Description of the attraction
Kazan Monastery of the Mother of God is an Orthodox monastery. Its history is inseparable from the acquisition in 1579 of the miraculous icon of the Kazan Mother of God, one of the most revered in the Russian Church.
In July 1579, an entire district adjacent to the Kremlin burned down in Kazan. The ten-year-old girl Martha three times in a dream appeared the Most Holy Theotokos and showed her the place where Her image is. The acquisition of the icon of the Mother of God 27 years after the capture of Kazan was perceived as a symbolic event. In 1579, by order of Ivan the Terrible, the Kazan Mother of God Monastery was founded on the site where the Miraculous Icon was found. There were 600 nuns in the monastery.
The area of the monastery occupied several hectares. The main cathedral was built in 1798-1808. architect I. Starov in the style of classicism. Its area is 49 by 43 meters and a height of 44 meters. The main cathedral was crowned with five hemispherical domes, it had three large pediments with columns. The ensemble included the St. Nicholas Church in 1810-1816, the Exaltation of the Cross Church in 1882-1884. and 2 main buildings - Abbess and Nikolsky 1820 -1840s. Bell tower 55 m high and the Sophia Gate Church (both - the middle of the 17th century).
The Mother of God Monastery became a center of pilgrimage for believers. In 1595, the celebration of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was established. In 1612, the militia of Minin and Pozharsky took the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God on a campaign to liberate Moscow. After the liberation of Moscow from the Poles in 1612, the icon was returned to the Kazan Mother of God Monastery.
Catherine II in 1764 ranked the Kazan Monastery of the Mother of God in the second class, and in 1809 it was ranked in the first - the upper class.
During the years of Soviet power, the main cathedral and the bell tower were blown up, and a tobacco factory was located on the territory of the monastery. It has now been demolished. Of the entire complex of the monastery, a two-story building with the Exaltation of the Cross Church (1882-1887) and the Sophia Gate Church have survived. Restoration work is underway in the monastery. A plan is being developed to restore the Mother of God Cathedral.
