Novodevichiy proezd 1
Tel. (495) 246 8526
Subway: Sportivnaya
Open: 10am- 5pm Wed- Mon
Service: 8am, 5pm Mon- Sat, 7am, 10am Sun
Cemetery: Open: 10am- 6pm daily
Novodevichy Convent is a medieval Russian Orthodox monastery that was found in 1524 by Moscow prince Vasili III to commemorate his conquest of formerly independent Smolensk principality. Thus another alternative name for the monastery is Bogoroditse (Mother of God)- Somelnsky (of Smolensk) Monastery. At the time of its construction it stood outside of Moscow city limits. Its walls part of the defences of the Russian capital. In fact parts of the original moat have been preserved and today serves as a picturesque pond.
According to the chronicle:
In the summer of 7032
Maya, on the 8th day, the New Devich Monastery was erected near the city
of Moscow behind the settlement.
The new monastery was named in
relation to the more ancient ones - the Zachatievsky Monastery, then
called the Starodevichi Monastery, and the Ascension Monastery in the
Moscow Kremlin.
According to the patriarchal charter of 1598, the
full name of the monastery was: "The Holy Great Monastery of the Most
Holy Theotokos Hodegetria New Maiden Monastery."
The Novodevichy Convent is dedicated to the Most Holy
Theotokos Hodegetria, which in Greek means “Guide”, “Mentor”. This was
the name of the ancient image of the Mother of God, according to legend,
written by the Evangelist Luke and kept in the temple of Odigon
(monastery of Panagia Hodegetria).
Legend has it that the icon
came to Russia in the middle of the 11th century (in 1046), when the
Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomakh blessed his daughter, Princess
Anna, who became the wife of Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich, with it on the
road. The icon became a family shrine of the Russian princes, a symbol
of continuity and dynastic closeness of Constantinople and Rus'.
At the beginning of the 12th century (according to other sources, in
1097), Prince Vladimir Monomakh transferred the icon to Smolensk, where
he founded the church of the Assumption of the Mother of God, in which a
Christian shrine was subsequently placed. Since then, the icon began to
be called Smolensk, Smolensk - the city of the Most Holy Theotokos, and
the cathedral - Her House.
Church tradition ascribes to the icon
help in saving the city in 1239 from the invasion of Batu.
In the
15th century, the icon ended up in Moscow. E. Poselyanin gives several
options for transferring it:
The Russian Vremennik says that a
certain Yurga, Pan Svilkoldovich, when he left Svidrigail, the
Lithuanian prince, to the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Vasilyevich,
plundered Smolensk on the road, took the Hodegetria icon along with
other things and brought it as a gift to the Grand Duke in Moscow ( [in
1455]). Others suggest that Vitovt of Smolensk gave this icon to his
daughter Sophia, the wife of the Moscow Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich,
when she was in Smolensk in 1398 to meet with her father and received
many Greek icons from him. There is another piece of news that the last
prince of Smolensk, expelled from here in 1404 by the Lithuanian Vitovt,
arrived in Moscow and brought with him the Hodegetria icon along with
other icons.
- Поселыанин E. Mother of God. Description of Her
earthly life and miraculous icons. - M., 2002.
In 1456, at the
request of the embassy of Bishop Misail of Smolensk, Grand Duke Vasily
II the Dark returned the icon to Smolensk. An exact list of “measure in
measure” was taken from her and at that time placed in the Annunciation
Cathedral; On July 28, 1525, he was transferred to a monastery.
Muscovite period
Vasily III, Grand Duke of
Moscow, founded the Novodevichy monastery in 1524 to commemorate his
conquest of Smolensk in 1514. The monastery began its history as a
fortress on a crooked bend of the Moskva river three versts
southwest of the Moscow Kremlin. It became an important part of the
southern defensive belt of Moscow, which already included many other
monasteries. After its Foundation, the Novodevichy monastery
received 3,000 rubles and the villages of Ahabinevo and Troparevo in
addition. Vasily's son, Tsar Ivan the terrible (reigned 1533-1584),
later granted a number of other villages to the monastery.
