The Dormition Knyaginin Monastery was founded in 1200 on the
territory of the so-called New Town, near the features of the
ancient ramparts facing the Lybid River by Vladimir Prince Vsevolod.
The appearance of the monastery is associated with the name of the
wife of Vsevolod - Maria, who was the daughter of the Ossetian
prince Shvarnovna. Maria Shvarnovna was a faithful assistant to her
husband and a selfless mother who raised twelve children.
In
1198, after the birth of her last son, the Grand Duchess fell ill
and for 7 years endured suffering without a murmur. During her
illness, she vowed to found a monastery, and in 1200, Vsevolod, at
her insistence, founded the Assumption Knyaginin Monastery. In 1206,
the Grand Duchess became a nun under the name of Martha. After she
was tonsured, Mary died and was buried in a monastery.
In the
name of Princess Maria, the monastery was named Knyaginin. Then the
main temple of the monastery became a family tomb. Here are buried
the sister of the princess - Anna, Elena - the daughter of Mary, two
wives of Alexander Nevsky, as well as his daughter and other noble
women. In a later period, the sister of Admiral M.P. was buried
here. Lazarev, the discoverer of Antarctica, - Lazarev V.P.
The organizer of the monastery was an image of Russian holiness. Her
descendants also became famous as saints. Among them are her sons
Yaroslav, Georgy, Konstantin, Svyatoslav Vsevolodichi, grandchildren
Theodore and Alexander Nevsky, Vasilko, sons of George, Daniil of
Moscow and others. Princess Maria herself was also glorified in the
Cathedral of the Saints who shone in the land of Vladimir.
The monastery suffered more than once from the Tatar-Mongolian and
Horde raids. In 1411, during the invasion of Vladimir by Tatars
under the control of Tsarevich Talych, the monastery was devastated.
The revival of the monastery began only in the 16th century. Among
those who participated in the restoration of the monastery are Grand
Duke Vasily Ioannovich, Ivan the Terrible, Mikhail Fedorovich and
Alexei Mikhailovich. For some time, the wife of the son of Ivan the
Terrible, Pelagia Mikhailovna, was in the monastery. Since 1606, the
daughter of Boris Godunov, Xenia, lived here, who later accepted
monasticism.
In the 17th century in the monastery there were
special tsarina's mansions, their content was monitored by the
Vladimir governor. From the beginning of the 18th century during the
times of Peter the Great and the reign of Catherine II, the
Knyaginin Monastery experienced some decline. The revival of the
monastery begins only in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1876,
a hospital for the poor was established in the monastery. And in
1889, a handicraft parish school for girls was opened here.
In 1923, the monastery was forcibly closed by the repressive bodies
of the Soviet government. The liquidation of the monastery took
place within 8 months and was accompanied by the looting of the
monastery property. The nuns were expelled from their cells. The
premises were occupied by senior officials of the Communist Party
and the leadership of the Soviet government. Due to the closure of
the monastery and the creation of a settlement for the Soviet
bureaucratic elite, the monastery cemetery was also liquidated. In
1923, the monastery as a territorial unit was renamed into the
village. Vorovsky.
In 1992, the Knyaginin Monastery began to
revive as a female monastic cloister of the Vladimir diocese. The
abbess of the monastery was the nun Anthony (Shakhovtseva).
On the territory of the Knyagininsky Monastery there are two stone
churches: Kazansky and Assumption Cathedral. The Assumption
Cathedral is a magnificent example of early Moscow architecture. In
Vladimir, this is the only building in this style. The outer walls
of the temple end with zakomaras. Above them, in two rows, are
keeled kokoshniks, which are the basis for a drum with a
helmet-shaped dome. The smooth forms of the building's silhouette
are riveted by flat blades dividing the façade into curtains and
narrow slit-like windows. The walls of the Cathedral of the
Assumption are painted with frescoes (1648), which were made by
Moscow painters on the order of Patriarch Joseph. The foremen were
supervised by Mark Matveev.
The temple in honor of the Kazan
Icon of the Mother of God has two aisles: one in honor of John
Chrysostom, the other in honor of the martyr Abraham. The Kazan
Church is distinguished by the ancient royal gates with virtuoso
carvings of the 16th century.
