Description of the attraction
Nikolo-Medvedsky Monastery is an Orthodox monastery located in the city of Novaya Ladoga, Volkhovsky District, Leningrad Region.
It is believed that the foundation of the monastery took place in the 14-15th centuries and it was consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker - the patron saint of travelers. Initially, the Nikolo-Medvedsky Monastery was located on the Medvedets Peninsula - a cape that goes far into the depths of Ladoga. Since ancient times, the tract called Medvedka was the most extreme place of the eastern Novgorod possessions and served as a haven for seafarers.
The Nikolo-Medvedsky monastery was not very large, at different intervals there were from 20 to 40 church brethren. The Church of Nicholas the Pleasure was built in stone with a stone refectory and the border of St. John the Theologian. A wooden fence was built around the temple.
Throughout its history, the monastery has been destroyed more than once - to a greater extent, it suffered in 1583.
In 1704, the monastery was closed by order of Peter the Great, and the monks were sent to Staraya Ladoga. At this time, St. Nicholas Cathedral acted as a parish. During 1741, the stone church of St. Clement was built on the site of the wooden church.
During the 18-19 centuries, Novaya Ladoga developed at a slow pace and attracted more provincial merchants. In the period from 1840 to 1842, a large Gostiny Dvor was erected on the main trading square, built of stone by the project of the local architect Milinin.
In 1937, the wave of repressions could not pass by the Nikolo-Medvedsky monastery. Two churches stopped accepting parishioners, but after the war of 1941-1945 they were reopened, for more than twenty years divine services were still held here. In 1961, St. Nicholas Cathedral was closed again, leaving only the Church of Clement, the fence from which has survived to this day. Today the church is an earthen rampart with a flagstone in the upper part and an iron grating on top of it. You can see two more churches: St. Nicholas Church and the Church of St. John the Theologian. The oldest church at the monastery is St. Nicholas Cathedral.
The first chronicle information about the Nikolsky Cathedral dates back to 1500, yet the exact date of the construction has not been found. It is believed that he is a typical example of the Novgorod architecture of his time. Particularly noteworthy is the spiral cast-iron staircase located on the street and made long before the time of the construction of the cathedral. The staircase leads to the icon, located on the outside on the temple wall at a height of about 8 m from ground level. The parishioners climbed the stairs, because in front of the icon they could bow to St. Nicholas the Pleasant. Another distinctive feature of the icon is that the image of the saint is presented in an unusual form - he holds a sword in his hand, because it is he who is the patron saint of Novaya Ladoga. Throughout the entire time, the icon of Nikolai the Ugodnik was turned towards the lake, and an icon lamp always burned in front of it, serving as a guide for sailing fishermen who wanted to go to the Volkhov section. Unfortunately, the holy icon disappeared in the 1920s. All sorts of searches for the holy relic have not been crowned with success, and now in front of the Cathedral of Nicholas the Pleasant there is only a dry tree, to which numerous parishioners come with requests for the gift of health and longevity to them and their loved ones.
Currently, the Nikolo-Medvedsky monastery has been abolished.
