Location: Sovetskaya 5
Sretensky Monastery (Сретенский монастырь) is a women's Russian Orthodox monastery in Gorokhovets. Upon its construction in the 17th century (1658) it became one of the most prominent features in Gorokhovets. Its 35 meter high Bell Tower stands out among other buildings. Original buildings of the monastery were wooden. In 1678 two wooden churches were added to this religious complex including warm winter Sergievskaya Church and cold summer Sretenskaya Church. In the last decades of the 17th century wooden structures of Sretensky Monastery were replaced by stone buildings. Local merchant Semen Efimovich Ershov donated money to construct the main cathedral of Sretensky Monastery.
Sretensky Monastery in Gorokhovets was closed when Soviets came to power. It was closed until early 1990's when abbey was reopened as an Eastern Orthodox monastery.
The entrance to the monastery unexpectedly leads not
to the cathedral, but to the hipped bell tower, which rises as much as
35 m. On both sides, the bell tower is adjacent to two-story stone cell
and utility buildings, which replaced wooden buildings in the late 17th
and early 18th centuries. Against their modest background, churches look
very advantageous and elegant.
The Central Sretensky Cathedral
was built in 1689 with the money of the richest Gorokhovets merchant
Semyon Yershov. The size of the temple corresponds to the taste of local
architects of that time: a refectory and the main volume with apses.
The exterior of the temple is richly decorated: along the entire
perimeter, the cornices of the facades are decorated with ornamented
kokoshniks. The windows are marked with carved architraves, which differ
in drawings on the southern and northern walls, and the domes of the
cathedral are covered with glazed tiles playing in the sun.
Behind
the Sretensky Cathedral there is a low three-part church of St. Sergius
of Radonezh of the 17th century. The decoration of the exterior is very
stingy, especially against the backdrop of the Sretensky Cathedral. The
interior is also modest, enlivened only by a tiled stove from the 18th
century.
An interesting fact is that the monastery in the entire
history of its existence acted for a very short time. In 1764, as a
result of a church reform, it was abolished, and the nuns were
transferred to Arzamas. Cell buildings were converted first into county
offices, then into a city prison, and later into wine and salt shops. In
Soviet times, the temples of the monastery were used as storage
facilities, and the rest of the buildings were used as housing. The
revival of the Sretenskaya convent took place only in 2001.
Practical information
Address: Vladimir region, Gorokhovets, st.
Sovetskaya, 3. Tel.: +7 (49238) 2-37-65.
The monastery is open
for visiting daily from 7:00 to 20:00.