Description of the attraction
The Orthodox Women's Novodevichy Convent is one of the most important architectural, historical and cultural attractions of the capital of the Russian Federation. According to the patriarchal charter of 1598, its full name sounds like The Most Holy Great Monastery of the Most Pure Theotokos "Hodegetria" New Maiden Monastery … The complex of buildings of the monastery is located on Bolshaya Pirogovskaya Street in the historical area of Moscow, called the Devichye Pole.
The history of the founding of the monastery
The monastery was founded by decree Grand Duke Vasily III in 1524. Ten years earlier, during the Russian-Lithuanian war, Russian troops from the front line of the army undertook a siege of Smolensk. The military campaign lasted just over two months, and as a result of a powerful onslaught, the Lithuanian garrison laid down its arms. Residents of the city came out to meet the liberators, who carried the miraculous image of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God "Hodegetria" … The victory was the greatest military success of the Grand Duke Vasily III. In gratitude to "Odigitria" the prince ordered to found a monastery.
The image of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God "Hodegetria" was painted, according to legend, by the Evangelist Luke. The icon was kept in the Church of Constantinople, and ended up in Russia in 1046 together with Princess Anna, given by Emperor Constantine IX Monomakh for Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich. Then Vladimir Monomakh transferred the icon to Smolensk to the newly formed temple of the Assumption of the Mother of God, and the icon received a new name - Smolensk. In the 15th century, "Odigitria" ended up in Moscow, where an exact copy or copy was removed from it, and the icon returned to Smolensk at the request of the local bishop.
The place for the construction of the monastery was not chosen by chance. It was in the bend of the Moskva River on the Maiden Field that Muscovites bid farewell to the image of the Smolensk Mother of God in 1456 … Prince Vasily III granted three thousand silver rubles for the construction of the monastery, the monastery was exempted from paying any taxes and taxes to the treasury. At the beginning of August 1525, a procession of the cross was made from the Kremlin to the Maiden Field, led by the Grand Duke. The list from the Hodegetria was solemnly transferred to the monastery, and an annual patronal feast was established in memory of this event.
Some historians believe that the foundation of the monastery did not coincide in time with the divorce of Basil III, who was in a hurry to get rid of his childless wife. In a long marriage, he had no heirs. Grand Duchess Solomonia Saburova could not give birth and, fearing that the sons of his brothers would enter the throne, Vasily III obtained permission for divorce and remarriage. The Grand Duchess was exiled to the Moscow Theotokos-Rozhdestvensky Monastery, where she was tonsured under the name Sophia. It is believed that the Novodevichy monastery was built precisely in order to then receive the Grand Duchess, but the newly-appeared Sophia died in the Intercession Monastery of Suzdal, where she found herself after taking monasticism.
Court cloister
The status of a court monastery for Novodevichy was entrenched under Ivan the Terrible. During his reign, the closest relatives of the Russian tsar settled in the monastery - the widow of his younger brother, Princess Paletskaya, and the widow of the son of Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich, Princess Elena Sheremeteva.
Tsarina Irina Fedorovna Godunova moved to the Novodevichy Convent on the ninth day after the death of her husband Fyodor I Ioannovich. By status, she was the only heir to the Russian throne and continued to conduct business within the walls of the monastery. Her brother Boris Godunov, who took refuge with her in a monastery, received a petition for the kingdom from the boyars there.
Having received the blessing of Irina Fedorovna, Boris Godunov accepted the election to the kingdom, and with him the monastery received a special royal disposition. The Smolensk Cathedral was renovated and repaired, a new iconostasis was added, the Irininsky chambers and the house church of John the Baptist were built.
At the end of the 16th century, old women lived in the monastery, among whom there were many owners of noble princely families - the Rostov and Sheremetevs, the Beklemishevs and Pleshcheevs, Meshchersky and Pronsky.
In the Time of Troubles, royal persons took refuge in the monastery - the daughters of Tsar Boris Godunov and his cousin Vladimir Staritsky. Then the monastery was seized by traitors to the boyars, and in the period from 1610 to 1612 it changed hands more than once.
With the coming to power of the Romanovs, the monastery began to be actively restored, and by 1650 it was cleared and repaired. Thirty years later, an iconostasis appeared in the main cathedral, on the creation of which the famous Russian masters of the Armory worked. Supervised the work Klim Mikhailov and Semyon Ushakov.
The further fate of the monastery was also not easy. The retreating Napoleonic troops tried to blow up the monastery, and the Bolsheviks practically abolished it, opening the Museum of Women's Liberation within the walls of the monastery. Later, the Novodevichy Convent was included in the list of branches of the State Historical Museum.
