Andronikov Monastery of the Saviour (, , or ) is a former

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

on the left bank of the

Yauza River The Yauza () is a river in Moscow and Mytishchi, Russia, a left and largest tributary of the Moskva (river), Moskva in the Russian capital. It originates in the Losiny Ostrov National Park northeast of Moscow, flows through Mytishchi, enters Mosc ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, consecrated to the Holy Image of Saviour Not Made by Hands and containing the oldest extant (i.e. outside the Kremlin) building in Moscow. It is home to

Andrei Rublev Andrei Rublev (, ; ) was a Russian artist considered to be one of the greatest medieval Russian painters of Orthodox Christian icons and frescoes. He is revered as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and his feast day is 29 January. Ear ...

Museum of Old Russian Art, named after the most famous

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

of this abbey.

Muscovite and Imperial period

The monastery was established in 1357 by Metropolitan Alexis as a way of giving thanks for his survival in a storm. Its first

hegumen Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen (, trans. ), is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, or an archpriest in the Coptic Orthodox Church, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of ...

was Saint Andronik, one of Sergii Radonezhsky's disciples. The extant four-pillared Saviour Cathedral was constructed from 1420–1427. The great medieval painter

spent the last years of his life at the monastery and was buried there. In addition, one of the largest

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of exec ...

s for

lay brother Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choi ...

s (called , ''skudelnitsa'') was located on the

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

's premises. In the second half of the 14th century, a monastic quarter formed outside the walls of the Andronikov Monastery, which started producing

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

s for the ongoing construction of the

Moscow Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall along with the K ...

(1475). From its beginning, Andronikov Monastery was one of the centres of book copying in

Muscovy Muscovy or Moscovia () is an alternative name for the Principality of Moscow (1263–1547) and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). It may also refer to: *Muscovy Company, an English trading company chartered in 1555 *Muscovy duck (''Cairina mosch ...

Manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

collection of the cloister included most of the works by Maximus the Greek. In August 1653, archpriest

Avvakum Avvakum Petrov (; 20 November 1620/1621 – 14 April 1682; also spelled Awakum) was a Russian Old Believer and protopope of the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square who led the opposition to Patriarch Nikon's reforms of the Russian Orthodox Church. H ...

was held under arrest at this monastery. Andronikov Monastery has been ransacked on numerous occasions (1571, 1611, 1812). In 1748 and 1812, its archives were lost in fires. In the 19th century, there were a theological

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

and a

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

on the cloister's premises. In 1917, there were seventeen

s and one

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession with no prior experience. Religion Buddhism ...

in the monastery.

Soviet period and beyond

After the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, the Andronikov Monastery was closed. One of the first

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

penal colonies A penal colony or exile colony is a Human settlement, settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colony, colonial territory. Although the te ...

(mostly, for foreign nationals) was located within the walls of the monastery. In 1928, the Soviets destroyed the

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

of the Andronikov Monastery, where Andrei Rublev and

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

s of the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

and the Patriotic War had been interred. In 1947, however, Andronikov Monastery was declared a national monument. In 1985, the Andrei Rublev Central Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art was opened on the cloister's premises. In 1991, the Saviour cathedral was returned to the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

. Archaeological excavations on the cloister's territory in 1993 uncovered an ancient

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

and other

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

Monuments

Since the 1930s, when the Communists destroyed the 14th-century Saviour Cathedral in the Wood, the monastery's cathedral has attracted a renewed interest as the oldest preserved in Moscow. Consequently, its present outlook is the result of a controversial Soviet restoration (1959–1960), which sought to remove all additions from later periods. Nothing but traces of the frescoes by Andrei Rublev and

Daniil Chyorny Daniel Chorny (; –1430) was a Russian monk and icon painter. Career Together with his companion Andrei Rublev and other painters, Chorny worked at the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir (1408) and the Trinity Cathedral in the Trinity Lavr ...

remain visible on its walls. The second oldest monument (1504–1506) in the abbey is a spacious

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monastery, monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminary, seminaries. The name ...

, the third largest such structure after those in the

Palace of Facets The Palace of the Facets () is a building in the Moscow Kremlin, Russia, which contains what used to be the main banquet reception hall of the Russian tsars. It is the oldest preserved secular building in Moscow. Located on Kremlin Cathedral S ...

and Joseph-Volotsky Monastery. The adjacent baroque church was commissioned by

Eudoxia Lopukhina Tsarina Eudoxia Fyodorovna Lopukhina (9 August 1669 7 September 1731) was the first wife of Peter I the Great, and the last ethnic Russian and non-foreign wife of a Russian monarch. She was the mother of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich and the ...

in 1694 to commemorate the birth of her son, Tsarevich Alexis, and contains a burial vault of the Lopukhin family. Massive 17th-century walls and towers are reminiscent of the period when the monastery defended the eastern approaches against the Moscow Kremlin. In 1795, they started a Neoclassical belltower, one of the tallest in Moscow of that time. The belfry was destroyed in 1929–1932, and its bricks were subsequently reused in construction of nearby buildings. File:Andronikov Monastery 11.jpg, The fortified monastery used to protect approaches to Moscow from the south. File:Church of Saint Michael at Andronikov Monastery 02.jpg, Church of Michael the Archangel (1690s, restored 1960) File:Cathedral of the Holy Mandylion (Andronikov Monastery) 36.jpg, The

katholikon A ''katholikon'' or catholicon () or ''sobor'' () refers to one of three things in the Eastern Orthodox Church: * The cathedral of a diocese. * The major Church (building), church building (temple) of a monastery corresponding to a conventual ...

(1420s, restored 1959) File:Chapel of Dimitry Donskoy (Andronikov Monastery) 03.jpg, Chapel of Dmitry Donskoy (2000–2001)

References

External links

St. Andronik's Monastery, Andronikov Monastery (Moscow)
{{Monasteries of Moscow Monasteries in Moscow Russian Orthodox monasteries in Russia Former monasteries in Russia 1357 establishments in Europe 14th-century establishments in Russia 1917 disestablishments in Russia Christian monasteries established in the 1350s Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Moscow Monasteries used as prisons