Wooden church, Ples, Russia. Ples - the pearl of the Volga

Masterpieces of Russian wooden architecture. This small but picturesque church, as if looking up high with a sharp roof with a small onion on a quadrangular pedestal, stands on the once Peter and Paul Mount, and now it is Mount Levitan, in the middle of an old, almost already overgrown cemetery.

If you look closely at the church in the picture, you will notice that it is different from the one we see on the mountain of Levitan. The fact is that this is really a different structure. At one time, Levitan was charmed by the Peter and Paul Church, which was previously located at the same place, but burned to the ground in 1903. Let the fire carry the monument of architecture of the 17th century, but it remained forever imprinted in Russian art.

The canvas "Over Eternal Peace" Isaac Levitan wrote on the sketch "The wooden church in Ples at the last rays of the sun." So the artist combined the landscape image of Lake Udomlya under Vyshny Volochok and the church in Pleso.

For a long time there was no church on the mountain until Levitan's house-museum was opened in Ples, which made one pay attention to another empty Levitanian place. Then in 1982, the same age and similar in appearance "sister" - a wooden Resurrection Church, built in the village of Bilyukovo, Ivanovo Region in 1699, and which is a Kletsky church with a wedge roof, was brought to the place of the burnt down Peter and Paul Church. More than a hundred years have passed since Isaac Levitan came to Plyos and admired his beauty, but from the mountain, which is now named after him and where the wooden Resurrection Church still stands today, still offers a picturesque view of the expanses of Mother Volga.

For the first time in the annals of Plyos mentioned in 1141. At that time, a fortress, destroyed in 1238 by the invasion of Batu Khan, stood on the site of the present city on the Volga. Later, in 1410, Prince Vasily I built a new customs and guard outpost here - the place for the fortress here is extremely successful: the rivers used to be the main routes of movement, and the Volga on this section narrows and forms a long straight section, which allows you to see the enemy from a distance.

In the 18th century, Plyos became the county town of the Kostroma province - at that time there were two textile mills, two malting plants and a brewery. In the 19th century, with the development of the textile industry in Ivanovo-Shuisky District, Plyos became the main port on the Volga for the entire textile region. In 1879, the Ivanovo-Kineshma railway was built, Plyos lost its importance as an important transportation hub, and over time turned into a tiny provincial town - a traditional place of recreation and creativity.

The beauty of Ples was conquered by many famous artists - Repin, Savrasov, Korin, Vasilyev were here, but first of all the city was glorified by Isaac Levitan, who wrote many of his main canvases in Ples. The first time Levitan visited Ples in 1888 - in the spring he, along with fellow artists Alexei Stepanov and Sophia Kuvshinnikova, set off on a steamer along the Oka from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod, and from there - up the Volga.

During their journey, they were surprised to discover the beauty of a small, quiet Ples, and decided to stay here for a while. As a result, Levitan spent here three extremely productive summer seasons. Situated away from major cities and major trade routes, for many years provincial Plyos remained as if it had been lost. As a result, Plesa, forgotten for the whole XX century, in an amazing way basically preserved the appearance of the old Volga city of the end of the XIX century.

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