The Novodevichy monastery tonsured many women from the Royal
families and boyar clans of Russia, who were sometimes forced to
take vows. Fyodor I's wife Irina Godunov (lived here in 1598-1603)
she lived there with her brother Boris Godunov until he became the
new Tsar. Sofia Alekseyevna (sister of Peter the Great's sister,
lived here in 1689-1704), Evdokia Lopukhina (first wife of Peter the
Great, lived here in 1727-1731) and others. In 1610-1611, the Polish
division under the command of Alexander Gosiewska captured the
Novodevichy convent. When the Russian troops returned the monastery,
Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich provided it with permanent soldiers (100
Streltsy in 1616, 350 soldiers in 1618). At the end of the 17th
century, the Novodevichy monastery had 36 villages (164,215 acres of
land) in 27 counties of Russia. In 1744, he owned 14,489 peasants.
Imperial period
In the middle of the 17th century, nuns from
other monasteries in the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands were
transferred to the Novodevichy monastery, the first of which was
Elena Dyevochkina. In 1721, some elderly nuns who had renounced the
old believers ' movement were given shelter. In 1724, the
Novodevichy monastery also housed a military hospital for soldiers
and officers of the Imperial Russian army and a shelter for
foundling women. By 1763, the monastery had 84 nuns, 35 novices, and
78 sick patients and servants. Each year, the state provided
Novodevichy monastery with 1,500 rubles, 1,300 quarters of bread,
680 rubles, and 480 quarters of bread for more than 250 abandoned
children.
In 1812, Napoleon's army tried to blow up the
Novodevichy monastery, but the nuns managed to save the monastery
from destruction. In Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, Pierre was to be
executed under the walls of a monastery, but narrowly escaped his
fate. In another of his novels, Anna Karenina, Konstantin Levin
meets his future wife while she was skating near the walls of the
Novodevichy monastery. Indeed, Devichye field (meadow in front of
the monastery) was the most popular skating rink in Moscow of the
19th century. Tolstoy himself enjoyed skating here when he lived
nearby, in the Khamovniki district.
In 1871, the Filatiev
brothers donated money to the Novodevichy monastery orphanage for
orphans of "ignoble origin". In addition, the convent housed two
almshouses for nuns and novices. In the early 1900s, the Cathedral
was renovated and restored by the architect and curator Ivan
Mashkov. By 1917, the Novodevichy monastery had 51 nuns and 53 lay
people.
The Soviet period and beyond
In 1922, the
Bolsheviks closed the Novodevichy monastery (the last Cathedral was
closed in 1929) and turned it into a Museum of women's emancipation.
By 1926, the Novodevichy monastery was turned into a Museum of
history and art. In 1934, it became affiliated with the State
historical Museum. Most of its buildings were converted into
apartments, which saved the monastery from destruction.
In
1943, when Stalin introduced some relief for the Russian Orthodox
Church during world war II, he authorized the opening of Moscow
theological courses at the Novodevichy monastery. The following
year, the institution was transformed and became the Moscow
theological Institute. In 1945, the Soviets returned the assumption
Cathedral to the faithful. The residence of Metropolitan Krutitsky
and Kolomna has been located in the Novodevichy monastery since
1980.
In 1994, the nuns returned to the monastery, which is
currently run by the Metropolitan of Krutitsky and Kolomna. Some of
the churches and other monastic buildings are still associated with
the State historical Museum. In 1995, religious services resumed in
the monastery on the days of the patron Saint.
Declaration of a UNESCO world heritage site
In
2004, the Novodevichy monastery was declared a UNESCO world heritage
site. The UNESCO group's assessment confirmed that the monastery is
the most striking example of the so-called "Moscow Baroque". In
addition to the beautiful architecture and decorative details, the
monastery is characterized by urban planning value. The team also
noted that the Novodevichy monastery is an outstanding example of an
exceptionally well-preserved monastic complex. The Novodevichy
monastery complex combines the political and cultural character of
the existing world heritage site of the Moscow Kremlin. Russian
Russian Orthodox Christianity and the Russian history of the
XVI-XVII centuries are closely connected with the monastery itself.
