A monument of ancient Russian architecture has been restored in Moscow.

The restoration of the Church of Elijah the Prophet in the Novgorod courtyard has been completed, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced on his blog channel in the Maks messenger. The restoration of the church took six years.

"Before the start of work, the condition of the temple was depressing: the foundations were wet and crumbling, the plaster on the facades was peeling off, cracks crossed the brickwork of the walls due to constant temperature fluctuations, and the iconostasis was temporary - made of plywood," Sobyanin said in a blog post.

The church, located in the center of Moscow and which gave its name to Ilyinka Street, was built in 1519-1521. In Soviet times, the building housed institutions, and for some time it was used as housing. The building was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1990s and has since been renovated, but a comprehensive restoration was carried out for the first time, the mayor said.

The restorers replaced the brick, preserving the historical masonry system of the XVI century. The structures were reinforced by injection — a special solution was injected into the walls under pressure. The copper roof was made mainly by hand, and the gilding on the crosses and domes was put in order separately.

According to archival documents, the restorers restored the bell tower with a dome, a spire and a cross, and also recreated the lost gallery. Iconostases were also worked on separately: basma, an artistic metalwork, was restored in the lower temple, and wood carvings in the upper one, the mayor said.

Over the past 15 years, the city and religious communities have jointly put 117 objects of religious significance in order, Sobyanin noted. Currently, the capital's restorers are working on another 27 sites.