Church of Assumption of the Cossack Settlement (Moscow)

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

By the mid 17th century this was the "sloboda" of those Cossacks loyal to the tsar. Cossacks were descendants of the original Mongol invaders whom the Russian princes had managed to entice to their side. Their Church of Assumption of the Cossack Settlement (Tserkov Uspenia v Kazachey slobodye) was begun in 1695, but was remodelled considerably a hundred years later. The older single-domed, white brick church is hidden behind the refectory and bell tower. The church is a four-sided building topped with an eight-sided dome from whose roof arise a drum and cupola. The building is decorated with half columns, overhanging eaves, decorative platbands and split pediments. The bell tower has double columned porticos on three sides and a narrow spike extends from the roof.

By Napoleon's time, the Cossacks had become the pride of the Russian army. Their loyalty to the tsar was rewarded with social and political freedoms here and in their homelands. During Soviet times, however, they were persecuted, relocated and their culture almost destroyed.

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