Fire at the bell tower of the Novodevichy monastery
On
March 15, 2015, a fire engulfed the highest bell tower of the
Novodevichy monastery, which rises 72 meters. Novodevichy Monastery
was undergoing major repairs and was covered with forests. It took
firefighters almost three hours to put out the fire. It is reported
that the fire affected an area of three hundred square meters, but
the fire was limited to forests and did not cause damage to the
historical building itself. The suspected cause of the fire was a
short circuit caused by heat guns used to dry the facade. The press
service of the Moscow Department of cultural heritage blamed the
fire on a company that is carrying out restoration work. However,
Russian Deputy culture Minister Grigory Pirumov said that heat guns
are not used on the territory of the Novodevichy monastery, and the
bell tower was disconnected from the power grid.
The
building of Novodevichy monastery and monuments
Novodevichy
Monastery is located in the South-Western part of the historical
city of Moscow. The territory of the monastery is enclosed by walls
and surrounded by a Park, which forms a buffer zone. The Park is
bounded by the city to the North and East. It is bounded on the West
by the Moskva river, and on the South by the city highway. The
buildings are surrounded by a high masonry wall with 12 towers.
Entrances from the North (city) and South. The location of the
monastery territory is an irregular rectangle extending from West to
East.
At the end of the XVII century, during the reign of
Princess Sophia, a centric architectural ensemble was created around
the Smolensk Cathedral, in which the Cathedral turned out to be the
center of the intersection of two main axes. The North-South axis is
formed by two gate churches, and the West-East axis is formed by the
bell tower and refectory. According to the document of the second
half of the XVIII century, the author of this ensemble and the
Creator of most of the buildings of the monastery is the architect
Peter Potapov-the Creator of the Church of the assumption on
Pokrovka, close in stylistic features to the buildings of
Novodevichy.
The oldest building in the Novodevichy monastery
is the six-column, five-domed Smolensk Cathedral, dedicated to the
icon of our lady of Smolensk. It is located in the center of the
complex between two entrance gates. Available documents date its
construction to 1524-1525. However, fragments of its first floor and
the projecting Central pediment are typical of monastic cathedrals
built later during the reign of Ivan the terrible. Most scholars
agree that the Cathedral was rebuilt in the 1550s or 1560s.
Previously, it was surrounded by four small chapels, reminiscent of
the Annunciation Cathedral in the Kremlin. His frescoes are among
the best in Moscow. At the altar of the funeral of the great but
little-known General Alexey Brusilov, a hero of the First World war,
who made the Brusilov breakthrough.
The Cathedral is the
largest Church of the Novodevichy monastery, but not the only one.
Most of the churches date back to the 1680s, when the monastery was
completely renovated by order of Sofia Alekseyevna (who,
paradoxically, was later imprisoned here). The blood-red walls, two
tall churches outside the gates, a refectory, and residential cells
were designed in the Moscow Baroque style, presumably by the
architect Peter Potapov. In the old Cathedral in 1685, a new bowl
for Holy water and a gilded carved iconostasis were installed. Its
four tiers contain icons of the 16th century, made on the gifts of
Boris Godunov; the fifth level displays icons of leading artists of
the XVII century, Simeon Ushakov and Fyodor Zubov.
The
slender bell tower of the Novodevichy monastery, also commissioned
by Princess Sofia, was built in six tiers at a height of 72 meters,
making it the tallest structure in 18th-century Moscow (after the
bell tower of Ivan the Great in the Kremlin). Six-tiered bell tower
in the Naryshkin style, 72 meters high (late XVII), with alternating
openwork and" deaf " tiers, at that time the highest bell tower in
Moscow after Ivan the Great. There is an opinion (confirmed by an
analysis of proportions) that the bell tower should have been seven
— tiered-but was not completed due to the overthrow of Princess
Sophia in 1689. This white octagonal column seems to combine all the
main elements of the ensemble into one harmonious whole.
