THE ENSEMBLE OF THE MONASTERY OF NIKOLO-VYAZHCHISKY

Stavropigian Women’s Monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The monastery was founded in the late 14th century. In 1411 the Cathedral was built from wood. In 1417 the chronicles mention the construction of a new church (the former was probably burned). In 1419 a wooden temple was built in honour of the Reverend Anthony the Great. In the 17th century the monastery was protected by the first members of the Romanov dynasty. The initiator of the radical restructuring of the monastery in the late seventeenth century was Bogolep Sablin. The following buildings of the late 17th century have survived: Nicholsky Cathedral (in the name of Saint Nicholas, Archbishop Mirikiy Lykiyani) (1681-1683), a transept with the churches of Saint Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologians and the Ascension of the Lord (1694-1698), the gallery connecting them and having two front porches.

In the early 18th century two stone buildings were built in the northern part of the monastery: a two-storey building with rooms for the men and a one-storey building for the owner. Originally the monastery ensemble was surrounded by a wooden fence. In the early 19th century it was replaced by a stone one.

The peculiarity of the late 17th century buildings is the use of coloured ornaments - they surround the monastery building with ribbed friezes, and decorate the cash windows. The small pickers were depicted with floral bouquets in a vase or geometric shapes. Larger pickers are varied by the drawing. They are depicted as a unicorn, lion, horse, double-headed eagle, and cross. Most colourful of the decoration of the Retreats, and especially - the church of John the Theologian.

In 2023 the restoration of the house of the refectory and the churches of Ascension and John the Theologian with a bell tower was completed.