Description of the attraction
8 kilometers from the city of Ostashkov (by water) there is a small flat island Stolobny, where a monastery was built - the Nilo-Stolobenskaya desert. Saint Nile once lived here, who healed the sick, rescued fishermen caught by a storm on the lake. After the death of the saint, other hermits began to settle on the island and a monastery arose in the middle of the 16th century.
The founder of the monastery was the monk Herman from the Nikolo-Rozhok monastery. The wooden church and cells built by him (together with the passers-by who were here) on the island received the title of a monastery and began to be called the Nilova Hermitage. The monastery gradually erects wooden and then stone buildings.
The center of the monastery complex is the Epiphany Cathedral, crowned with five domes. From the west, a four-tiered bell tower is attached to it, the facades of the cathedral are decorated with six-column porticoes. Inside the temple, all walls, pillars and pilasters are decorated with artificial multi-colored marble, the painting is made in the grisaille style. Here, in the cathedral, the relics of Nil Stolobensky are kept.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the monastery was one of the most famous and prosperous. But on June 9, 1928, the monastery was closed and plundered. And only in 1991 the monastery was reopened as a monastery.
The Epiphany Cathedral (1821-1833), the Peter and Paul Church (1764), the Nile Church (1755), the All Saints Church (1701), the buildings of fraternal cells and the state chamber have survived to this day. The eastern bank is occupied by numerous wooden and stone buildings from the 18th century. The garden and grove, stables and stables have been partially preserved.
The Nilova Hermitage still attracts endless streams of pilgrims.
Description added:
Aricus 2013-20-08
Although the monastery is located on an island, there is a footbridge leading to it. Be sure to climb the bell tower, it offers an excellent view of the monastery and the lake. In the monastery, near the entrance, they sell very tasty monastery-smoked fish.
