Donskoy Monastery

Donskoy Monastery is one of the oldest monasteries in Moscow, standing on Donskaya Square in the south of the city, near Shabolovka Street and the Sparrow Hills. The nearest metro station is Shabolovskaya, about a 10-12-minute walk away. The monastery grounds cover roughly 5 hectares, half of which is taken up by its necropolis. Today it is a stavropegial monastery for men and serves as the residence of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

History

The monastery was founded in 1591-1593 to commemorate Moscow's deliverance from a raid by the Crimean khan Kazy-Girei, whose troops had reached the Sparrow Hills in 1591. According to tradition, a procession carrying a copy of the Icon of the Mother of God of the Don accompanied the Russian army, and the khan withdrew without attacking. The monastery was founded on the site of the regimental church that had held the icon.

Boris Godunov laid the foundation of the Great Cathedral, consecrated in 1593 in honour of the Don Icon. The Small Cathedral is the monastery's oldest church, built in the same years. Construction of the New (Great) Cathedral began in 1684 as a thanksgiving church commissioned by Tsarevna Sophia and was consecrated in 1698; it is an example of Moscow Baroque with a seven-tier iconostasis and frescoes painted in 1782-1785 by the Italian artist Antonio Claudio.

Polish troops looted the monastery during the Time of Troubles, but by the 18th-19th centuries it had become one of the richest and most venerated monasteries in Moscow. After the revolution it was formally closed in 1918, though monastic life continued until the late 1920s. Patriarch Tikhon was held under arrest here in 1922-1925 and, after his death in 1925, was buried in the Small Cathedral. In 1929 the monastery was shut down entirely and a museum of architecture was set up on its grounds; the museum status saved the buildings from demolition, and architectural fragments, including reliefs removed from the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, were brought here. In the 1930s-1950s a crematorium operated on the monastery grounds, where victims of political repression were secretly buried. The monastery was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1991.

Necropolis

The Old Donskoy Cemetery covers about 2.5 hectares and is considered the largest surviving noble necropolis in Moscow from the 18th-19th centuries. Among those buried there are the philosopher Pyotr Chaadaev, historian Vasily Klyuchevsky, poet Alexander Sumarokov, architect Osip Bove, relatives of Alexander Pushkin, and members of the Golitsyn family. In 2008 the writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn was buried in the necropolis.

In 2009 a memorial to the White movement was opened on the monastery grounds: General Anton Denikin and his wife, philosopher Ivan Ilyin and his wife, and General Vladimir Kappel were reburied there after their remains were returned to Russia and reinterred between 2005 and 2007.

Architecture

The monastery was originally built as a fortress: walls with twelve towers guarded the southern approaches to Moscow. Once their defensive role was lost, the walls were rebuilt in the red-and-white Moscow Baroque style, similar to Novodevichy Convent. The bell tower above the western gate was erected in 1730-1753. Nine of the twelve towers have been restored so far, and restoration work continues on the southern wall and the western gate with its bell tower.

Getting there

From Shabolovskaya metro station, exit from the first car coming from the centre, turn left and walk along Shabolovka Street to Donskaya Square — about 10-12 minutes. Trams No. 14 and No. 39 (Donskoy Monastery stop) and buses No. 111, 196, M1 and M16 also serve the monastery.