Katholikon
of Ascension Convent (1580s), from an early 19th-century drawing.
Ascension Convent
, known as the
Starodevichy Convent
or
Old Maidens' Convent
until 1817 (
Russian
:
Вознесенский монастырь
,
Voznesensky monastyr
'
), was an Orthodox nunnery in the
Moscow Kremlin
which contained the burials of grand princesses,
tsarinas
, and other noble ladies from the Muscovite royal court. It was destroyed in 1929 on
Joseph Stalin
's orders.
It is believed that Ascension Convent was founded in 1389 next to the
Saviour Gates
of the Kremlin by
Dmitry Donskoy
's widow,
Eudoxia Dmitriyevna
, who would take the veil there. The foundation stone for the cathedral was laid in 1407, just before her death. Eight years later, the cathedral was gutted by fire and then rebuilt in 1467 by princess
Maria of Borovsk
, wife of
Vasili II of Russia
.
Sixteen years later the convent was again damaged by fire and then restored in 1518?1519 to a design by
Aloisio the New
. This church was completely rebuilt in 1587?1588, when a new five-domed structure, mirroring the nearby
Archangel Cathedral
, was erected. It was a major monument to embody the conservative architectural approach of
Boris Godunov
's circle (
illustrated, to the right
).
Among those buried in the cathedral vault were
Sophia Vitovtovna
(wife of
Vasili I
),
Sophia Paleologue
(wife of
Ivan III
), several wives of
Ivan the Terrible
, Grand Duchess
Eudoxia Alexeyevna
(daughter of
Alexei Mikhailovich
), and tsarina
Maria Vladimirovna
(first wife of
Mikhail Feodorovich
).
The convent was also used as a residence for royal fiancees prior to the wedding. It was there that Ivan IV's widow,
Maria Nagaya
, greeted
Marina Mnishek
, who would spend there a few days before her wedding with Nagaya's purported son,
False Dmitry I
. In 1634,
Michael I of Russia
commissioned a new convent church to be built and dedicated to his patron saint,
Michael Maleinos
. A
belltower
next to this church was constructed in the late 17th century. The Church of Michael Maleinos used to be home to a rare
sculpture
of
St George
, made by
Vasili Yermolin
and installed there in 1808.
St Catherine Church of Ascension Convent.
In 1721, the convent was renovated on behest of
Peter the Great
. In 1737, it was damaged by fire and again renovated by the order of
Anna Ioannovna
. During the
Patriotic War of 1812
, the
sacristy
of Ascension Convent, with the Icon of the Virgin
Hodegetria
, painted by
Dionisius
in 1482, was moved to
Vologda
. A two-storey
almshouse
was added in 1823. But the most important 19th-century addition was the Church of Saint Catherine, built to a fanciful
Neo-Gothic
design by
Carlo Rossi
(
illustrated, to the right
).
By 1907, the monastery had a
mother superior
, 62
nuns
and 45
lay sisters
. Ten years later, the ancient buildings were damaged by Bolshevik artillery fire during the
October Revolution
. In 1929, the convent complex ? including the majestic 16th-century cathedral ? was torn down by the Soviet government in order to make room for the
Red Commanders School
, named after the
All-Russian Central Executive Committee
.
Some of the icons of Ascension Convent were moved to the
State Tretyakov Gallery
and State museums of the Moscow Kremlin. The
iconostasis
of the Ascension Cathedral was moved into the
Cathedral of Twelve Apostles
(also in the Kremlin), while the tombs of the Muscovite royalty were transferred into an annex of the
Archangel Cathedral
, where they reside to this day.
Contemporary development of the area
[
edit
]
In the 1990s, work began on the study of the tombs of grand duchesses and tsars. It was possible to find relics of
Eudoxia of Moscow
and to restore a sculptural portrait of
Sofia Palaiologina
from the skull.
[1]
In 2004, research on burial in the underground chamber near the
Archangel cathedral
has passed. The further studying of materials passed in laboratory premises.
[2]
In 2016, the
Kremlin Presidium
was dismantled and archaeological excavations were carried out at the opened site. For the first time, opportunities for the large-scale archaeological study of such a vast section of the
Kremlin Hill
and the hidden layers of the cultural and spiritual heritage of the XII ? early XX centuries were opened.
[3]
Researches were carried out by the Institute of the Archaeology of the
Russian Academy of Sciences
. In May of the same year, upon completion of the excavation, a park was laid out.
[4]
In the
Archangel Cathedral
, the
Moscow Kremlin Museums
opened a permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of the Ascension Monastery,
[5]
a new tourist route introducing Muscovites and visitors to the capital to the history of the ruined shrines.
In August 2014, Russian president
Vladimir Putin
suggested an idea for restoring Ascension Convent and
Chudov Monastery
, which were demolished by the Soviet regime in the 1930s. However, due to archaeological work which began in December 2015 and the lack of
UNESCO
's approval of the restoration, the restoration of Ascension Convent is currently unplanned. During archaeological work, experts have managed to find a foundation of
Chudov Monastery
and Ascension Convent.
[6]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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Downtown
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Outer ring
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Kremlin Wall
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Administrative
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Churches
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Squares
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Monuments
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Former
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Church buildings
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Secular buildings
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Related
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55°45′9″N
37°37′13″E
/
55.75250°N 37.62028°E
/
55.75250; 37.62028