The Church of the Assumption (1682 - 1687)
The Church of the Transfiguration (1687 - 1688)
The Church of the Intercession (1683 - 1688)
The Church of Saint Ambrose of Milan
(XVI - XVII)
(XVI - XVII)
Novodevichy Convent was founded in 1524 by the Grand Duke of Moscow, Vasily III, in honor of the return of the ancient Russian city of Smolensk to Russian lands. Smolensk had been under the control of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for 110 years (since 1404). Between the 13th and 15th centuries, two powerful states emerged on the territory of the ancient Russian principalities: Muscovite Rus and Lithuanian Rus. Lithuanian Rus included ancient Russian cities such as Kyiv, Polotsk, Chernihiv, Minsk, Orsha, Pinsk, and others, as well as Smolensk since 1404 For Muscovite Rus, regaining the lost lands of the ancient Kievan Rus was of great importance. In the first half of the 16th century, wars between the Grand Duchy of Moscow and Lithuania followed one after another: 1500–1503, 1507–1508, 1512–1522, and 1534–1537.
All three campaigns against Smolensk were led by Grand Duke Vasily III and lasted from 1512 to 1514. The first two campaigns were unsuccessful. However, during the third campaign, involving 80,000 soldiers, and subsequent diplomatic negotiations lasting until 1522, Smolensk (Смоленск) remained part of Muscovite Rus for almost 90 years, until 1611, when it again came under the control of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (after the union of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569).
The location of the convent was no coincidence—it was strategically placed in the southwestern direction from Moscow, the most vulnerable area for Crimean Tatar raids and western invasions. It served as a defense for Moscow alongside other monasteries encircling the city. It was built near the Smolensk Road in a bend of the Moskva River, on its left bank, close to three river crossings (in the 15th century, the area was known as the village of Luzhnikovo, now called Luzhniki).
Vasily III allocated 3,000 silver rubles and two palace villages, Alabuzino and Traparevo, for the creation of the convent.
The convent was established as a royal and courtly monastery. It housed relatives of Ivan the Terrible, including Ulyana Paletskaya, the tsar's niece-in-law and widow of Ivan’s younger brother Yuri; Elena Sheremeteva, another niece-in-law of Ivan and widow of Ivan's son; Irina Godunova, widow of Tsar Feodor I Ivanovich and sister of boyar Boris Godunov, the future tsar; Ksenia Godunova, daughter of Boris Godunov; Maria Vladimirovna, widow of the Livonian King Magnus and daughter of Prince Vladimir Andreevich of Staritsa; Catherine Buinosova-Rostovskaya, wife of Tsar Vasily Shuisky; and the mother of Maria Dolgorukaya, wife of Tsar Michael Romanov.
From 1689, the convent was home to Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna, the elder sister of Peter I, along with her sisters Yevdokiya, Catherine, and Maria Miloslavsky, as well as Peter I's first wife, Yevdokiya Lopukhina. The convent remained royal until the first quarter of the 18th century, after which it housed nuns from various social classes.
Novodevichy Convent was closely tied to major political and military events in Russian history. For instance, it was associated with the election of Boris Godunov to the throne in 1598. These events were later depicted by Alexander Pushkin in his tragedy Boris Godunov, with the Kremlin and Novodevichy Convent serving as key settings.
After the death of Tsar Feodor Ivanovich, the Rurik dynasty came to an end.The widow of Feodor, Tsarina Irina Godunova, moved from the Kremlin to Novodevichy Convent. The Great Zemsky Sobor of 1598 elected Boris Godunov as the new tsar. Boris did not belong to the royal lineage, but during Feodor's reign, he acted as his co-ruler and closest boyar. Boris anticipated being chosen as tsar but sought to be repeatedly entreated, as this practice enhanced his legitimacy as a monarch elected by the people—customarily, honors were not accepted immediately in Russia. Following his sister Irina, Boris also moved to Novodevichy Convent. Two large processions were then organized to the convent’s walls. Led by Patriarch Job, clergy, boyars, and people of all social classes departed from the Kremlin and proceeded to the convent to petition Boris to ascend the throne. After the second procession, Boris accepted the crown, and Patriarch Job blessed him as tsar within the walls of Novodevichy Convent. This event took place on February 21, 1598 (Old Style). Boris Godunov was crowned on September 1, 1598, in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, following the tradition of coronations of Russian sovereigns. Boris ruled for seven years and died at the age of 55 (allegedly due to poisoning).
Other significant events in Russian history connected to the convent occurred in the late 17th century.