Necropolis and cemetery
The necropolis of the Novodevichy
monastery existed already in the 16th century. Like other Moscow
monasteries (in particular, Danilov and Donskoy), the monastery was
a popular place among the Russian nobility as a burial place. Sergei
Solovyov and Alexey Brusilov are only two of the many prominent
Muscovites buried within the monastery walls. The hero of the
Napoleonic campaign Denis Davydov is also buried on the territory.
In 1898-1904, the so-called Novodevichy cemetery was created
near the southern wall. Anton Chekhov was one of the first writers
to be buried in the new cemetery, and Nikolai Gogol was later
reburied here. During the Soviet era, it was turned into the most
high-profile cemetery in the Soviet Union, where Pyotr Kropotkin,
Nikita Khrushchev, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitry Shostakovich, Konstantin
Stanislavsky, Boris Yeltsin and Mstislav Rostropovich were buried.
In the 1930s, the monastery necropolis was subjected to
"reconstruction", as a result of which only about 100 tombstones out
of 2000 survived. The graves of such figures as the Minister of war
D. A. Milyutin, generals S. S. Apraksin and A. F. Baggovut,
philanthropist I. S. Maltsov, and educator L. I. Polivanov were
lost.
Smolensk cathedral
The first wife of Peter I,
tsarina Evdokia Fyodorovna Lopukhina, became a monk Elena (August
27, 1731).
Tsarevna: Sofia Alekseevna, in schema Sofia (July 3,
1704); Evdokia Alekseevna (may 10, 1712); Ekaterina Alekseevna (may
1, 1718).
Tsarevna: Anna Ivanovna, daughter of Ivan the terrible
(July 20, 1550); Elena Ivanovna Sheremeteva, in the monastic life of
Leonid (December 25, 1596).
Around the Cathedral and the
assumption Church
Abbesses: methodia (Yakushkina) (February 10,
1845); paisia (Nudolskaya) (January 25, 1871); Leonid (Ozerov)
(January 18, 1920); Seraphim (Chernaya) (December 16, 1999).
Nun
Sarah, Treasurer (March 18, 1840).
Nun Feofania, novice of the
monk Elena (December 18, 1511).
Tatiana Levshina, mother of
Metropolitan Plato of Moscow (18 December 1511).
President of the
justice College Yakovlev A. A. (1781) and members of his family.
Heroes of the war of 1812: the poet Denis Vasilyevich Davydov
(1839); Dmitry Mikhailovich Volkonsky (may 7, 1835); Volkonsky S. A.
Generals: Lev korneevich Pashchenko. (1834); Vasily Ivanovich
Timofeev (1850); Mikhail Fyodorovich Orlov (1842); Moscow military
Governor-General Pavel Alekseevich Tuchkov (1864); Minister of war,
field Marshal Dmitry Milyutin (1912).
Participants in the
Decembrist uprising: S. N. Trubetskoy (1860); Alexander Nikolayevich
Muravyov (December 18, 1863); Matvey Ivanovich Muravyov-Apostol
(1886).
Writers: Alexander Aleksandrovich Shakhovskoy (1848);
Mikhail Nikolaevich Zagoskin (1852); Ivan Ivanovich Lazhechnikov
(1869); Alexey feofilaktovich Pisemsky (1881); N. V. Sushkov (1871);
poet and translator Alexey Nikolaevich Pleshcheev (1871).
Historians: Alexander Ivanovich Turgenev (1845); Mikhail Petrovich
Pogodin (1875); Sergey Mikhailovich Solovyov (1879); Church
historian and theologian Gilyarov-Platonov N. P. (1887); count
Alexey Sergeevich Uvarov (1884), scientist-archaeologist, founder of
the Moscow Archaeological Society and Historical Museum).
