Description of the attraction
The Sviyazhsky Assumption Monastery of the Theotokos is located on the island of Sviyazhsk, 25 kilometers from Kazan. The monastery was founded in 1555. This year is considered the year of the establishment of the Kazan diocese.
The first abbot of the Assumption Monastery, Archimandrite German, later became Archbishop of Kazan, after his death he was canonized as Saint German, the wonderworker of Kazan. His relics have been the main shrine of the monastery since 1592. It was then that they were transferred to the monastery from Moscow.
There is a legend that the monastery was the very first printing house in Russia for printing service books and Holy Scripture. It is believed that it appeared during the reign of Saint German, before the appearance of Ivan Fyodorov's printing house in Moscow.
In the 18th century, it was in the Assumption Monastery that the famous Novokreschensk Office was located. Sviyazhsk became the site of the baptism of thousands of local people.
The Assumption Monastery in the 16-18 centuries was the richest in the Volga region and was among the twenty richest in Russia.
The oldest monastery church - the Assumption Cathedral - was built in 1561. His frescoes painted in the same year 1561 are especially valuable. The temple was built in the Pskov-Novgorod style. It is assumed that the architects were Postnik Yakovlev and Ivan Shiryai. In the 18th century, the temple had a new dome in the Ukrainian Baroque style with twelve baroque patterned kokoshniks. Otherwise, its appearance from the 16th century has remained unchanged.
The area of the frescoes inside the cathedral is 1080 square meters. This is one of two churches in Russia with frescoes from the era of Tsar Ivan the Terrible that have survived to our time. The second temple is located in Yaroslavl, in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery. There are many frescoes from earlier and later periods of history, and only a few frescoes from the 16th century have survived to this day. In this sense, the Sviyazhsk frescoes are a rarity on a worldwide scale.
The Nikolskaya refectory church with a bell tower, whose height is 43 meters, is a recognized masterpiece of Russian architecture of the 16th century. The kilometer-long fence of the monastery dates back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It gives the monastery the appearance of a Kremlin.
The rest of the monastery buildings date back to the late 17th - early 18th centuries. This is the bishop's, fraternal and rector's corps. The Ascension Gate Church, the Church of Mitrofan of Voronezh and the Church of St. Herman Kazansky have not survived to our time. They were destroyed during the Soviet period of history.
On a note
- Location: Sviyazhsk, Zelenodolsk district, Tatarstan, Russia.
- How to get there: Motor ships - from the river station of the city of Kazan, travel time is about two hours. Cars - along the M7 highway towards Moscow, go to the village of Isakovo, where the direction indicator to Sviyazhsk is installed, the travel time is no more than one hour.
- Official website: svpalomnik.ru
- Opening hours: Monday-Friday from 9.00 to 18.00.
