The Novospassky Monastery is a historically Stavropigial Monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church, located in Moscow in Taganka, on the Krutitsky Hill, off the banks of the Moscow River and known for its close connection with the Romanovs family. The architectural ensemble was formed in the XVII -XVIII centuries. The place’s current address is Peasant Square, 10.
It was founded in 1490 with the name of the New Savior by Grand Duke Ivan III, who transferred the brethren of the Kremlin monastery of the Savior on Bor to outside the city. The latter arose around 1330 under Grand Duke Ivan Kalita.
The first stone Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior was built in 1494.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the monastery withstood the siege of the Polish troops. Near its walls, the Russian militia in 1612 was preparing for the final liberation of Moscow from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders.
Until the XVIII century, the monastery was a burial site for the members of the reigning family of the Romanovs.
Thanks to the royal gifts and benefits, the monastery was one of the richest by the end of the 17th century. Tsar Peter I ordered in 1689 to decorate the monastery cathedral with paintings, and in 1717 issued an order to cast a new bell for the cathedral weighing 1100 pounds.
Under Empress Catherine II, the monastery 1764 lost all its estates and, accordingly, large incomes; Soon, the number of inhabitants of the monastery decreased markedly.
The revival of monastic life began in April 1991. The men’s choir of the Novospassky Monastery was created in July of the same year.
In 1995, the ashes of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, killed 90 years earlier by the terrorist Ivan Kalyaev, were transferred here. A memorial cross was erected on the monastery’s territory and recreated according to the surviving project of Viktor Vasnetsov. Until 1918, it was an exact copy of the monument cross that existed where the prince was murdered in the Kremlin. It was restored in 2017).
In 2011, a museum of the monastery’s history was opened, available to the public. The basis of the museum collection was made up of objects discovered during excavations in the monastery, as well as personal belongings of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov. In 2012, the so-called Italian courtyard was opened for worship and visits. Here executions were conducted in the 1920s. There is a Sunday school at the Novospassky Monastery, and a singing school for boys operates at the monastery.
In February 2014, Patriarch Kirill consecrated the 16-ton “Romanovsky” bell, which was cast to replace the historical bell destroyed in the 20th century.
The main buildings and structures of the Novospassky Monastery:
A huge Preobrazhensky Cathedral; It was built in 1645-1649 by dependent of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich; Guri Nikitin was invited from Kostroma for a painting.
Pokrovskaya Church with a refectory (1670s).
The walls and towers of the monastery (1640-1642).
Fraternal cells with the St. Nicholas Church.
The abbess chambers of the XVII and XVIII centuries.
The bell tower 78 meters high, one of the highest in pre -revolutionary Moscow, was built in 1759-1785 on the site of an ancient belfry, arranged in 1622 by Patriarch Filaret.
Znamenskaya Church (1791-1795, architect E. S. Nazarov).
Working hours: Mon – Sat: 07:00 – 20:00; Sun: 06:30 – 20:00.
Nearest metro: Taganskaya, Krestyanskaya Zastava.
See also architecture of Moscow, churches and cathedrals of Moscow