The monastic community was renewed in 1994, in 2009 the oldest in the country copy of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God returned to the monastery. A year later, the monastery was transferred to the Moscow diocese.
Architectural ensemble
During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the territory of the Novodevichy Convent was surrounded by fortress walls, which were rebuilt almost completely a century later. The center of the architectural complex is Cathedral Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, erected in the first third of the 16th century. The monastery's oldest cathedral is similar to the Assumption in the Kremlin. The church has preserved wall paintings from the early 16th century and an iconostasis made in the second half of the 17th century.
On the territory of the monastery, several more monuments of Russian stone architecture are worthy of attention of visitors:
- In the 80s of the XVII century it was built Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin … Its chapels are dedicated to John the Theologian, Prince Vladimir and the Descent of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, a refectory appeared at the Assumption Church.
- Belfry of the Novodevichy Convent is a striking example of the architectural style called Naryshkin Baroque. The five-story tower rises 72 meters. It is composed of octahedral tiers, tapering upward, called eights and decorated with platbands, columns, white-stone lace patterns. A drum with a gilded dome is installed at the top of the bell tower.
- Above the northern gate of the monastery, in the same period as the bell tower, was built Transfiguration Gate Church … Today the temple is the home for Metropolitan Krutitsky and Kolomna and you can only look at it from the outside.
- Continuation of the Transfiguration Church steel Lopukhinsky chambers, built at the end of the 17th century for the daughter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Half a century later, Evdokia Lopukhina settled in the chambers, and the building got its name in honor of the first wife of Tsar Peter I. The facade of the Lopukhinsky Chambers, on which you can see the oldest sundial in the capital, is remarkable.
- Above the southern entrance to the monastery rises Church of the Intercession … The Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos was built in the 80s of the 17th century.
- Adjacent to the Intercession Church chambers named in honor of the daughter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Mariinsky … Maria Alekseevna lived in the monastery in the 1890s.
- Small Church of Ambrose Mediolansky before it was consecrated in honor of John the Baptist. Its construction dates back to the end of the 16th century.
- Near the Amvrosievskaya Church you can see chambers of Queen Irina Godunova the end of the 16th century and a two-storey building of the former refectory.
- V the chambers of princess Sophia a museum exposition is arranged in the streltsy guardhouse at the Naprudnaya tower. The interior is decorated with tiled stoves built in the 17th century.
- Gorgeous mosaics covering the walls chapels-tombs of the Prokhorovs, perfectly preserved to this day. The building is considered an example of the neo-Russian style popular at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The chapel was built in 1911.
On the territory of the Novodevichy Convent are worthy of special attention fortress wall towers, completely rebuilt at the end of the 17th century. The openwork tops of the towers are made of bricks and decorated with arched openings, loopholes, columns, weights and icon cases. Round at the base look especially picturesque. Nikolskaya, Naprudnaya and Chebotarnaya towers and the majestic square Tsaritsinskaya.
Necropolis of the Novodevichy Convent
Initially, the nuns of the monastery and the city nobility were buried in the Smolensk Cathedral. In 1898, behind the southern wall of the monastery appeared Novodevichy cemetery, which by the middle of the twentieth century turned into one of the most prestigious burial places in the capital.
In the Smolensk Cathedral, around it and in the Assumption Church of the monastery, Tsarina Evdokia Lopukhina, the former first wife of Peter I, Tsarevna Sofya Alekseevna, Anna Ioannovna, Princess Elena Sheremeteva, heroes of the war of 1812 Denis Davydov and Dmitry Volkonsky, participants in the Decembrist uprising on the Senate Square, rest Trubetskoy and A. Muravyov, writer A. Pisemsky and poet A. Pleshcheev, famous philosophers, lawyers, professors and generals.
Famous figures of art, literature and important political figures of the 20th century are buried in the new cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent … Here are the graves of Anton Chekhov, Isaac Levitan, Nikita Khrushchev, Boris Yeltsin, Lyubov Orlova. Special attention should be paid to commemorative steles and tombstones, the authors of which are the most famous Russian and Soviet artists and sculptors.
In 2004, the architectural ensemble of the monastery was included by UNESCO in the list of World Heritage of Humanity. Today the Novodevichy Convent is part of the State Historical Museum.
On a note:
- Location: Moscow, Novodevichy proezd, 1. Phone: 8 (499) 246-85-26.
- The nearest metro stations are "Sportivnaya".
- Official website: ndm-museum.ru
- Opening Hours: Daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
- Tickets: For adults - 300 rubles. For schoolchildren, students and pensioners of the Russian Federation - 100 rubles.