Philologists: Osip Maksimovich bodyansky (September 6, 1877); Fyodor
Ivanovich Buslaev (1897).
Philosophers: Vladimir Sergeevich
Solovyov (1900); Lev Mikhailovich Lopatin (1920).
Lawyers: E. E.
Luminarsky (1883); M. V. dukhovskoy (1903); Nikolai Lvovich
duvernois (1906).
Professors of medicine: Ostroumov A. A. (1908);
Bubnov S. F. (1909); Golubinin L. E. (1912); rein F. A. (1925).
Generals: Alexey Alekseyevich Brusilov (1926); Yakhontov R.N.
(1924); Andrey Medardovich Zayonchkovsky (1926).
Some members of
the Prokhorov family, owners of the trekhgornaya manufactory and
famous benefactors (the tomb).
The well of Babel
According to legend, on the place where they originally tried to lay
the Novodevichy monastery, a strong key clogged, so that the
construction had to be postponed, and the well and stream were named
Babylon. A slab was placed on this spring, and later a chapel was
laid, which at the turn of the XVIII—XIX centuries Metropolitan
Platon (Levshin) gave to the Kremlin monastery. In 1921, one of the
old nuns explained the origin of the name:
"It is called
Babylonian because, as the tower of Babel was not completed, so
here: they began to build a monastery and the key prevented.»
The center of the monastery is the monumental,
five-domed (originally, apparently, nine-domed, with four aisles at the
corners, like the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin) Smolensk
Cathedral, in the interior of which fresco paintings of the 16th century
have been preserved. The cathedral was built on the model of the
Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin.
At the end of the 17th
century, during the reign of Princess Sophia, a centric architectural
ensemble was created around the Smolensky Cathedral, in which the
cathedral turned out to be the center of the intersection of two main
axes. The north-south axis is formed by two gate churches, and the
west-east axis is formed by the bell tower and the refectory. According
to a document from the second half of the 18th century, the author of
this ensemble and the creator of most of the buildings of the monastery
is the architect Pyotr Potapov, the creator of the Church of the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Pokrovka, which is close in
stylistic features to the buildings of Novodevichy.
A six-tier
bell tower in the Naryshkin style, 72 m high (end of the 17th century),
with alternating openwork and “deaf” tiers, at that time the highest
bell tower in Moscow after Ivan the Great. There is an opinion
(confirmed by the analysis of proportions) that the bell tower should
have been seven-tiered - but was not completed due to the overthrow of
Princess Sophia in 1689. [source not specified 630 days]
Fortress
walls with towers were first erected under Boris Godunov, but at the end
of the 17th century they were completely rebuilt, and the towers
received openwork completions.
In August 2020, scientists from
the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
discovered on the territory of the monastery the remains of the
foundations of a tower and a wall built during the reign of Boris
Godunov. Stone walls are separated from the line of modern walls by
about 15-20 m - therefore, the monastery was about 2⁄5 less and occupied
an area of about 3 hectares.
Cathedral Church of the Smolensk
Icon of the Mother of God
1524-1525 or 1560s
Frescoes of
1526-1530, an iconostasis of 1683-1686) with aisles of the apostles
Prochorus and Nikanor, the miracle of the Archangel Michael, the martyrs
Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and their mother Sophia.
The oldest temple of
the Novodevichy Convent. It is similar in architecture to the Assumption
Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, although it differs from it in a number
of features. The Smolensk Cathedral is attributed to the work of either
Aleviz the New or the architect Nestor (died during the construction of
the cathedral). At the beginning of the 20th century, archaeologist
Ignatius Stelletsky examined the basement of the cathedral in search of
an underground passage.
Church of the Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary with a refectory
1685-1687 years
The side chapel - the
Apostle John the Theologian, in the baptismal church - Prince Vladimir,
in the upper floor of the main church - the Descent of the Holy Spirit.
Refectory
1685-1687 years
At the Dormition Church
Bell
tower
1689-1690 years
Height 72 m.