One of the few pre-Mongolian
icons that have survived to our time is located in the Assumption
Cathedral. The image of the Bogolyubskaya Mother of God, which is
miraculous, was painted by order of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky in
honor of the miraculous appearance of the Mother of God to him. In
addition to the icon of the Mother of God, the shrine of the
monastery are particles of the relics of martyrs. Abraham of
Bulgaria. Saint Abraham was from the Volga Bulgars, he professed
Islam, and then converted to Orthodoxy and began active missionary
work. Abraham's brothers in the Muslim faith urged him to renounce
Christ, but in his new faith he was adamant and chose martyrdom. In
1230, Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich of Vladimir, the relics of Abraham
were transferred to the Assumption Cathedral, where numerous
miracles of healing began to take place.
The Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God is
located on the territory of the Knyaginin Monastery in Vladimir. She has
2 chapels: from the north - in the name of St. John Chrysostom, from the
south - in honor of the holy martyr Abraham.
The Kazan Church
began to be called from 1789, when a chapel in the name of the Kazan
Icon of the Mother of God was added to the temple, installed on this
site and named after John Chrysostom. The temple with this name was
located on the south side of the Assumption Cathedral. It was erected in
1747 at the expense of the widow of ensign F.A. Pashkova. In 1788 it was
dismantled due to dilapidation. A year later, the Zlatoust Church was
rebuilt. The Chrysostom Church itself is mentioned in the monastery
annals of 1656 and 1763 as a warm refectory church with the 1st altar
(now the northern chapel), it was made of stone, covered with boards,
and the cupola with tiles.
In 1849, the Kazan temple was
repaired, and a chapel was also built in the name of the holy martyr
Abraham. In 1865, an oven heating was installed here, which was improved
in 1898 and strong ventilation was created.
After repeated
repairs and alterations in the 19th century, the Kazan Church has
survived to this day. This is how this architectural monument is seen
according to historical documents. However, studies that were carried
out in 1962 showed that the main volume of the Kazan temple dates back
to the beginning of the 16th century.
The Kazan Church is located
to the west of the Assumption Cathedral. It was built using the walls
and foundations of an older church installed in that place. The building
is two-story, square in plan, with identical division of the inner zone
of both floors. All facades, except for the eastern one, are not
plastered, they are covered with whitewash right on the brick. The
eastern façade is plastered and more richly decorated.
The
windows on the first floor are rectangular, on the northern facade they
are smaller. Decor is missing. The windows on the second floor are large
and solid. On the western and northern facades, they are surrounded by
brickwork along the contour, which does not protrude beyond the wall. On
the windows of the eastern façade, there are profiled edges along the
arched top.
The northern and western façades are little
decorated, with only pilasters and a profiled cornice. On the eastern
façade there are a lot of drawn plaster vertical and horizontal
profiles. The relief decoration of the porch (platbands, fly, profiled
cornice, horizontal rods) is made of brick.
The original interior
has not been preserved. The decoration of the building is characterized
by simplicity and elegance of forms. In the premises of the first floor,
the ceilings, mostly flat, the vaults did not survive. In the interior
of the second floor there is a 4-stop spacious hall. It is covered with
a closed vault. Ornamental painting has been preserved on the vaults.
The apse is covered by a conch. The walls are covered with oil paint.
The floors in the temple are tiled with stone, on the first floor -
planks. The entrance to the temple is from the south side. The door is
massive, double-leafed, paneled, with a glazed transom, to which a stone
porch is attached.
During the Soviet period, the interior of the
Kazan church was changed. Here was the city archive. After the revival
of the Knyagina monastery, the church was restored and re-consecrated in
2007.
In 1200-1201, the Assumption Cathedral was built in
the center of the courtyard of the Knyaginin Monastery. The building has
not been preserved, and the current temple was erected on the site of
the ancient one at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. During
construction, the remaining parts of the walls of the old building were
used.
The modern Assumption Cathedral is a large brick temple
with 2 aisles, a gallery and a massive dome. The outer walls are
completed by zakomaras, above which rise 2 tiers of keeled kokoshniks,
which became the base for the light drum.
In the lower area of
the cathedral, the border of the transition from the old walls of the
ancient temple to the later part is visible. The old brick was thin,
made from a mixture of lime mortar and brick chips. The cathedral was
entered through portals, and during the excavations, colored majolica
tiles were found, with the help of which the floor in the ancient
cathedral was laid out.
Chroniclers testify that Princess Maria,
who founded the monastery, her sister Anna and the daughter of Prince
Alexander Nevsky were buried within the walls of the temple in the 13th
century. The tombs are located in the outer walls of the side facades.
