, plasterwork rosettes and garlands and a triangular pediment of early classical design. The detached bell tower is interesting in that each tier of columns is different, with Doric columns at the base, then narrower Corinthian columns, until the final level, a row of delicate pilasters beneath the black domical vault with tiny belvedere with black cupola.