Suzdal, Pokrovsky Monastery: history, description, interesting facts

Far beyond our country, the ancient Russian city of Suzdal is famous for its historical sights. Every monument located on this land can be called without exaggeration a masterpiece of not only Russian, but also world architecture.

Today we want to invite you to a virtual excursion to Suzdal. Pokrovsky monastery is of great interest for tourists, so we will also visit this monastery.

Location:

The monastery is located on the bank of the picturesque Kamenka River, which carries its waters along Suzdal. Snow-white buildings, located on a flowering meadow, give the monastery some kind of unreal, fantastic view. Yes, and Camenka itself - the river is very beautiful, especially in June, when it is covered with flowering water lilies. We inform everyone who plans to visit the Pokrovsky Monastery (Suzdal), the address of the monastery: st. Pokrovskaya, 76.

History of the monastery

The walls of this ancient structure store many secrets and interesting facts, which still cause great interest among historians and researchers. The fact is that the Pokrovsky Women's Monastery was not an abode in the usual sense of the word: here the women of the upper class stayed for life. Often they were exiled here not for some serious sins, but only because someone needed to get rid of them. Forced nuns were missing the remains of their lives in wooden cells, their fate was sealed, so in the monastery there was an underground crypt, where the unfortunate people ended their earthly journey.

It is believed that the appearance of the Holy Protection Monastery (Suzdal) owes a miracle. As the ancient legend says, Prince Andrey Konstantinovich returned to his native city from Nizhny Novgorod, when a storm of unprecedented strength began. The prince swore that if he survived, he would certainly build a monastic monastery in his native city. It should be assumed that the journey ended safely, because in 1364, the Pokrovsky Monastery (Suzdal) began to be built in the low part of the bank of the Kamenka River. The history of the monastery is calculated precisely since 1364.

The heyday of the Holy Protection Convent (Suzdal) reached its peak in the reign of Basil III. He sacrificed the monastery in the beginning of the XVI century, a huge amount of money that was used to build the Holy Gates and the Intercession Cathedral that have survived to this day, as well as the preserved fence and cells.

Mysterious nuns

One of the first noble prisoners of the monastery was the wife of Basil III Solomoniya Saburova - Grand Duchess. In 1525, Basil III accused his wife, with whom he lived for twenty years, in infertility. He forcibly tonsured her into a nun and sent him to Pokrovsky Monastery. In those days, the divorce was an unheard of thing, and to get permission from the spiritual authorities for another marriage, Vasily III allocated huge funds for the development of the monastery.

However, it soon became clear that Vasily III's infertility charges were in vain. Several months after the tonsure, Solomon was born a son, but, fearing the wiles of the new wife of the former wife of Elena Glinskaya (the future mother of Tsar Ivan the Terrible), she was forced to report the death of the prince.

There is a version that Solomon sent the baby to the Crimean Khan, who later played a role in history, becoming famous as the robber Kudeyar. After the tonsure, Solomon got the name Sofia, after death was canonized by the church as St. Sofia of Suzdal. Later, she was considered the patroness of Suzdal.

Further history of the monastery

In 1551, when the one-year-old daughter of Ivan the Terrible passed away, according to his decree the Zachatyevskaya church was rebuilt, which replaced the old wooden structure (14th c). The apse to it was attached much later (XVII century.). Approximately at the same time, the construction of a fence appeared on the territory of the monastery and the construction of the fence continued, which was started in the 16th century.

Suzdal, Pokrovsky monastery in the XX century

Like most religious buildings in Russia, the monastery was closed and looted in 1923. Since 1933, there was a military biological laboratory here, the OGPU Special Purpose Bureau is an organization in which prisoners worked. They were experienced specialists of various specialties. All of them were engaged in the development of biological weapons. In 1935 the prisoners B. Ya. Elbert and NA Gaisky created here a vaccine against tularemia. The laboratory worked on the territory of the monastery until 1936.

In the sixties of the last century in the monastery buildings, restoration work was carried out, and later museum exhibits appeared in them. In the late eighties there was a tourist complex with a restaurant and a bar, and in the magnificent Pokrovsky Cathedral there was a concert hall. There is even a hotel for tourists, but we'll talk about it later.

In the nineties, the changes taking place in the country were also affected by the city of Suzdal. Pokrovsky Monastery in 1992 was returned to the church, it revived a strong monastic life. Today it is an active monastery. He owns a cathedral, outbuildings, an almshouse, a cell-house.

Architecture

The first buildings of the monastery were wooden. Today you can see the later buildings, which specialists refer to the XVI century. White-stone walls, wonderful architecture, combining ancient Russian and Western European elements, refined decor.