This indicates that in ancient times, aisles-tombs adjoined the eastern
corners of the building.
In the decoration of the temple,
cross-pillars, semicircles of apses and a small arcosolium in the
northern wall serve as a reminder of its ancient predecessor. However,
the nature of the current interior bears the imprint of the border of
the XV-XVI centuries. The space of the cathedral is filled with light
and space, the boundless surface of the walls creates the impression of
a whole space. The arches on which the dome is installed are located in
steps in relation to the vaults of the side aisles. This is an even
better condition for lighting through the windows of the drum.
The researchers suggest that the builders still tried to reproduce the
appearance of the ancient temple, since the features of this building
can be traced in the structures of pre-Mongol Rus'.
The walls of
the temple are entirely covered with frescoes, cleared by restorers
already in the Soviet period. The painting was made in the middle of the
17th century by order of the Russian Patriarch Joseph. Artists from
Moscow worked in the cathedral under the guidance of the famous master
Mark Matveev.
In the vault of the altar apse is one of the
largest compositions of painting. It reflects the plot, which reveals
the main sacrament - the transformation of wine and bread into the blood
and flesh of the Savior. Holy gifts are carried by angels. Probably for
this reason, the incredible number of colorful images gave the
composition the name of the Great Exit.
On the right and left on
the apse wall, a composition is visible on the plot of the Communion of
the Apostles by Christ. On the front plane of the altar arch there is a
fresco representing a huge picture on the plot of the Assumption of the
Virgin. The story of the deeds of the Virgin continued in the painting
on the south wall of the cathedral. It is represented by a complex of
symbolic images of miracles that are associated with the life path and
posthumous appearances of the Mother of God. Scientists have noted the
presence in the painting of the cathedral walls of images of Vladimir
princes, including Andrei Bogolyubsky.
In the corner cross vaults
there are large images of Christ, Sabaoth and the Mother of God. But the
scene of the Last Judgment, located on the western wall of the temple,
makes the most vivid impression. She's done superbly. The artists
managed to successfully overcome the complexity of the plot and create a
clear, multi-component composition that is understandable to the viewer.
Cherry-red, purple-violet, greenish-blue and golden tones are used in
the creation of the composition. The forms of images are perfected, real
and fantastic creatures look graceful and fragile. The celestials and
humans are somewhat alarmed. Being in harmony with the interior of the
cathedral, the painting gives a joyful mood, despite the gloomy nature
of the plot.
Martha (pack. 1512),
Sophia (pack. 1552),
Olga (up. 1623),
Marina (Feofilatieva) (up. 1642),
Taisia
(Snovidova) (1649-1662),
Elena (Karamysheva) (1662-1665)
Anisia
(Novosiltseva) (1665-1670)
Maremiana (Borisova) (1671-1677)
Theodosia (Bludova) (1679-1695),
Neonila (Vsevolozhskaya) (1697-1704)
Feoktista (Kologrivova) (1706-1710),
Maximilla (1710-1713),
Neonilla (Vsevolozhskaya) (February 19, 1713-1724, dismissed due to old
age),
Catherine (July 19, 1724-†1737),
Anfia (Buzhaninova) (August
30, 1737-1758),
Judith (1758),
Love (Markova) (1761-1775),
Elizabeth (Stromilova) (1775-1777),
Hope (1777-1778),
Nazareth
(Bukhvostova) (1780-1813),
Eugene (1813-1819),
Izmaragda
(1819-1840),
Elizabeth (1841-1843)
Eugene (1843-1862),
Seraphim
(1862-1864),
Maria (1864-1878),
Aglaida (1878-1888),
Margarita
(1888-1914),
Augusta (1914-1917, or 1916)
Olympics (Medvedev)
(1917-1923)
Anthony (Shakhovtseva) (1992-2010)
Olympiad
(Khoruzhaya) (2010—August 30, 2019)
Until 2009, the Bogolyubskaya icon of the Mother of
God was kept in the monastery, which was transferred to the monastery
from the Vladimir Museum in 1992. In 2009 mold was found on the icon. At
the moment, the icon is in a specially equipped room of the
Vladimir-Suzdal Museum, and a copy of the icon is placed in the
monastery.
Part of the relics of the martyr Abraham of Bulgaria.
Icon of the Great Martyr Panteleimon with a particle of relics, painted
on Mount Athos, in the skete of Righteous Anna.