The Theotokos-Rozhdestvensky Monastery, known as the Rozhdestvensky Monastery, is one of Moscow’s oldest women’s monasteries. It is located at the intersection of Rozhdestvenka Street and Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, to which it gave its name.
The monastery was founded in 1386 by the wife of Prince Andrei Serpukhovsky and the mother of Prince Vladimir the Brave – Princess Maria Konstantinovna.
The one-domed stone cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was erected in 1501-1505 in the traditions of early Moscow architecture.
In the 70s of the 17th century, the Nativity Monastery became the burial place of the princes Lobanov-Rostovsky: their tomb was attached to the cathedral from the east. In the 19th century, it received a second floor, which housed the monastery sacristy.
In 1676-1687, at the expense of Princess Fotinia Ivanovna Lobanova-Rostovskaya, a stone church of St. John Chrysostom with a refectory and chapels of St. Nicholas, the righteous Philaret the Merciful and St. Demetrius of Rostov were erected. In 1671, a stone fence with four towers was built at her own expense.
In 1835-1836, a bell tower was designed over the Holy Gates with the church of the Holy Martyr Eugene, Bishop of Kherson (designed by N. I. Kozlovsky, the church was built at the expense of S. I. Shterich).
At the beginning of the 20th century, three-story cell buildings were designed, which housed the classes of the parish school.
In 1903-1904, according to the project of the architect P. A. Vinogradov, the church of St. John Chrysostom was reconstructed, and the refectory of the monastery was erected. In 1904-1906, Vinogradov built a temple of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God with a new refectory; the church is five-domed pillarless in the Russian-Byzantine style, its length is 36 meters, width – 15, and height – 17.
In 1922 the monastery was closed.
The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos was returned to the church in 1992, and services resumed on May 14, 1992.
The monastery was revived on July 16, 1993, and restoration work is underway. The monastery has a Sunday school for children 4-17 years old.
Nearest metro: Trubnaya.
See also architecture of Moscow, churches and cathedrals of Moscow