Two temples:
Church of
the Monks Varlaam and Joasaph under the bell tower
Church of the Holy
Apostle John the Theologian (middle tier of the bell tower)
Naryshkin
baroque building
Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior
above the Northern Gate (Transfiguration Gate Church)
1687-1689 years
The temple is active, however, it is closed for free access, as it is
the home church of the Metropolitan of Krutitsy and Kolomna. Outside,
the temple is surrounded by a balcony-gully. Domes are characteristic of
the Ukrainian Baroque. Windows "in two light" give the temple a festive
character.
Lopukhin Chambers
Adjacent to the Transfiguration
Church.
Built in 1687-1688 for Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna,
daughter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The name is named after Evdokia
Lopukhina, the first wife of Peter I, who lived here in 1727-1731. The
oldest sundial in Moscow has been preserved on the facade. Tiled stoves
in the interior.
Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy
Theotokos above the southern gate
(Intercession Gate Church)
1683-1688 years
The gates are now closed and not in use.
Mariinsky Chambers
Adjacent to the Church of the Intercession.
Brick chambers with white stone details, built in 1683-1688. They are
named after the daughter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Princess Maria
Alekseevna, who lived here in the 1690s. The building was originally two
stories high. For some time, Princess Sophia lived here - perhaps it was
then that the third floor appeared near the building in the form of a
south-facing tower with a gable roof.
Church of St. Ambrose of
Milan
(St. Ambrose Church)
late 16th-17th century
Originally
dedicated to John the Baptist, later re-consecrated in honor of Ambrose
of Milan. Rebuilt several times.
Chambers of Tsarina Irina
Godunova
Together with the refectory, they are located at the St.
Ambrose Church.
The two-story building adjoining the church was a
refectory until the time when a new one was built with the Assumption
Church. The third building was built, apparently, at the end of the 16th
century and was intended for Tsarina Irina Godunova. This group of
buildings is the oldest buildings of the monastery after the Smolensk
Cathedral.
Singing Chambers
1718-1726 years
The building of
one-story chambers is the largest residential building in the monastery
complex. Initially - fraternal cells, then the viceroy also lived here,
and in the 19th century the building was converted for nuns-chanters
(hence the name).
Treasury chambers
turn of the 17th and 18th
centuries
Stone building, built as a hegumen's cell. Initially, the
building had one floor, but in the first half of the 19th century it was
built on with a wooden mezzanine and decorated with a portico on
pillars.
Streltsy guard at the Naprudnaya Tower
(Chambers of
Princess Sophia)
17th century
There is a museum exposition in the
chambers. In the interior there is a tiled stove of the 17th century.
From the small windows of the chambers, Princess Sophia was ordered to
look at the rebellious archers hanged near the walls of the monastery.
The lower tier of the Naprudnaya Tower is combined with the chambers
into one room.
Chambers of Princess Evdokia
late 17th - early
18th century
At the bell tower.
Filatiev School
1871-1878
years
Now - the Moscow Diocesan Administration.
A two-story school
building with a balcony on the main facade, built at the expense of N.
P. Filatyeva. It was intended for orphans of different classes.
hospital wards
17th century
Pyotr Baranovsky lived in this house
from 1938 to 1984
Streltsy guard at the Nikolskaya tower
Until
the revolution of 1917, there was a chapel in the tower in the name of
St. Nicholas, the entrance was hewn from the outside.
Streltsy
guardhouse at the Chebotary tower
At the Chebotary tower lived
chebotari, that is, shoemakers
Setun archery guard
Archaeologist Ignatius Stelletsky believed that the underground passage
came from the Setunskaya tower
Burial chambers
late 17th
century
A stone two-storey building with a shed roof and a vaulted
lower floor, with two chambers on the sides of the vestibule. Initially,
it was one-story and intended for household purposes, rebuilt in the
first quarter of the 18th century.
