Annunciation church of Savior-Euthymius monastery in Suzdal. The question of dating
Authors: Baturova Vera 
Published: November 2023

The stone Church of the Annunciation in the Spaso-Efimiev Monastery of Suzdal was known in the first half of the seventeenth century and, according to many researchers, had a two-tent completion. Subsequently, the monument was repeatedly subjected to alterations, and in the second half of the century it was completely rebuilt. According to the evidence of the restorers of the VSESRPW, only the foundation remains of the original structure. The peculiarity of the temple, historically developed, was its position inside the territory of the monastery. In the second half of the century, the walls of the monastery were rebuilt and expanded, as a result of which the gate temple acquired the significance of an independent building. It is also important to note the initial five-domed completion of the monument. The basis for this conclusion was the full-scale research of restorers, during which the foundations of the side chapters were found, which were not subsequently recreated.In this paper, the task is to study the modern appearance of the temple, without considering its original appearance. The main structural and decorative features of the building were studied in order to identify their sources, as well as distribution among the Suzdal temple construction, the place of the Annunciation Church in the line of development of the architecture of Suzdal and to clarify the time of the reconstruction of the temple, thanks to which it acquired a modern look.The structural features of the building include, in addition to the five-domed building, the absence of bypass galleries characteristic of gate temples of the second half of the century, which is probably due to the position of the temple inside the ring of walls. Three high apses also attract attention. The beginning of their spread on the Suzdal soil dates back to the 60s of the century, but the end of the century was marked by the predominance of single-apse buildings. The decorative decoration of the Annunciation Church is of particular interest. The laconic decoration of the drum uses triangular elements, probably borrowed from the decoration of the buildings of the monastery of the sixteenth century. The solemn southern facade of the main volume is highlighted with the help of window frames with set half-columns. The western casing of this facade has two rows of such columns, which finds the most complete parallels in Volga architecture. Attention is drawn to the casing of the apse window, which has a complex three-gable completion, which finds the most complete analogies among the buildings of the Vladimir region. Under the influence of the capital's monuments, the porch of the studied temple was decorated. It is important to note the numerous sources of the forms of the church, which, presumably, was influenced by the location of the monastery and its historical significance. The extensive possessions of the monastery in various regions, as well as contributors, among whom Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky is better known, are factors that also contributed to the borrowing of architectural elements. Based on the analysis, the most preferable is the attribution of the reconstruction of the Annunciation Church to the 1680s, which makes it possible to fit it into the time period of calm in Suzdal architecture before the active church-building of the end of the century.