But, of course, the central monument of this marvelous ensemble is the Intercession Cathedral of the Intercession Monastery in Suzdal. It was built in 1518 on the site of a wooden church. Unfortunately, the names of masters in history are not preserved. This is a massive four-pillared building, which has a high basement and is surrounded by a two-story open gallery on three sides, to which lead two covered staircases.

From the river to the building adjoins the altar part with high windows, located in deep niches. The apses share smooth columns and are decorated with a carved cornice with a fine pattern. It repeats itself in the design of light drums, which are crowned with helmet-shaped glans. The walls of the cathedral are divided into three parts by the blades. They end with keeled zakomars.

The interior of the cathedral is quite strict: on the white walls there is no traditional painting, the floor is laid out with black tiles. The main decoration of the interior has always been magnificent icons and exquisite artistic sewing. Part of these artifacts today can be seen in the museum of the monastery. The cathedral was rebuilt many times over its long history, but in 1962 its original appearance was restored.

Interesting Facts

1. The cathedral became a burial vault for many noble nuns of the monastery.
2. The monastery and the temple during the celebration of the three hundredth anniversary of the Romanov dynasty was visited by Nicholas II.
3. In the spring of 1994, the Archbishop of Suzdal and Vladimir Evlogiy consecrated the Cathedral of the Intercession of Our Lady. A few years later, a new four-tiered iconostasis was erected here, which is decorated with icons, which nuns wrote.

Bell tower

This building is immediately visible to everyone who comes to Suzdal. Pokrovsky Monastery has a very beautiful bell tower. It is located north-west of the cathedral. Its lower part is a pillar-shaped church, built in 1515. It was an octagon, crowned with a command post. In the second half of the 17th century, an arched storey was built over the church, which was combined with a nearby fence, and a high tent decorated with three rows of dormer windows framed.

The covered gallery, which connects the bell tower and the cathedral, has a refined decoration: two original archways are ennobled with rust, and the windows framed by exquisite platbands are separated by rustic pilasters.

The Holy Gates

Another ancient monument of the monastery is the Holy Gate and Gate Church. These buildings also belong to 1515. The gate is unique, above all, the function assigned to them: at the same time they were a church and a powerful fortress tower.

The church is located at the top of the quadrangular, which is cut by two arched openings, and the overall composition is very reminiscent of the outlines of the Intercession Cathedral. In the corners of the church there are two small aisles, which are crowned with light drums with helmet-shaped domes, and the central, more massive drum with narrow windows rests on two tiers of zakomar.

The exterior walls are decorated with a sophisticated decor that resembles wood carvings. The gate church was also rebuilt many times, but in 1958 the restoration work, designed by A. D. Varganov, restored the original form to a unique monument.

Refectory of the Intercession Monastery (Suzdal)

This building, located to the north of the Intercession Cathedral, has more similarities with the Polish, rather than with Russian architecture. It was built in 1551. To a strictly two-storeyed building of the refectory there is a very small Zachatievskaya church, which can be recognized by a small glavka. The massive vaults of the refectory hall, located on the second floor, support the pillar in the center.

The ground floor was reserved for utility rooms. The only decoration of this structure can be called an ornament in the form of rhombuses of red brick, enveloping the perimeter of the structure. On the west side there is a hexagonal belfry.

The refectory in the Intercession Monastery (Suzdal) was once surrounded by several auxiliary rooms. One-storeyed cook, which was used for cooking, was erected in the XVII century. Today it is restored and is a rare example of monastic architecture.

Prikaznaya hut

In the southern part of the monastery territory there is a monument of civil Russian architecture - Prikaznaya hut. Its interiors of the beginning of the XVIII century were restored in 1970. In the dungeon of this building there is a so-called stone sack. It contained the prisoners of the monastery.

Fence

The very first fence of the monastery of stone was built in the 16th century, later it was rebuilt several times, and in the 20th century AD Varganov restored it. The site of the old fence with tent towers, devoid of decor, refers to the XVII century. It is in the northern part of the territory and forms a small enclosed courtyard. Towers (XVIII century), decorated with hemispherical domes, are very picturesque. Specialists believe that, perhaps, they also had a hatch completion at the beginning.

Hotel «Pokrovskaya»

Russian and foreign tourists are admired by ancient Suzdal. Pokrovsky Monastery is included in the program of almost all excursion programs. Many travelers are surprised that at the entrance to the monastery they see neat wooden houses.

The thing is that in the dashing perestroika times in the monastery was the hotel "Pokrovskaya", which was a stylized hut. They were very fond of staying foreign tourists. In 2008, the hotel ceased its work, and its owners donated houses to the monastery. Now here is a shelter for girls, as well as monastic cells.