Monastery sights in Moscow
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Danilovsky Monastery
The headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church stand behind white fortress walls. The Danilovsky Monastery was built in the late 13th century by Daniil, the first Prince of Moscow, as an outer city defence. It was repeatedly altered over the next several hundred years, and served as a factory and a detention centre during the Soviet period. It was restored in time to replace Sergiev Posad as the Church’s spiritual and administrative centre, and became the official residence of the Patriarch during the Russian Orthodoxy’s millennium celebrations in 1988. Today, it radiates an air of purpose befitting the Church’s role in modern Russia. On holy days this place seethes with…
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Donskoy Monastery
The youngest of Moscow’s fortified monasteries, Donskoy was founded in 1591 and built to house the Virgin of the Don icon (now in the Tretyakov Gallery). This revered icon is credited with the victory in the 1380 battle of Kulikovo; it’s also said that in 1591, the Tatar Khan Giri retreated without a fight after the icon showered him with burning arrows in a dream. Most of the monastery, surrounded by a brick wall with 12 towers, was built between 1684 and 1733 under Regent Sofia and Peter the Great. From 1918 to 1927 it was the Russian Orthodox Church headquarters; later it was closed as a monastery, falling into neglect despite being used as an architecture museum. Re…
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Novospassky Monastery
Novospassky Monastery is a 15th-century fort-monastery, which is located about 1km south of Taganskaya pl. The centrepiece of the monastery, the Transfiguration Cathedral, was built by the imperial Romanov family in the 1640s in imitation of the Kremlin’s Assumption Cathedral. Frescoes depict the history of Christianity in Russia, while the Romanov family tree, which goes as far back as the Viking Prince Rurik, climbs one wall. The other church is the 1675 Intercession Church. Under the river bank, beneath one of the towers of the monastery, is the site of a mass grave for thousands of Stalin’s victims. At the northern end of the monastery’s grounds are the brick As…
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Upper St Peter Monastery
The Upper St Peter Monastery was founded in the 1380s as part of an early defensive ring around Moscow. The grounds are pleasant in a peaceful, near-deserted way. The main, onion-domed Virgin of Bogolyubovo Church dates from the late 17th century. The loveliest structure is the brick Cathedral of Metropolitan Pyotr, restored with a shingle roof. (When Peter the Great ousted the Regent Sofia in 1690, his mother was so pleased she built him this church.)
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