Church of Elijah the Prophet, the one which is under the Pines

On the even side of the Vorontsovo pole street, in the middle of the block there is an old building with chipped plaster in some places. You can see that it consists of several parts, the left side is in pseudo-Russian style, but two annexes on the right side look much older. At first sight it’s difficult to understand that it is a church, but the semicircular gables and kokoshniks are disclosing the appropriation of the building. However, no cupolas and domes have been preserved. The history of this church is amazingly rich, and it starts from the XVth century. The year of construction of the church is unknown, and according to the legend, the temple was built to commemorate the victory over the Tatars in the battle that took place here on July 20th, the natal day of Elijah the Prophet. The annals state that in 1476 a wooden church was here - in the Vorontsovo village - and it was surrounded by the piny wood, hence the name "under the pines". At the end of the XVth century Ivan III built an out-of-town palace in this area, and the church became a palace one. At the beginning of XVI century Vasily III, the son of Ivan III, inherited the palace together with the church. The birthday of Vasiliy on March, the 25th, matched the feast of the Annunciation, and in honor of that the prince decided to build a stone church of the Annunciation next to the wooden church of the Prophet Elijah. It was built in 1514-16 by Italian architect Aleviz. And after the 1525 Vasiliy III no longer attended Vorontsovo Palace. He went to Kolomenskoye and Vorobievo. And the Churches of Elijah the Prophet and the Annunciation became the congregational ones since then. In summer of 1653 Moscow was caught by the drought, the city was in a panic, everyone was afraid of crop failure and famine. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich vowed to build a temple which will be named after a Saint during whose feast day it will be raining. It started to rain on July, the 20th, the day of Elijah the Prophet. The tsar chose the old temple on Vorontsovo pole street, and built a stone double hip-roofed Ilinskiy chapel on the site of the wooden church. It was added to the old stone church of the Annunciation, which was built by Aleviz. At the beginning of the XVIII century the Aleviz temple was demolished and on its site the five-domed church in the Naryshkin baroque style appeared. In the middle of the XVIII century, apart from the church a bell tower was built along the "red line” of the street. In the XIX century, the temple was rebuilt twice. The first time during the late Empire, in 1840. Kozlowski was the architect, and the expansion of the church was financed by Usachev brothers, who were merchants. But soon one of the brothers died, the second left and the almost finished building was abandoned. It stayed there the way it was until 1870. This time famous merchant G. Khludov had a dig at the church, who was its church warden. However, the Empire was no longer in fashion, and it was decided to rebuild the church again in a pseudo-Russian style. Architect P. Zykov took the job. In 1929 the church was closed and the Museum of Oriental Art was settled in the building. The bell tower was destroyed. There is a sign on the wall of the church – the sign of the museum of 1960s with neon lights. Currently, the temple does not function, the building is occupied by the museum depository.