Church of St. Gregory of Neocaesarea in Derbitsy (Moscow)

 interesting place, Russian Orthodox Church, 17th century construction, object of cultural heritage of federal importance (Russia), Orthodox church

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Peter the Great's father Aleksei I built this colorful red-orange, light blue, white and turquoise Church of St. Gregory of NeoCaesarea, also known as the Wonder Worker, in 1662-1679. A wooden church was built on this site in 1445 by Aleksi II after he was released from Tatar captivity. There was a wooden church on this site in 1632 which was abandoned following the plague of 1652.

The church has no podkelt or basement. The roof of this cubic church with rows of kokoshniki has five closely grouped, blind drums with decorative collars and silver cupolas topped with gilded crosses. The facade is richly decorated with carved window frames, double pilasters on the corners, and dentil molding below the cornices. More unique, however, is the ceramic frieze running beneath the roof of the main structure. The dark blue, turquoise, brown and yellow tiles were made by Stepan Polubes, the potter responsible for the interior of the New Jerusalem Monastery and the Potter's Church of the Assumption near Taganskaya Ploshchad. Their floral design is reminiscent of peacock feathers, giving rise to the church's nickname of "Peacock's Eye." Note as well, the unusual three-story tent roof of the bell tower and the front porch that juts out over the sidewalk pavement right to the curb. This latter feature was often removed from churches during Soviet times.

The church was closed in 1935, its icons were transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery, and various Soviet offices occupied the space. Allowed to deteriorate, in 1965 the building was restored completely including the roofline with its kokoshniki and decorative tiles. The church was returned to the Moscow Patriarchy, and services have been held here since 1996. Today a group of nuns operate a support program for war refugees.