The monastery flourished during the seven-year regency of Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna (1682–1689), marking the beginning of an intensive period of stone construction that continued throughout her rule. During these years, all major buildings of the baroque ensemble were constructed: the Gate Church of the Intercession with the Mariinsky Chambers (1683–1688), the two-story Church of the Assumption with the refectory chambers (1685–1687), the Gate Church of the Transfiguration and the Lopukhin Chambers (1687–1688), and the monastery bell tower (1689–1690). These developments gave rise to the architectural ensemble of Novodevichy Convent. During this period, icon painters from the Kremlin Armory under the leadership of Fyodor Zubov worked at the monastery. From 1686, the creation of iconostases in the new churches was supervised by Karp Zolotarev, head of the art workshops of the Ambassadorial Office.
Throughout her regency, Sophia served as regent for her younger brothers, Tsars Ivan and Peter. In 1689, Peter turned 17, and a power struggle between them ensued. This resulted in Peter becoming the sole ruler, while Sophia, on her younger brother’s orders, was transferred to Novodevichy Convent, where she endured the second Streltsy uprising in 1698, which occurred near the New Jerusalem Monastery. There is speculation that Sophia sent a letter from the convent urging the Streltsy to rise up and request her return to the throne. However, the existence of such a letter remains unconfirmed, as the monastery’s archives were destroyed by fire. The Streltsy uprising of 1698 was brutally suppressed, with over 1,500 Streltsy executed in Moscow and about 240 executed on the Maiden’s Field near the monastery. After the second Streltsy uprising, Sophia was tonsured as a nun under the name Susanna and spent the next six years in stricter confinement in the Streltsy guardhouse near the Naprudnaya Tower of the monastery. Shortly before her death, she was tonsured into the Great Schema under the name Sophia. In 1704, she was buried in the Smolensk Cathedral. Nearby lie the white-stone tombs of her sisters, Yevdokiya and Catherine Miloslavsky, as well as Peter I's first wife, Yevdokiya Lopukhina.
The convent was also a "watch-monastery" and a fortress, bearing witness to dramatic military events in Russian history.
In 1571, when the forces of Devlet Giray approached Moscow, a fire broke out at Novodevichy Convent. In 1591, during Kazy Giray's invasion, artillery was already installed on the monastery walls.
Upon ascending the throne, Boris Godunov donated 1,000 silver rubles to the monastery for the construction of a powerful fortress wall (870 meters long, with 12 towers and 4 Streltsy guardhouses).
In 1605, False Dmitry I entered Moscow, and in 1606, the monastery fell under siege. Smolenskand Ryazan regiments gathered near its walls to defend Moscow. In 1610–1611, four companies of Polish-Lithuanian soldiers under Polish officers were stationed at the monastery. The battle to liberate Moscow began on August 22, 1612, near the monastery walls between Russian forces led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky and Hetman Jan Chodkiewicz’s army. Chodkiewicz’s troops, numbering 12,000, crossed the Moskva River near the monastery, which was occupied by Polish forces at the time. The Russian army consisted of 8,000–10,000 soldiers. On August 25, 1612, the battle for Moscow began near the monastery walls. At the outset of this battle, the monastery was liberated, and two months later, on October 26, 1612, the Kremlin and Kitay-gorod were freed. The monastery was devastated and burned, along with much of Moscow. The nuns had fled, the monastery treasury was looted, and significant damage was inflicted on churches and other structures. The restoration of the monastery began during the reign of the first Romanovs.
Exactly 200 years later, on September 8, 1812, 2,000 French soldiers under Marshal Napoleon's General Davout occupied Novodevichy Convent. They seized all the cells and churches except for the Smolensk Cathedral. The uninvited guests were far from delicate: they slept in altars, dined on altars, and placed six cannons opposite the northern gates. The French used the Assumption Church to house their wounded. The nuns cared for the injured, prepared food, and sewed linens. On September 25, Napoleon visited the convent and ordered all its premises to be used as supply warehouses. He also commanded the destruction of the Church of John the Baptist, located outside the convent walls. This church became the only one in Moscow to be blown up by Napoleon's order. The French stayed in the convent for a month. Before retreating, they attempted to blow up the main church, the Smolensk Cathedral, by placing six barrels of gunpowder with lit fuses in its undercroft. However, the nuns extinguished the fire quickly and saved the cathedral and the convent from destruction. After the French soldiers departed, all the convent's churches required re-consecration.
During Soviet rule, Novodevichy Convent was gradually closed.
