There is a legend that the first wooden church of St. Nicholas of the Naberezhny was founded back in the 11th century on the banks of the Pochayna River near the place where a child allegedly drowned in 1092, who was miraculously found alive in front of the icon of St. Nicholas the Wet in St. Sophia Cathedral. The first documentary mention of the wooden “Naberez” church is in the lustration of 1552. In 1613, priest Klimenty Naberezhsky was mentioned in writing. There is documentary news that in 1677, instead of the burnt church, a new wooden church was built at the expense of the Kyiv voyat Zhdan Tadrina. After this temple also fell into disrepair, a stone temple was built on the opposite side of the street, and for some time the wooden and stone churches coexisted. The wooden church was destroyed by one of the frequent fires in Podolsk in 1799.
The stone church of St. Nicholas Naberezhny was built according to the design of the architect Ivan Grigorovich-Barsky (designed Pokrovskaya Church and restored Church of the Virgin Pirogoshhi) in 1772-1775. After the terrible Podolsk fire of 1811, in 1837, the walls of the church were painted by the artist Sinelnik and his assistants. In 1852, the interior painting was updated and supplemented. In 1852, a new iconostasis in the style of late classicism was installed in the temple. Soviet authorities registered in July 1920 a single community of the Naberezhnye-Nikolskaya and Blagoveshchenskaya churches. The Old Believer community used the church until its self-dissolution in October 1938. In 1941, during the occupation of Kyiv by the Nazis, the temple was again open to believers. After the war, the temple was closed and used as a film warehouse and concert hall. In 1971-1972, the oil paintings were preserved and the plaster base and paint layer were strengthened – the fact is that the restorers discovered an authentic 18th century painting with images of Ukrainian elders in Cossack formations. The temple has icons from the 18th century; the temple icon of St. Nicholas is considered miraculous – this is an example of 18th century icon painting. Since the 1990s, it has been an active church of the UAOC.
In 1792, a wooden bell tower with a warm church was built. After the fire of 1811, the burnt bell tower had to be rebuilt; this was done in 1820. In 1861-63, instead of a wooden bell tower, a new tented bell tower with a warm Church of the Annunciation was built on the western side. The stone bell tower was built in the so-called “diocesan” or “Russian-Byzantine” style. The style of the bell tower is not at all compatible with the baroque architecture of the temple itself. The bell tower is oriented according to the new layout of Podolsk streets, while the temple itself stands at an angle to the new streets. Nowadays in this church there is a temple of the holy new martyrs of Ukraine.
Where is the Church of St. Nicholas Embankment?
Grigory Skovoroda street, 12