Description of the attraction
The Annunciation Monastery in Murom is located on Krasnoarmeyskaya Street, 16. The monastery was founded in the middle of the 16th century. at the behest of Ivan the Terrible. Before that, there was the Annunciation Church, in which the relics of the holy princes of Murom were found: Constantine (Yaroslav Svyatoslavich) and Mikhail and Fedor (his sons).
The name of the Chernigov prince Konstantin, who inherited Murom, became famous in connection with the baptism of local residents. The pagans, who did not want to accept the Christian faith, killed the son of Constantine - Michael - and came close to the prince's chambers. Constantine came out to meet them unarmed, carrying in his hands the icon of the Mother of God (later it became known as the Murom Icon of the Mother of God). The image of the Mother of God shone, and the pagans, amazed by this miracle, agreed to be baptized. After fasting, they were baptized in the Oka by the Bishop of Murom, Vasily. And Prince Constantine and his sons were canonized at the church council in 1547, but even before this event on the Murom land they were venerated as saints. That is why Ivan the Terrible, before going on a campaign to Kazan, prayed to these saints in Murom, and then, after a victorious campaign, ordered to found a monastery at the burial place of the saints.
From the very first days of its existence, the monastery was not offended by the royal favors: it received a salary according to a letter from 1558, rich church utensils were sent here from Moscow, financial aid was allocated from the treasury and several villages were granted. The old Annunciation Church was dismantled, and in its place was erected the delightful beauty of the Annunciation Cathedral. During the dismantling of the wooden church, the relics of the holy princes of Murom were found. Until our time, the cathedral has already been rebuilt, in its appearance nothing resembles a church building, which was erected by the Moscow masters sent by the tsar.
The monastery was badly damaged in 1616, during the Polish-Lithuanian invasion from the troops of Pan Lisowski. The cathedral was plundered and ruined, the brothers were captured. After the end of the war and troubled times, the monastery was not immediately rebuilt. Again, this was not done without royal favor. Most of the funds for the restoration of the Annunciation Cathedral were donated by the wealthy Murom merchant Tarasiy Borisovich Tsvetnov, who took tonsure here at the end of his earthly journey under the name of Tikhon and was buried here.
By 1664, the cathedral was practically rebuilt, only the basement remained from the old building. Today the Cathedral of the Annunciation is a building richly decorated in the tradition of Russian ornamentation. It has five chapters, on the top of the quadrangle there are rows of kokoshniks, an elegant hipped porch and a slender hipped bell tower. With the charitable funds of Tarasiy Tsvetnova, a clock was installed on the bell tower. At first, the heads of the temple were in the shape of a helmet, but later they were converted into bulbous ones. The walls of the building are richly decorated with carvings - carved cornices, architraves, semi-columns.
In the Annunciation Cathedral, a six-tier iconostasis made in the Baroque style has survived to this day; it is the oldest in Murom. The iconostasis in the cathedral was installed in 1797 and survived only because the temple was not closed during Soviet times. Ancient icons of the 16-18 centuries have been preserved in the cathedral. The rest of the interior of the cathedral is made in accordance with the style of the iconostasis: the promising portal that adorns the entrance from the porch impresses with a variety of decorations.
After the Lithuanian invasion, only the Annunciation Cathedral remained stone. In 1652, you can find a mention of the stone church of St. John the Evangelist, which has not survived. The rest of the buildings remained wooden.
Presumably, in 1716.the gate stone Stephanievskaya church was built. By its architectural design, it is modest, but at the same time quite graceful: the drum under the head is decorated with a thin graceful carving, and the quadruple is crowned with a row of kokoshniks. Everything in this temple resembles the traditions of the 17th century Murom churches. Despite minor rebuildings carried out in the 19th century, the church has not lost its original appearance.
In 1811 the monastery was surrounded by a stone fence with turrets; at the same time the gate church was renewed. In 1812, during the war with France, two Moscow shrines were brought to Murom: the icons of the Vladimir and Iveron Mother of God. In October 1812, they were stored in the Annunciation Cathedral, and then transported to Vladimir.
No other stone churches were built in the monastery. Only in 1828 a cell building was built, and in 1900 - the house of the abbot.
In Soviet times, the monastery was closed, the brethren lived in city houses, but the Annunciation Cathedral functioned, and services were still conducted in it. In 1923, the cancer with the relics of Constantine, Theodore and Michael was opened, after which they were transferred to the museum as exhibits. In 1940 the cathedral was closed, but only until 1942.
In 1989 the relics of the holy princes were returned to the church, and in 1991 a man's monastery was opened here. Nowadays, a small chapel stylized as the architecture of ancient Russian churches has been erected near the apses of the Annunciation Cathedral.
