Description of the attraction
The Intercession Women's Monastery, founded in 1364, is located on the low bank of the Kamenka. The monastery is known as a place of exile for unwanted representatives of noble families and royal families. In the basement of the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Theotokos there is a tomb, where, among other "crowned" nuns, the wife of the Great Moscow Prince Vasily III Solomoniy Saburov, the daughter of Ivan III Alexander, the fifth wife of Ivan the Terrible Anna Vasilchikova are buried. Among those exiled to the monastery were the daughter of Boris Godunov, Ksenia, and the first wife of Peter I, Evdokia Lopukhina. In a stone one-story building of the 17th century, the interior of the command hut has been restored, in the underground of which the monastery prison was located.
The ensemble of the monastery consists of a white stone fence with 9 towers, including two towers with stone tents, the unique Church of the Annunciation, the Intercession Cathedral with an attached bell tower, the Conception refectory church, and several monastery buildings.
The center of the monastery is the Intercession Cathedral, which was built in 1518. Its white walls and ceramic floor could have given the impression of accentuated asceticism, but the magnificent icons and artworks that are the pride of the museum made the interior refined and festive. A tent-roofed bell tower - originally a pillar-like church of the Origin of the Honest Trees of the Cross - with a dome is connected to the cathedral. A tent above it appeared at the end of the 17th century.
A refectory with a church was built next to the cathedral. It is a large two-storey building decorated with red brick ornaments. The hall of the refectory chamber is very spacious, with powerful vaults resting on one pillar located in the center of the hall. The appearance of the composition ends with a hexagonal belfry. Adjacent to the chamber is a small Church of the Conception, marked from the outside with only an elegant dome.
The Holy Gate with the Church of the Annunciation, built in 1510-1518, is a kind of fortress tower with two arches - a large passage and a small one for pedestrians. This is a unique example of ancient Russian architecture, combining the functions of a fortress tower and a church. The church itself is located in the upper part of the tower, square in plan, and is a small quadrangle surrounded on both sides by a gallery with arched openings. In composition, it repeats the large Pokrovsky Cathedral, although it is more richly decorated.
The entire complex of the Intercession Monastery is under the protection of UNESCO.
