Dunilovo

A village on the river Teza in the Shuya district, unusual for the countryside in the number of its stone churches: together with neighbouring Goritsy there are about ten, nearly all of them along the bank.

The Lopukhins

Dunilovo first belonged to the Gorbaty-Shuysky princes, and in 1685 it was granted to Fyodor Lopukhin, father of Peter the Great's first wife, which began its flourishing. Lopukhin money raised the Intercession church in the Naryshkin baroque manner, a building that took until 1704. Earlier still, in 1675, the Annunciation church was built, the oldest in the village.

The Vorobyov hermitage

The same Lopukhin founded a men's hermitage of the Dormition with two wooden churches on the edge of the village, in the flood meadow of the Teza; it was known as the Vorobyov hermitage. It was suppressed in the church reform of 1764, and since 1991 a Dormition convent has worked on the site.

The Balins

Later the Lopukhin endowments were joined by money from the Balin manufacturers, natives of Dunilovo who ran textile works in the district. That explains the density: a small village found wealthy patrons twice over.

Dunilovo counts eight churches in all, plus the convent and a chapel. The best-known view is from the opposite bank, where the churches are reflected in the water.

Address

Dunilovo, Shuya District · bank of the Teza

Opening hours

The village is always open; churches on their own hours

Prices

Free

On the map