Description of the attraction
Sretensky Monastery is an Orthodox nunnery operating under the Russian Orthodox Church and located in Gorokhovets. It is located on the main city square (more precisely on its opposite side), on Sovetskaya street, house 5. This building became the most noticeable component of the central square of Gorokhovets, since the bell tower is over 35 m high. It was built at the end of the 17th century. The bell tower is located between the premises of the Sretenskaya monastery, standing out with a distinctly laconic and austere architecture.
The decoration of the Sretensky Monastery is, to a greater extent, concentrated on the lower tier, which is expressed in the framing of the entrance, as well as on the graceful tent, which is rapidly decreasing in height above the octahedral pillar of the belfry.
According to reliable chronicle sources, the Sretensky Convent was built in 1658. Initially, all the buildings located at the monastery were built of wood. It is known that in 1678 two wooden churches were erected: warm Sergievskaya and cold Sretenskaya, to which monastic cells were also attached. In the last years of the 17th century, according to the blessing of Patriarch Tikhon, the wooden buildings of the monastery were gradually replaced by stone ones.
In the middle of 1689, at the expense of Semyon Efimovich Ershov, who was a wealthy merchant, a stone cathedral was built on the site of the previously existing wooden Sretensky Cathedral, which still stands today.
The majestic stone Sretensky Cathedral had unique domes, which were decorated with openwork crosses and glazed ploughshare, which, to a large extent, distinguishes the cathedral from other similar buildings, bringing a rich palette of decorative ornaments to its appearance. The building of the cathedral is somewhat different from the belfry because of its picturesqueness and elegance.
The Temple of the Presentation of the Lord has a unique decorative dress, which is expressed in a kokoshnik frieze, a variety of forms of platbands, intricately decorated belts, promising portals, gold openwork chapters and crosses, as well as colored tiles, which creates a vivid image of the entire cathedral. Carved golden crosses shine especially beautifully in the sun. The window openings of the cathedral are skillfully decorated with carved platbands. At the moment, this particular cathedral is one of the most outstanding memorial buildings of Gorokhovets, built in the 17th century.
It is worth noting that the monastery ensemble also includes a cell building, Sergievskaya church, an almshouse, a service building, a section of a fence and a gatehouse.
One of the first stone buildings of the Sretensky Monastery was the bell tower, which is located directly above the main monastery gates. As mentioned, it is the dominant building of the entire monastery ensemble and rises high above the ground. It was erected in 1689, when the first stone cathedral was built, consecrated in honor of the Meeting of the Lord.
At the end of the 17th century, the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh was built with cells intended for nuns and a bell tower. The temple is not large; his wedding was carried out with the help of a single dome, and the main facades are completely simple in execution. Despite this, the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh is a significant object from the point of view of an architectural monument dating back to the 17th century. A stove has been preserved in the interior decoration of the temple, which is luxuriously decorated with colored tiles. This object has become the best example of the true skill of the Gorokhovets builders, which has survived to this day.
During the Soviet era, the Sretensky Monastery was closed, and all the nuns were expelled. In the 1990s, the women's monastery again began to live its former life, because the very first inhabitants came to these places, who provided invaluable assistance in the process of restoration of the building.
At the moment, the Sretenskaya women's monastery in the town of Gorokhovets is active. In the area of its location there is a small wooden house in which the residents of the old monastery live, who became "inhabitants" after the revival of the monastery.
