Description of the attraction
The Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery was built in 1386. It is located at the corner of Rozhdestvenka Street and Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, not far from Trubnaya Square, on the banks of the Neglinka.
The founder of the monastery was Princess Maria Serpukhovskaya - the wife of Prince Andrei Serpukhovsky, son of Ivan Kalita and mother of the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo, Vladimir Andreevich the Brave. The princess in 1389 was tonsured as a nun in this monastery, shortly before her death. In the same monastery, the wife of Prince Vladimir, Elena Olgerdovna, also took monastic vows. She took a great part in the arrangement of the monastery. Both nuns are buried on the territory of the Nativity Monastery.
The first nuns in the monastery were the widows of the soldiers who died in the Battle of Kulikovo. There is a legend that in memory of the victory in the Battle of Kulikovo, monastery crosses were installed over the crescents.
In 1501 - 1505 the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, which has survived to this day, was built in the monastery. In 1671, the monastery was surrounded by a stone wall, which replaced the wooden fence. At the end of the 19th century, the stone fence of the monastery was completely rebuilt.
After the revolution, the monastery was closed. Its buildings were used for various purposes. Some of the premises housed the Moscow Architectural Institute. Most of the buildings of the Rozhdestvensky Monastery have survived to this day.
The Church of St. John Chrysostom was built in the second half of the 17th century. In 1903 - 1904 the architect P. Vinogradov reconstructed the Church of St. John Chrysostom and erected a refectory in the monastery. The bell tower with a gate church was built in 1835 - 1836. The project was created by the architect N. I. Kozlovsky. The buildings in which the monastic cells and part of the fence are located were built in the period from the 17th to the 19th century.
