St. Andronik's Monastery of the Saviour was founded in about 1360 and dedicated to the Image of Edessa. Within the Monastery's area the 15th-century Saviour Cathedral is situated. It is the oldest sample of Russian stone architecture, which has survived till our days.
St. Andronik's Monastery is placed on the abrupt bank of the Yauza River, where the road to Horde began in the old times. Later it was sadly known as "Vladimirovka" Road used to convoy prisoners to a forced labour camp in Siberia. The battle against Batu Khan took place there. It was also the road used by Grand Prince Vasily to march out against Tamerlane.
Legend says that coming back from Constantinople in 1358, where Alexy was inducted into a metropolitan, he ran into a gale in the Golden Horn Bay near Constantinople. He promised to build a cathedral in Moscow and dedicate it to a saint of that day if he survived. When Alexy returned to Moscow, he founded the Monastery of the Saviour in 1361. Its main wooden cathedral was dedicated to the Image of Edessa.
Andronik, one of the most favourite pupils of St. Sergey of Radonezh, became the Monastery's dean and later was canonised. After he died, the Monastery was called St. Andronik's Monastery of the Saviour.
Originally, the Monastery had wooden walls, which functioned as ramparts.
From 1420 to 1428, in the time of Metropolitan Photios, the Cathedral was reconstructed and got white-stone walls. Andrei Rublev and Daniel Chorny painted it. Unfortunately, their frescoes were destroyed by the 18th-century reconstruction. Only small pieces on the window jambs survived.
In 1812, the dome was collapsed by the fire, but reconstructed as early as 1813 and 1814. In the 1840s, the interior changed. It was crowned with a tented-roof octagonal drum. Kokoshniks and zakomaras were hidden under a pyramidal roof. Side chapels dedicated to St. Andronik and the Dormition were added to the northern and southern walls correspondingly. As a result, the original appearance was completely lost. However, in the 1950s and 1960s, the Cathedral was restored to its original state.
In 1504, a stone three-level refectory appeared near the western wall. In 1691, Tsaritsa Eudoxia Lopukhina wished to make the Church of St. Alexy the Metropolitan in its third tier. The middle tier was occupied by St. Michael the Archangel's Church with the side chapel dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul the Apostles, which was abolished in 1819 and replaced by the side chapel of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. Another side chapel was dedicated to St. Alexandr Komansky. The Lopukhin family's burial vault with the Church of Our Lady of the Sign was arranged in the lower tier. In the 1690s, a cleric building was constructed near the Holy Gates. A Fraternal Building appeared in the same century. In 1747 to 1756, the Cathedral got its stone walls. The old bell tower over the Holy Gates near the Cathedral of the Saviour was replaced by a new one 73 meters high (239.5 feet) designed by architect Matvey Kazakov. With support from merchant S. Vasiliev, St. Simeon the Righteous's Church was established inside.
In the mid-17th century, working people founded a settlement near the Monastery, which first was named Andronievskaya, but later renamed Voronia. As for the year of 1700, the Monastery had 210 yards with peasants. St. Andronik's Monastery was one of the richest monasteries in Russia. In 1790, it had 5.6 ha of settled land, 4 ha of meadow plots, and 4.5 ha of useless land.
The temple was also used as a prison. In 1666, Archpriest Awakum Petrov, who preached the Old Belief, was brought there shackled. For three days, he was chained to the wall in a basement without any water or food, then sent to St. Andronik's Monastary in the Vorobyovy Hills.
As any other temple, the Monastery has its own cemetery that existed up to 1929. Ash of Grand Prince Simeon of Vladimir and Moscow, Ivan the Moneybag's (Kalita) son, rests somewhere within the Monastery's area. Legend has it that in 1430, Andrei Rublev (1360–1430), who lived in the Monastery his last days, was buried there too, as well as Daniel Chorny. Warriors, killed during the 1380 Battle of Kulikovo, were also buried in the Monastery's cemetery.
After the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Monastery was severely damaged. In 1919, it was occupied by proletarian accommodations for workers of Rogozhsk and Semyonovsk District. In the spring of 1922, all valuables were confiscated, and a juvenile prison for street children was established. In 1930, the bell tower was exploded.
In 1947, the Monastery was announced a culture reserve. Andrei Rublev's Central Museum of Old Russian Art and Culture was founded within its area. Numerous Old Russian icons, found during expeditions to the cities of Russian North, were brought and kept there. In 1960, when by the decision of UNESCO the 600th birth anniversary of Andrei Rublev was celebrated worldwide, the museum was solemnly opened.
By the 800th anniversary of Moscow, Joseph Stalin sent for Dmitry Chechulin, the chief architect of the capital, and asked about the oldest Moscow buildings. Dmitry Chechulin mentioned the Church of the Saviour in St. Andronik's Monastery. Reconstruction works began immediately.
By the time, the Cathedral was surrounded by other buildings constructed later, which badly changed its appearance. Quite quickly the original look of the most beautiful and austere north-style temple, which was rare for Moscow, was fully resumed.
In 1989, the Monastery was handed back to the Orthodox Church and has functioned since then. Today, the Monastery is a parish and holds regular church services.
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