Location: Suzdal
Constructed: 1240
Aleksandrovskiy Convent (
) was constructed in 1240 by a famous Russian prince Aleksandr Nevsky. Original wooden buildings were not preserved. Most of the current religious complex was rebuilt in stone and brick in the late 17th century and early 18th century with money donated by many notable families including Natalia Kirilovna, mother of Peter I the Great. The life of Russian Orthodox community ended in 1764, when Russian Empress Catherine II the Great secularized many abbeys in the country. Aleksandrovskiy Convent was closed and its remaining churches served residents of Suzdal. The abbey was revived in 2006 as a male Orthodox community.
According to legend, it was founded in 1240 by Alexander Nevsky. The
monastery received estates from relatives of Alexander Nevsky - Ivan
Kalita and Ivan II. Due to the large number of nuns who became orphans
and went to the monastery after the invasion of the Tatars, it was
called the Great Lavra.
In 1608-1610 the monastery was burnt down
by the Poles during the Russian-Polish war. Not a single building built
before the 17th century has survived.
In 1764, during the
secularization of the lands by Catherine II, the Alexander Convent was
abolished with the appeal of the cathedral to the parish church of the
city.
In 2006, it was restored as a male monastery of the
Vladimir-Suzdal diocese.
The ancient monuments of the monastery have not survived to this day.
The Church of the Ascension of the Lord with a bell tower was built in
1695 at the expense of Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, mother of Peter I.
The Ascension Church is a tall two-tiered quadrangle topped with
five cupolas. A large apse adjoins the quadrangle on the east side, a
warm chapel is attached on the north side, and a porch on the east. The
windows are decorated with carved architraves with simple columns in the
first tier and curly ones in the second. Figured columns are also used
in the decoration of high, soaring drums.
The octagonal pillar of
the hipped bell tower is placed on a low quadrangle, to which a wooden
staircase is attached. Its walls are practically devoid of decoration,
which makes it unique among Suzdal hipped bell towers. The modest
decoration of the upper part is the carved framing of the arched
openings and the architraves above the rumour-windows.
In the
first half of the 18th century, a low fence was built around the
monastery, decorated with decorative turrets stylized as defensive
towers. At the same time, the Holy Gates with a two-tiered turret
appeared, reminiscent of the Holy Gates of the Trinity Monastery, now
part of the ensemble of the Rizopolozhensky Monastery. This coincidence
is not accidental: the fence and towers of the Alexander Monastery were
erected under the leadership of Ivan Gryaznov, who participated in the
construction of the Trinity and Rizopolozhensky monasteries at the end
of the 17th century.