Description of the attraction
The Ascension Monastery is an Orthodox monastery located in the city of Irkutsk. For several centuries this monastery was one of the most significant and largest religious buildings in Russia.
The monastery was founded by Elder Gerasim almost immediately after the creation of the Irkutsk prison, four miles from it, among the dense forests on the opposite bank of the Angara River. In 1669 Gerasim presented the Yenisei governor with a petition for the allocation of a plot of land for the construction of a monastery.
The first in the monastery was built a wooden church in the name of the Ascension of the Lord with the Odigitrievsky side-altar. At that time, cells and a fence were also built. In 1679, as a result of a fire, all the monastery buildings were destroyed. After a while, Elder Isaiah resumed the monastery. In 1686, a wooden Ascension Church was erected again, in 1688 - a wooden temple in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God.
At the beginning of the first half of the XVIII century. in the possession of the monastery was a significant amount of land and forests, as well as a salt factory. From 1727 to 1731 Innokenty of Irkutsk lived in the monastery until his death. In February 1805, the relics of Innokenty of Irkutsk were placed in the Ascension Cathedral. Since 1883 the monastery has been called the Ascension Monastery of St. Innocent.
In June 1783, a strong fire broke out in the monastery, as a result of which all the cells burned down. Only the Tikhvin Church remained unharmed. They began to rebuild the monastery, only this time the wooden buildings were replaced with stone ones. From 1767 to 1809, a one-story abbot building, three stone churches and a chapel over the grave of Schema-monk Gerasim were built.
In 1809, the construction of the third church in the monastery was completed, which was dedicated to the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, in 1823 - the fourth church above the main western gates of the monastery, consecrated in honor of the Meeting of the Lord. The fifth church was built in 1783 on the site of the wooden church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In 1919, the Irkutsk consolidated hospital was housed in the monastery. At the beginning of 1921, the relics of Saint Innocent were sent to the Yaroslavl Museum. By the beginning of 1933, all churches with the exception of the Assumption Church were demolished. To date, the monastery buildings have survived: the Assumption Church with a refectory, stone and wooden services, two stone brotherly buildings, a school, a kitchen, a sacristy and a hotel for pilgrims.