In 1898-1903, the architect
Sergei Rodionov carried out restoration work to restore the buildings
and structures of the monastery. Together with Ivan Mashkov, he restored
the Smolensk Cathedral, in particular, changed the shape of the mosquito
cover, opened the upper windows of the drum of the central dome,
returned the windows of the main volume to their original sizes and
shapes, remade the gallery and the porch of the cathedral, and freed
fresco painting from later oil painting.
In 1926, the artist
Apollinary Vasnetsov depicted a fragment of the wall and tower of the
monastery in his painting, and in 2006 a stamp dedicated to this
painting was issued in Russia.
Novodevichy Cemetery, Novodevichy
Ponds and a square are located near the monastery, along the bank of the
pond there is an alley leading to a white-stone bridge and a square.
According to the information of the “Moscow that does not exist”
project, unauthorized construction of garages and other structures is
currently being carried out on the territory of the monastery, and the
demolition of the necropolis, which began in the 1930s, continues.
In 2016, the Bank of Russia issued coins (made of silver and gold)
dedicated to the monastery.
From the time of construction, the Smolensk Cathedral
served as a resting place for the nuns, the nobility, and later also
persons of other classes. After the decree of 1771 was issued, which
forbade the burial of the dead in cities, a noble necropolis began to
form on the territory of the monastery, especially close to the city
limits. By the beginning of the 20th century, there was practically no
free space for new burials.
In 1898, the city authorities ordered
to allocate a site outside the southern wall of the monastery for the
Novodevichy Cemetery, where the ashes of prominent cultural figures from
other necropolises intended for destruction were transferred in Soviet
times. In the middle of the 20th century, the cemetery became the most
prestigious burial place for the Soviet elite after the Kremlin wall.
In the 1930s, the monastery necropolis was subjected to
"reconstruction", as a result of which only about 100 tombstones out of
2000 survived. The graves of such figures as Minister of War D. A.
Milyutin, Generals S. S. Apraksin and A. F. Baggovut, philanthropist I.
S. Maltsov, educator L. I. Polivanov turned out to be lost.
Smolensky Cathedral
The first wife of Peter I, Empress Evdokia
Fedorovna Lopukhina, in monasticism Elena (August 27, 1731).
Princesses: Sofya Alekseevna, in the schema Sophia (July 3, 1704);
Evdokia Alekseevna (May 10, 1712); Ekaterina Alekseevna (May 1, 1718).
Princesses: Anna Ivanovna, daughter of Ivan the Terrible (July 20,
1550); Elena Ivanovna Sheremeteva, monastic Leonid (December 25, 1596).
Around the Cathedral and Assumption Church
Abbesses: Methodius
(Yakushkina) (February 10, 1845); Paisia (Nudolskaya) (January 25,
1871); Leonid (Ozerov) (January 18, 1920); Seraphim (Black) (December
16, 1999).
Nun Sarah, Treasurer (March 18, 1840).
Nun Theophania,
novice of the Monk Helena (December 18, 1511).
Tatyana Levshina,
mother of Metropolitan Platon of Moscow (December 18, 1511).
President of the College of Justice Yakovlev A. A. (1781) and members of
his family.
Heroes of the war of 1812: poet Denis Vasilyevich Davydov
(1839); Dmitry Mikhailovich Volkonsky (May 7, 1835); Volkonsky S. A.
Generals: Lev Korneevich Pashchenko. (1834); Vasily Ivanovich Timofeev
(1850); Mikhail Fedorovich Orlov (1842); Moscow military
governor-general Pavel Alekseevich Tuchkov (1864); Minister of War,
Field Marshal Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin (1912).
Participants in the
Decembrist uprising: Trubetskoy, Sergei Petrovich (1860); Alexander
Nikolaevich Muravyov (December 18, 1863); Matvey Ivanovich
Muravyov-Apostol (1886).
Writers: Alexander Alexandrovich Shakhovskoy
(1848); Mikhail Nikolaevich Zagoskin (1852); Ivan Ivanovich Lazhechnikov
(1869); Alexey Feofilaktovich Pisemsky (1881); Sushkov N. V. (1871);
poet and translator Alexei Nikolaevich Pleshcheev (1871).