In the spring of 1918, the convent was settled by 200 cadets from the People's Commissariat of Education. By 1920, it housed 300 workers from Petrograd, and by 1925, 456 people lived there. In 1920, the penultimate abbess, Leonida Ozerova, passed away. That same year, Vera Pobedimskaya was elected abbess by the sisters and approved by Patriarch Tikhon. In 1920, the convent was transformed into an Orthodox Brotherhood, which included around 1,000 people—200 nuns and parishioners. In 1922, the convent was closed, and on March 2, 1922, a museum was established on its grounds. In 1934, it became a branch of the State Historical Museum and remained so until 2010. On January 1, 2011, the Church Museum of the Moscow Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church was established on the convent grounds, continuing the traditions of the State Historical Museum.
In 1994, under the guidance of Abbess Seraphima, a descendant of the noble Chichagov family, monastic life at the convent began to revive.
The location of the convent was no coincidence—it was strategically placed in the southwestern direction from Moscow, the most vulnerable area for Crimean Tatar raids and western invasions. It served as a defense for Moscow alongside other monasteries encircling the city. It was built near the Smolensk Road in a bend of the Moskva River, on its left bank, close to three river crossings (in the 15th century, the area was known as the village of Luzhnikovo, now called Luzhniki).
Vasily III allocated 3,000 silver rubles and two palace villages, Alabuzino and Traparevo, for the creation of the convent.
The convent was established as a royal and courtly monastery. It housed relatives of Ivan the Terrible, including Ulyana Paletskaya, the tsar's niece-in-law and widow of Ivan’s younger brother Yuri; Elena Sheremeteva, another niece-in-law of Ivan and widow of Ivan's son; Irina Godunova, widow of Tsar Feodor I Ivanovich and sister of boyar Boris Godunov, the future tsar; Ksenia Godunova, daughter of Boris Godunov; Maria Vladimirovna, widow of the Livonian King Magnus and daughter of Prince Vladimir Andreevich of Staritsa; Catherine Buinosova-Rostovskaya, wife of Tsar Vasily Shuisky; and the mother of Maria Dolgorukaya, wife of Tsar Michael Romanov.
From 1689, the convent was home to Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna, the elder sister of Peter I, along with her sisters Yevdokiya, Catherine, and Maria Miloslavsky, as well as Peter I's first wife, Yevdokiya Lopukhina. The convent remained royal until the first quarter of the 18th century, after which it housed nuns from various social classes.
Novodevichy Convent was closely tied to major political and military events in Russian history. For instance, it was associated with the election of Boris Godunov to the throne in 1598. These events were later depicted by Alexander Pushkin in his tragedy Boris Godunov, with the Kremlin and Novodevichy Convent serving as key settings.
After the death of Tsar Feodor Ivanovich, the Rurik dynasty came to an end.The widow of Feodor, Tsarina Irina Godunova, moved from the Kremlin to Novodevichy Convent. The Great Zemsky Sobor of 1598 elected Boris Godunov as the new tsar. Boris did not belong to the royal lineage, but during Feodor's reign, he acted as his co-ruler and closest boyar. Boris anticipated being chosen as tsar but sought to be repeatedly entreated, as this practice enhanced his legitimacy as a monarch elected by the people—customarily, honors were not accepted immediately in Russia. Following his sister Irina, Boris also moved to Novodevichy Convent. Two large processions were then organized to the convent’s walls. Led by Patriarch Job, clergy, boyars, and people of all social classes departed from the Kremlin and proceeded to the convent to petition Boris to ascend the throne. After the second procession, Boris accepted the crown, and Patriarch Job blessed him as tsar within the walls of Novodevichy Convent. This event took place on February 21, 1598 (Old Style). Boris Godunov was crowned on September 1, 1598, in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, following the tradition of coronations of Russian sovereigns. Boris ruled for seven years and died at the age of 55 (allegedly due to poisoning).
Other significant events in Russian history connected to the convent occurred in the late 17th century.
The monastery flourished during the seven-year regency of Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna (1682–1689), marking the beginning of an intensive period of stone construction that continued throughout her rule. During these years, all major buildings of the baroque ensemble were constructed: the Gate Church of the Intercession with the Mariinsky Chambers (1683–1688), the two-story Church of the Assumption with the refectory chambers (1685–1687), the Gate Church of the Transfiguration and the Lopukhin Chambers (1687–1688), and the monastery bell tower (1689–1690). These developments gave rise to the architectural ensemble of Novodevichy Convent. During this period, icon painters from the Kremlin Armory under the leadership of Fyodor Zubov worked at the monastery. From 1686, the creation of iconostases in the new churches was supervised by Karp Zolotarev, head of the art workshops of the Ambassadorial Office.
