Pomorskaya Old Believers Commune of Moscow (Staroobriadcheskaia Obshchina)

The Old Believers were a hard-line sect of the Russian Orthodox Church, isolated from the mainstream in 1653 by reforms proposed by the church hierarchy. Later, radical Tsar Peter the Great further offended the Old Believers by his promotion of tobacco and denigration of beard-wearing. The commune was set up late in the 18th century during a period of relative liberalisation. It works to this day, and the grounds and churches are still redolent of a Russia steeped in darker forms of worship. The central attraction of the commune, the Cathedral of the Intercession, has one of the finest collections of icons in Moscow.

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• Attraction Type: Religious Buildings

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