Description of the attraction
The Archangel Michael Monastery is the oldest abode of Ustyug the Great. The monastery was founded by the monk Cyprian in 1212. The monastery has been well preserved to this day. The stone structures of the monastery were built in the 17th century. The center of the architectural composition is the rectangular five-domed Cathedral of Michael the Archangel with a high bell tower. To the right of it is the Temple of the Introduction with the refectory; it is connected to the church at the level of the second floor by a covered passage standing on powerful arches. It can be reached by covered stairs with lockers. The porches and passage are picturesque, especially in contrast to the austerity of the temple and the refectory, devoid of decorations, except for the asymmetrical pediment in the south of the facade. The main entrance to the cathedral is crowned by the gateway church of Vladimir (1682). Nearby there is a picturesque and miniature temple of the Pentecostal Preporation. It was erected in 1710 at the resting place of the founder of the monastery, St. Cyprian. In the northern direction is the building of the rector (1734-1735), to the east are the brotherly cells (1736-1737). The area is surrounded by stone walls and the Holy Gates. They are adjoined by the chapel of John and Procopius of the Ustyug miracle workers.
The history of the monastery cathedral is about eight centuries old. The wooden cathedral of the Archangel Michael with thirteen domes is an interesting structure of the ancient Ustyug. According to the Hundredth Book of 1630, the wooden bell tower had an iron clock (with striking). However, the wooden temple burned down in 1651. In 1653, Metropolitan Jonah of Rostov blessed the construction of a new church in the name of the Archangel Michael with chapels in honor of the Feast of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The stone bell tower was built simultaneously with the cathedral. The stone church was built with the money of Nikifor, a merchant from Ustyug Revyakin. With its construction, in Ustyug a new type of five-domed, four-pillar, raised to the basement temple appeared, with symmetrical side-chapels. The roof of the temple is covered with four slopes. The cathedral is surrounded on three sides by galleries and a hipped bell tower in the northwest of the temple. The cathedral's appearance is strict and simple, laconic in the decorativeness of the decoration. The apse is a simple three-walled room.
The interior of the cathedral is decorated with a high three-tiered carved gilded iconostasis (17th-18th centuries). It combines two styles: classicism and baroque. The local row has preserved icons: "Meeting", "Resurrection of Christ", "Trinity", "Savior Not Made by Hands", "Procopius and John of Ustyug." Festive and Deesis rows of icons used to belong to the iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Assumption. The local rank was almost completely lost. The icon "Cathedral of the Archangel Michael" belongs to the letter of the XIII-XIV centuries. It depicts the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in imperial robes adorned with precious stones and pearls.
The porch of the cathedral contains four murals from different times. The mural painting of the 17th-18th centuries is unique, it is designated as "Proverbs of the Seniors". Instructive stories show the spiritual and moral path of perfection of a monk. Of great interest are the ornamental painting of the southern opening at the entrance to the temple, the portrait of the archbishop buried in the cathedral, and the epitaph of the monastery archimandrite Barsanuphius. The picturesque decor of the south of the porch of the monastery cathedral is a unique monument of Veliky Ustyug murals of the 18th century. The western portal was previously decorated with 17th century doors with gilded and silvered copper plates engraved with biblical events. The cathedral's west porch leads to the gallery, where there are three portals framed by columns.
The cathedral was originally painted. Subsequently, the frescoes were plastered and whitewashed. Trial clearing in 1975 revealed an incomplete composition "Trinity" and part of a 17th-century saint in the gallery-porch.
Today the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael of the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk monastery is an interesting monument of the stone architecture of Great Ustyug in the middle of the 17th century. It is open for museum display during the summer.
