Novodevichy Convent

Novodevichy was founded in 1524 to mark the return of Smolensk, and it grew into a wealthy and politically significant house - noblewomen were placed here, sometimes voluntarily and often not, including Sophia Alekseyevna, Peter I's half-sister, confined after her regency ended. Most of what stands is a single coherent building campaign of the 1680s under Sophia: white walls with twelve towers, the red and white Moscow baroque gate churches, a bell tower of seventy-two metres, all around the earlier Smolensk cathedral of 1524 with its sixteenth-century frescoes and a five-tier iconostasis. UNESCO listed it in 2004. The cemetery beside it is the other reason people come: Chekhov, Gogol, Bulgakov, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Stanislavsky, Mayakovsky, Eisenstein and hundreds of others are buried there under sculpted monuments, and it functions as a walk through the country's cultural memory.

History

Grand Prince Vasily III founded the convent on 13 May 1524 in thanks for the capture of Smolensk in 1514, dedicating it to the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, and it began as a fortress at a bend of the Moskva three versts south-west of the Kremlin, part of the southern defensive belt of Moscow. It housed many women of the royal family and the boyar clans who had been made to take the veil, among them Irina Godunova from 1598 to 1603, Peter the Great's half-sister Sofia Alekseyevna from 1689 to 1704 and his first wife Eudoxia Lopukhina from 1727 to 1731; a Polish unit held it in 1610-1611, and by the end of the 17th century it owned 36 villages. In 1724 it also took in a military hospital and an orphanage for foundling girls, in 1812 the nuns saved it when Napoleon's army tried to blow it up, the meadow before its walls was Moscow's most popular skating rink in the 19th century, and in 2004 it became a World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Novodevichy Convent).

What you'll find

• The 1680s ensemble - white walls, twelve towers and red and white baroque gate churches.
• The Smolensk cathedral - the 1524 core with sixteenth-century frescoes and a tall iconostasis.
• The cemetery - Chekhov, Gogol, Bulgakov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich among hundreds.
• The confinements - noblewomen placed here, Sophia Alekseyevna among them.

When to go

May to September; the pond and walls photograph well in autumn colour. Two to three hours including the cemetery.

Good to know

The cemetery is a separate entrance and ticket from the convent. The convent is an active religious house with dress rules and restricted areas. Some buildings are closed for restoration. Photography inside churches is limited.

Nearby

Luzhniki is across the pond; the Moskva river and Sparrow Hills are south.

Key facts