The Holy Trinity Danilov Monastery (Russian: Свято-Троицкий Данилов монастырь) is a monastery of the Pereslavl Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church located in Pereslavl-Zalessky (Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia).
History
The monastery was founded in 1508 by Daniil, a monk of the Pereslavl Nikitsky Monastery.
Between 1530 and 1532, the Trinity Cathedral was built at the monastery to honor the birth of the Grand Duke’s heir, the future Ivan the Terrible. According to the chronicle, Elder Daniil became the child’s godfather.
During the Time of Troubles, the monastery suffered greatly. Polish and Lithuanian troops burned the monastery and plundered its churches. The monastery’s estates also suffered significant damage: peasants were killed, and houses were plundered.
The monastery, once again rich, was rebuilt in the second half of the 17th century. The largest benefactor was the diplomat and boyar Ivan Baryatinsky, who donated over 20,000 rubles to the monastery and was buried near the northern wall of the abbot’s quarters in 1701. Trinity Cathedral was painted in the second half of the 17th century by the team of the Kostroma icon painter Gury Nikitin.
From 1764 to 1918, the monastery held the status of a second-class monastery of the Vladimir and Suzdal Diocese.
It was closed and desecrated in 1923. During the Soviet era, a machine and tractor station was located on its grounds, and in 1945, a camp for German prisoners of war and a military training unit were established there.
Church services were resumed within the monastery walls in 1995.
Architectural Monuments
The monastery’s very first stone structure was the Trinity Cathedral, erected in 1530–1532. Its construction was supervised by the Rostov architect Grigory Borisov, who brought talented craftsmen with him.
In 1689, a tented bell tower was added to the Danilov Chapel, erected by architects invited from Kostroma.
To the east of the main cathedral stands the Church of All Saints, built in 1687. This stone church was erected on the site of the monastery’s first wooden church. The church is adorned with a dome on a high drum with a row of kokoshniks. The church was originally built as part of a hospital, but the hospital building has not survived.
The monastery’s last stone church was the gate church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, built in 1889. It crowns the Holy Gates in the stone monastery wall. Previously, a church stood above these massive gates, built between 1700 and 1702.
How to get to?
From Pereslavl: 7 min (4 km) via 78К-0043
From Yaroslavl: 2 hr (120 km) via М-8
From Moscow: 2 hr 15 min (140 km) via М-8
