The Coastal Monastery of St. Sergius (Сергиева Приморская пустынь) is a Russian Orthodox

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

in the coastal settlement of Strelna near St. Petersburg. It used to be one of the richest monasteries of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

and formerly contained seven churches as well as many

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

History

The

poustinia A hermitage most authentically refers to a place where a hermit lives in seclusion from the world, or a building or settlement where a person or a group of people lived religiously, in seclusion. Particularly as a name or part of the name of prop ...

was founded in 1734 as a branch of the great Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius in the immediate vicinity of the new Russian capital, St. Petersburg.

Catherine Ivanovna Tsarevna Catherine Ivanovna of Russia (20 October 1691 – 14 June 1733) was a daughter of Tsar Ivan V and Praskovia Saltykova, eldest sister of Empress Anna of Russia and niece of Peter the Great. By her marriage, she was a Duchess of Mecklenbu ...

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

's niece, owned a manor on the bank of the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...

. After her death Empress Anna presented the land to her confessor Varlaam, who was also in charge of the Trinity Lavra. Holy Trinity Cathedral (Troice-Sergieva pustyn), 1864-71

Holy Trinity Cathedral (Troice-Sergieva pustyn), 1864-71

The earliest buildings of the monastery, including the pentacupolar cathedral, the outer wall and the towers, were designed by

Pietro Antonio Trezzini Pietro Antonio Trezzini (Пётр Трезин; 1692 – after 1760) was a Swiss architect from the Trezzini family who worked primarily in St. Petersburg. After several years of training in Milan, Trezzini arrived in St. Petersburg (1726), p ...

. They were

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

in character. It was not until 1764 that Strelna Monastery was designated a separate poustinia. Many monks from Strelna entered the Navy to serve as ship chaplains. Saint

Herman of Alaska Herman of Alaska ( rus, Преподобный Ге́рман Аляскинский, r=Prepodobny German Alaskinsky; 1756 – November 15, 1837) was a Russian Orthodox monk and missionary to Alaska, which was then part of Russian America. His g ...

was one of those monks. The golden age of the monastery is associated with Saint

Ignatius Bryanchaninov Saint Ignatius (secular name Dmitry Alexandrovich Brianchaninov, russian: link=no, Дмитрий Александрович Брянчанинов, ; 1807–1867) was a bishop and theologian of the Russian Orthodox Church. He stands out as one of ...

who was in charge of the poustinia between 1834 and 1857. Bryanchaninov had the monastery transformed by Aleksey Gornostayev into a showcase for the Russian Revival style. The new Ascension Cathedral was built to a

Neo-Byzantine Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Orthod ...

design. After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

the Soviets suppressed the monastery (1931), destroyed the cemetery and adapted the grounds to serve as a

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

, or a work farm. The buildings sustained further damage during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the property was occupied by a police school in the early 1960s, Trezzini's cathedral and several other churches were blown up. The remaining buildings were returned to the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

in 1993.

Burials

Some of the noblest and richest families of Imperial Russia, including the Galitzines, the Stroganovs and the

Yusupov Yusupov (russian: Юсу́пов) or Yusupova (feminine; ) is a Chechens, Chechen, Tatar and Uzbeks, Uzbek surname, which is common in the countries of the former Soviet Union. It may refer to: *House of Yusupov, royal Russian family, of Tatar desce ...

s, patronised the monastery and had their burial vaults on the grounds. The local cemetery is the burial site of a number of Russian nobles, including the Zubov brothers, Prince Alexander Gorchakov, Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg, and court architect Andrei Stackenschneider. The graves of the Dukes of Oldenburg and Leuchtenberg, both closely related to the Russian imperial family, were either lost or desecrated during the Soviet period. {{commons category, Troice-Sergieva pustyn

External links

Official website
Strelna Monasteries in Saint Petersburg 1734 establishments in Europe Russian Orthodox monasteries in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg