The project involves the recreation of the church of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. This is building a memorial church dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812, when this church was blown up by order of Napoleon in 1812. The church of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist on Devichy Field was a brick-roofed tent-shaped church. Several evidences has survived about church's existence - drawings and engravings of the early XIX century. The lack of detailed drawings does not allow to restore the appearance of the blown up church, which reached a height of about 30 meters.
   The place of the lost church gets into the buffer zone of the UNESCO, which dictates certain requirements for the appearance of the new church. It should not radically change the current urban planning situation and exceed the height of the tower of the Novodevichy Monastery. This height should not exceed 20.5 m. At the same time, the appearance of the new church can serve as a reminder of the ancient church. Therefore, it is proposed to make tent-shaped church. The choice of the tent-shaped church typology is also dictated by the fact that it should become a memorial church for the 200th anniversary of the exile of Napoleon, and traditionally memorial churches built in memory of victories won by the grace of God by the Russian army were "crowned" with a tent-shape dome. This tradition, which originated in the XVI century, was restored at the beginning of the XX century.
   The restored church will be able to accommodate up to 150 parishioners. The basement provides for the historical and archaeological museum. The layout of the park and the general urban planning situation make it preferable to be located along the northeast axis, that is, parallel to the route and the walls of the monastery. The churches located on Bolshaya Pirogovskaya (Tsaritsyna) street had a similar orientation. As it known, all the churches of Kitay-Gorod since the XVI century were oriented along the direction of the streets, so their axes fell fan-shaped on the city plan — exactly the way the directions of the roads diverged from the Kremlin. Such a staging of the church near the walls of the Novodevichy Monastery will correspond to Moscow tradition and will help adapt the new structure in the current historical environment.

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Andrey Batalov