Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery

Cyril of Beloozero dug a cell here in 1397 on the shore of Lake Siverskoye, and what grew from it became one of the largest and richest monasteries in Russia - by the seventeenth century its walls enclosed about twelve hectares, with towers up to seven storeys, which makes it among the largest monastic fortresses in Europe by enclosed area. Ivan IV came repeatedly and endowed it heavily; the monastery held one of the great manuscript libraries and functioned as a place of political exile, with Patriarch Nikon and others confined here. The New Town walls, built in the 1650s and 60s, are the enormous outer circuit and were never tested. Inside are around ten churches, the Assumption cathedral of 1497 among them, chambers, cellars and a museum holding icons - including work from the Dionisy circle - and manuscripts. It is a museum with a small monastic community, and its scale is what people are unprepared for.

What you actually see

• The scale - walls enclosing about twelve hectares, among Europe's largest.
• The New Town circuit - vast 1650s outer walls with seven-storey towers.
• The 1497 cathedral - the Assumption at the centre of the older enclosure.
• The exiles - a monastery used to confine political and church figures, Nikon among them.

When to go

May to September. Three to four hours - it is much bigger than it looks from outside. Waterway cruises stop here.

Honest expectations

The site is enormous and involves a lot of walking. Many buildings are empty shells or closed. The ticket covers some exhibitions and not others. Cruise arrivals crowd it in bursts.

Nearby

Ferapontov monastery is about twenty kilometres north-east; Vologda is south.