Throughout her regency, Sophia served as regent for her younger brothers, Tsars Ivan and Peter. In 1689, Peter turned 17, and a power struggle between them ensued. This resulted in Peter becoming the sole ruler, while Sophia, on her younger brother’s orders, was transferred to Novodevichy Convent, where she endured the second Streltsy uprising in 1698, which occurred near the New Jerusalem Monastery. There is speculation that Sophia sent a letter from the convent urging the Streltsy to rise up and request her return to the throne. However, the existence of such a letter remains unconfirmed, as the monastery’s archives were destroyed by fire. The Streltsy uprising of 1698 was brutally suppressed, with over 1,500 Streltsy executed in Moscow and about 240 executed on the Maiden’s Field near the monastery. After the second Streltsy uprising, Sophia was tonsured as a nun under the name Susanna and spent the next six years in stricter confinement in the Streltsy guardhouse near the Naprudnaya Tower of the monastery. Shortly before her death, she was tonsured into the Great Schema under the name Sophia. In 1704, she was buried in the Smolensk Cathedral. Nearby lie the white-stone tombs of her sisters, Yevdokiya and Catherine Miloslavsky, as well as Peter I's first wife, Yevdokiya Lopukhina.
The convent was also a "watch-monastery" and a fortress, bearing witness to dramatic military events in Russian history.
In 1571, when the forces of Devlet Giray approached Moscow, a fire broke out at Novodevichy Convent. In 1591, during Kazy Giray's invasion, artillery was already installed on the monastery walls.
Upon ascending the throne, Boris Godunov donated 1,000 silver rubles to the monastery for the construction of a powerful fortress wall (870 meters long, with 12 towers and 4 Streltsy guardhouses).
In 1605, False Dmitry I entered Moscow, and in 1606, the monastery fell under siege. Smolenskand Ryazan regiments gathered near its walls to defend Moscow. In 1610–1611, four companies of Polish-Lithuanian soldiers under Polish officers were stationed at the monastery. The battle to liberate Moscow began on August 22, 1612, near the monastery walls between Russian forces led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky and Hetman Jan Chodkiewicz’s army. Chodkiewicz’s troops, numbering 12,000, crossed the Moskva River near the monastery, which was occupied by Polish forces at the time. The Russian army consisted of 8,000–10,000 soldiers. On August 25, 1612, the battle for Moscow began near the monastery walls. At the outset of this battle, the monastery was liberated, and two months later, on October 26, 1612, the Kremlin and Kitay-gorod were freed. The monastery was devastated and burned, along with much of Moscow. The nuns had fled, the monastery treasury was looted, and significant damage was inflicted on churches and other structures. The restoration of the monastery began during the reign of the first Romanovs.
Exactly 200 years later, on September 8, 1812, 2,000 French soldiers under Marshal Napoleon's General Davout occupied Novodevichy Convent. They seized all the cells and churches except for the Smolensk Cathedral. The uninvited guests were far from delicate: they slept in altars, dined on altars, and placed six cannons opposite the northern gates. The French used the Assumption Church to house their wounded. The nuns cared for the injured, prepared food, and sewed linens. On September 25, Napoleon visited the convent and ordered all its premises to be used as supply warehouses. He also commanded the destruction of the Church of John the Baptist, located outside the convent walls. This church became the only one in Moscow to be blown up by Napoleon's order. The French stayed in the convent for a month. Before retreating, they attempted to blow up the main church, the Smolensk Cathedral, by placing six barrels of gunpowder with lit fuses in its undercroft. However, the nuns extinguished the fire quickly and saved the cathedral and the convent from destruction. After the French soldiers departed, all the convent's churches required re-consecration.
During Soviet rule, Novodevichy Convent was gradually closed.
In the spring of 1918, the convent was settled by 200 cadets from the People's Commissariat of Education. By 1920, it housed 300 workers from Petrograd, and by 1925, 456 people lived there. In 1920, the penultimate abbess, Leonida Ozerova, passed away. That same year, Vera Pobedimskaya was elected abbess by the sisters and approved by Patriarch Tikhon. In 1920, the convent was transformed into an Orthodox Brotherhood, which included around 1,000 people—200 nuns and parishioners. In 1922, the convent was closed, and on March 2, 1922, a museum was established on its grounds. In 1934, it became a branch of the State Historical Museum and remained so until 2010. On January 1, 2011, the Church Museum of the Moscow Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church was established on the convent grounds, continuing the traditions of the State Historical Museum.
In 1994, under the guidance of Abbess Seraphima, a descendant of the noble Chichagov family, monastic life at the convent began to revive.