Historians:
Alexander Ivanovich Turgenev (1845); Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin (1875);
Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov (1879); church historian and theologian
Gilyarov-Platonov N.P. (1887); Count Aleksey Sergeevich Uvarov (1884),
archaeologist, founder of the Moscow Archaeological Society and the
Historical Museum).
Philologists: Osip Maksimovich Bodyansky
(September 6, 1877); Fyodor Ivanovich Buslaev (1897).
Philosophers:
Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov (1900); Lev Mikhailovich Lopatin (1920).
Lawyers: Luminarsky E. E. (1883); Dukhovskoy M. V. (1903); Nikolay
Lvovich Duvernoy (1906).
Professors of Medicine: Ostroumov A. A.
(1908); Bubnov S. F. (1909); Golubinin L. E. (1912); Rein F. A. (1925).
Generals: Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov (1926); Yakhontov R. N. (1924);
Andrey Medardovich Zaionchkovsky (1926).
Some members of the
Prokhorov family, owners of the Trekhgornaya manufactory and well-known
benefactors (tomb).
According to the guide to the Novodevichy Convent in
2009, the abbesses of the monastery were:
1525 - November 18,
1547 (died) - Reverend Elena (Girl).
1547-1556 - Evnikia.
1556-1573 - Eupraxia.
1574-1586 - Stephanida.
?-? - Anna.
1597-1602 - Evdokia.
?-? — Theognia.
1605-1612 - Domnica.
1613-1615 - Maria (Chirikova).
1623-1629 - Feofania (Okhlyabinina).
1630-1651 - Anfisa.
?-? (mentioned in 1655, since 1666 in the Moscow
Ascension Monastery) - Irinarch (Timiryazev).
1656 (from the
Kuteinsky Monastery) - 1683 - Melania (Erchakova) (died in 1688).
January 1683 - December 6, 1689 (died) - Antonina.
1690 - July 8,
1693 (died) - Anastasia (Khotskovskaya).
1693-1701 - Pamphylia
(Potemkin).
1718 (from the Moscow Alekseevsky Monastery) - 1738
(died) - Olympiad (Kakhovskaya).
December 1738 - July 15, 1746 (died)
- Anastasia (Galekeevskaya).
1746 (from the Smolensk Ascension
Monastery) - October 17, 1771 (died) - Innokenty (Kelpinskaya).
February 4, 1772 (from the Tambov Ascension Monastery) - March 8, 1794
(died) - Palladia (Durova).
1794 (from the Moscow Ivanovsky
Monastery[specify]) - January 1808 - Elizabeth.
1808 (from the Moscow
Passion Monastery) - February 9, 1846 - Methodius (Yakushkin).
March
1846 (from the Moscow Alekseevsky Monastery) - April 13, 1854 -
Claudius.
1854 (from the Moscow Alekseevsky Monastery) - 1861 (to the
Moscow Ascension Monastery) - Paisia (Nudolskaya) (died January 25,
1871).
1861 (from the Moscow Nikitsky Monastery) - March 1867 (to
retire to the Moscow Conception Monastery) - Vera (Golovina) (died in
1874).
1867 - January 12, 1885 (died) - Evpraksia (Mosolova).
March 29, 1885 - March 1908 (died) - Antonia (Kablukova).
1908 (from
the Serpukhov Vladychny Monastery) - 1919 - Leonida (Ozerova) (died
January 18, 1920).
1919-1922 - Vera (Pobedimskaya) (died February 3,
1949).
November 24, 1994 - December 16, 1999 (deceased) - Seraphim
(Black).
December 16, 1999 (from the Spaso-Borodino Monastery) -
December 27, 2007 (to the Spaso-Borodino Monastery) - Seraphim (Isaeva).
December 27, 2007 (from the Kolychev Kazan Monastery) - Margarita
(Feoktistova).