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      Holy and White Lakes: the old churches of Kosino

      ⏱ 1 h 10 min🚶 1.7 km🍽 0📍 4 stops
      🐢 A little — under 3 km

      A sinkhole lake with a legend of a church that went under water, the wooden Tikhonov Church on the shore of White Lake and yachts in the middle of Moscow — a quiet, almost dacha-like corner.

      👶 With kids🏛 History and architecture🌳 Parks and nature🏘 Off the centre⏱ An hour or so
      👶 3–6, 7–12 years · ✗ hard with a stroller

      The paths to Holy and Black Lakes are packed earth with boggy banks — an ordinary stroller won't get through. Fenix park and the White Lake embankment are passable.

      🗺 Open in Yandex Maps
      1. 1
        🏛 Church of the Life-Giving Spring Icon by Holy Lake
        Оранжерейная ул., вл. 24, стр. 1
        A small church right on the shore of Holy Lake, about which there is a legend of a church that sank underwater; a religious procession comes here every year.
        A small church right by Holy Lake, which a religious procession visits every year
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        • Svyatoozyorskaya Street got its name in 2004 — after Holy Lake, the Life-Giving Spring church and the Trinity church.
        • In spring 2023 a mosque was to be built on the lake shore; after protests by residents and parishioners, construction was moved closer to Kosino metro.
        • Over the years of draining the surroundings the lake by the church has become noticeably shallower; the Kosino Biological Station has studied it for a long time.
      2. 🚶 on foot
      3. 2
        🌳 Holy Lake (Svyatoe Ozero)
        Косинский природно-исторический парк
        The smallest of the three Kosino lakes — round and considered to be of sinkhole origin; its water is noticeably colder than in the neighboring ones.
        A round sinkhole lake: according to legend, a church sank under water here. The banks are boggy — keep to the path
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Holy Lake (Svyatoe Ozero)
        © Ulaisaeva · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • In the old days the lake was called Kuporosny (Vitriol); the remains of big trees were found on its bottom.
        • The lake is round like a plate: its average depth is 3 m and the greatest is 5.1 m.
        • It is not easy to reach the water: the lake is surrounded by a bog quagmire 200–250 m wide.
        • Despite a thick layer of silt, the lake has never bloomed, and its water is cold and clear.
        • The bottom silt contains iodine, silver and bromine; peasants treated themselves with the silt and lake water.
        • Holy, White and Black lakes together cover only 65 hectares and are part of the Kosinsky nature-and-history park.
      4. 🚶 on foot
      5. 3
        🏛 Kosino church complex on White Lake
        Большая Косинская ул., 29
        Three churches on the shore of White Lake: Dormition, the stone St Nicholas and the wooden St Tikhon; the Dormition church holds the revered Modena icon.
        Three churches on the shore of White Lake; step in to see the wooden Tikhonov church
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Kosino church complex on White Lake
        © Lodo27 from Moscow, Russia · CC BY-SA 3.0
        • The wooden St Nicholas church is first mentioned in 1617 in a deed of gift from Tsar Mikhail Romanov.
        • The stone Dormition church was built in 1823–1826 with funds from the merchant Dmitry Lukhmanov.
        • After the closure in 1939, kerosene lamps were made in the St Nicholas church, and during the war bomb shelters were set up in the churches' undercrofts.
        • The old wooden St Nicholas church burned down in 1947; in its place the wooden St Tikhon church was built in 1986.
        • White Lake by the churches is up to 19 m deep, and the deepest spot is precisely in the eastern part, by the church.
      6. 🚶 on foot
      7. 4
        🏛 Kosino Children's Sea Club
        Большая Косинская ул., 45
        A yacht club on White Lake founded in 1987; the buildings are styled after old Dutch houses.
        Yachts on a lake in the middle of Moscow and “Dutch-style” houses — look from the shore
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        • In the late 17th century Peter I kept a shipyard and a "play" flotilla on White Lake, later moved to Lake Pleshcheyevo.
        • Every year the Kosino Sea Club launches Peter I's little boat and stages a theatrical show.
        • White Lake is the biggest of the Kosino lakes: 27.5 hectares of water.
        • In 1908 the Kosino Biological Station opened on the shore of White Lake — one of the cradles of Russian limnology.

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