Description of the attraction
The Valdai Iversky Bogoroditsky Svyatoozersky Monastery is an Orthodox male monastery of the Russian Church. Founded by Patriarch Nikon. Located 10 km from the city of Valdai, which is located in the Novgorod region.
In 1652, on July 25, Nikon ascended the patriarchal throne and told Alexei Mikhailovich that he intended to establish a monastery on Lake Valdai. Alexei Mikhailovich approved the plans of the Patriarch, and funds were allocated from the treasury for the construction of the monastery.
In 1653, construction began in the summer, and by the fall two churches built of wood were built and ready for consecration. A cathedral church was consecrated in honor of the Iberian icon, and a warm one was consecrated in honor of St. Philip of Moscow. The Patriarch, Archimandrite Dionysius, was appointed abbot of the monastery.
During his first visit to the monastery under construction, the Patriarch decided to rename the Valdai settlement into the village of Bogorodskoye, consecrated Lake Valdai and named it Saint. In addition to the previous name, the monastery itself was called "Svyatoezersky".
Under the supervision of the Patriarch, the construction of stone monastic temples and other buildings began in 1653. The newly created monastery was consecrated by Nikon himself. In February 1654, by order of Nikon, the relics of Jacob Borovichsky, which were kept in the Borovichsky monastery, were transferred to this monastery. In 1654, in May, a royal charter was awarded, which assigned the Valdai Lake with the islands, as well as other estates to the monastery.
In 1655, the brethren of the Orsha Kuteinsky monastery moved to the monastery. The monks moved to a new place with all their property, as well as a printing house. With the resettlement of monks from the Kuteinsky monastery to the monastery, the beginning of the development of book printing and bookbinding was laid.
In 1656, the construction of the Assumption Cathedral was completed. In December of the same year, namely on the 16th, the cathedral was consecrated. Together with the Patriarch, the clergy from different dioceses of Russia arrived at the celebration. The cathedral stands out for its simplicity and monumentality of architectural forms.
By the beginning of the 18th century, the monastery fell into disrepair. In the period from 1712 to 1730, she with all the property and available land was assigned to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, which was being built. Later, in 1919, the monastery was transformed into the Iberian labor artel, which consisted of seventy people and possessed 5 hectares of monastic land, as well as 200 hectares occupied by gardens, plowing, vegetable gardens and pastures.
In 1927, the monastic community was liquidated, and the Iberian icon was taken away in an unknown direction. Later, on the territory of the monastery there were a museum, workshops, a home for the disabled, created for participants in the war, a school for children with tuberculosis.
In the last century, in the 1970s, a village was founded on this island, and a recreation center was located on the territory of the monastery. In the early 90s of the twentieth century, the monastery, which was in a state of disrepair, was transferred to the Novgorod diocese. In 1998, the Church of the Epiphany was consecrated by Archbishop Leo. Divine services were resumed in the Assumption Cathedral. At the end of 2007, the complex restoration of the monastery was completed.
Not so long ago, in 2008, Patriarch Alexei II renamed the Assumption Cathedral into the Cathedral in honor of the Iverskaya Icon of the Mother of God. In April 2008, it was decided to gild the domes of the Iversky Cathedral. In January 2011, the restoration of the fresco paintings of the Assumption Cathedral, in the altar and throughout the temple, down to the lower tier, was completed.
There is a small museum dedicated to Patriarch Nikon and telling about the foundation and development of the monastery.
