Moscow Guide
Taganka and Zayauze
The Old Believers' Commune
Address: To get there, catch trolleybus #16 or #63 from Taganskaya Metro station. Get off at the seventh stop, "Staroobryadcheskaya ulitsa", and look for a belltower on the far side of Nizhergorodskaya ulitsa. A path crossing the train tracks should bring you to the commune in less than ten minutes
Opening time: Daily 8am– dusk
The Old Believers' Commune is a relic of an Orthodox sect that once loomed large in Tsarist Russia – especially in Moscow, where many of the merchants and coachmen were Old Believers. Their Moscow commune was founded in the 1770s after Catherine the Great granted them limited rights and many returned from hiding in Siberia. Though Nicholas I reimposed discriminatory laws, the sect had become established enough to weather official disapproval until the onset of liberalization in 1905. After the October 1917 Revolution, however, they were doubly suspect for their piety and wealth, and suffered even more severe repression, which forced the sect underground for decades. Today, the commune is coming back to life, but their strict ethics effectively bar them from the cut-throat business world of New Russia. Note that women visitors dressed in trousers or short skirts will not be allowed inside, and must cover their heads with a shawl.
By passing through the church's tent-roofed archway – originally the entrance to the commune – you'll find the Rogozhskoe Cemetery (daily: summer 9am–7pm, winter 9am–6pm), where Old Believers and Soviet functionaries are buried.