The Novodevichy Convent is situated in the south-western part of Moscow, at a curve of the Moskva River. The ensemble is a prominent architectural monument of the 16th and 17th centuries.
The most notable building of the ensemble is a cathedral dedicated to the icon Our Lady of Smolensk, which was built at the same time as the Convent itself. The monumental five-dome church has paintings dated back to the 16th and 17th centuries, a five-tier carved iconostasis, and rare 17th-century icons. A refectory with the Assumption Church, bell towers, gate churches and adjacent to them chambers of Eudoxia Lapukhina and Maria Alexeyevna (Lopukhinskiye and Mariinskiye Chambers) are great samples of Moscow baroque.
The Convent was founded by Tsar Vasili III in 1524 in commemoration of the conquest of Smolensk. This fact gave the Convent its second name Bogoroditse-Smolensky Monastery.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, women of the royal family took the veils in the Novodevichy Convent. A widow of Tsarevich Ivan, elder son of Ivan the Terrible, lived there. After Tsar Feodor I died, his widow Irina Godunova and her brother Boris Godunov, the future Tsar Boris, moved into the Convent too. Tsarevna Sophia, Peter I's sister, who was forced to take the veil, also spent her last days there. The Emperor's first wife Eudoxia Lopukhina was shut up in the Convent as well.
The Novodevichy Convent had always had royal patronage and owned extensive lands. As a rule, nuns of the Convent belonged to the upper class of society. In 1724, a hospital for soldiers and officers as well as an asylum for abandoned girls were arranged in there.
During the 1812 Patriotic War, the French army stayed in the Novodevichy Convent. The French wanted to explode the Convent after the retreat. Thanks to the nuns, who came in time and put out the fuse, the buildings were saved.
From the late 18th century to 1868, the Novodevichy Convent was used by church authorities as a correctional facility for women of Moscow and Moscow Province, who were blamed by the Territorial Court for disbelief.
Fate of the Novodevichy Convent significantly changed in the early 20th century. In 1922, it was shut down and occupied by a museum, which later became a branch of the State Historical Museum. Nevertheless, since 1980 the Novodevichy Convent has been used as a residence of Metropolitan of Krutitsk and Kolomna. In 1994, the convent was established again. Since 1995, church services are held on Patron Saint's Days in Smolensky Cathedral.
As early as 16th century, a cemetery was arranged within the Novodevichy Convent, where royal and high-society members were buried. In the 19th century, heroes of the 1812 Patriotic War including hussar and poet Denis Davydov, Decembrists Sergey Troubetskoy and Sergey Muravyov-Apostol, as well as famous people of art such as historian Sergey Solovyov and philosopher Vladimir Solovyov were buried in the Convent.
The Novodevichy Convent, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the oldest and most beautiful monasteries in Russia.
On 10 August 2014, the Novodevichy Convent celebrated its 490th anniversary.
A stone church in a settlement of silversmiths has been known since 1657. From 1764 to 1768, an owner of the neighbouring estate Athanasiy Goncharov built a bell tower with a church of St. John the Baptist in its lower tier to the west of the above mentioned church.
The main church was rebuilt in 1781 with contribution from T. Surovshchinskaya. ...
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