Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery

The Kirillo- Belozersky Monastery is one of the biggest Russian monastery fortresses. It was founded in 1397 in today's Vologda Oblast near the village or the town of Kirillov Goritza, and was one of the most important religious centers of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states.

History of the Monastery

As the founder of the monastery is considered the monk Kirill, who stood on the nearby mountain Maura and to have received a divine sign, where he would build a monastery. - The mountain is revered up to our time as a holy place. Kirill called himself also Kirill ( Cyril ) Belozersky, derived from the name of the lake, where the monastery was to be built ( Beloe Ozero = White Lake ). In fact, the monastery is located on Siwerskoje Lake.

First, the "Resurrection Monastery " consisted of a wooden chapel and a Log Cabin for the monks. Through the family relationship of the founder of Russian nobility and the strategically important location, the monastery gained wealth, it became one of the most important political and religious center of the Russian Empire. The monastery had close relations with Greece. The monastery was home to numerous writers and writing assistants. Here lived as a monk and the elder Nil of Sora. Under Ivan the Terrible, who even owned a monk's cell at the monastery, the second largest land ownership in Russia belonged to the monastery. From the monks of this monastery many church fathers like Simeon Bekbulatowisch, Patriarch Nikon and others emerged in this period.

Several times, foreign troops besieged the monastery, but that could not be captured (eg 1612/1613 by Polish-Lithuanian troops ). By the end of the 17th century, the plant was continuously increased, it emerged from bricks several churches, chapels, a prison, a living area and a defensive wall ( Kremlin ).

1722 also included Peter the Great to the pilgrims who visited this monastery. Here he made ​​acquaintance with the builders, but especially with the icon-painters. The best craftsmen he finally summoned to Saint Petersburg so that they should cooperate in the development of "his" city.

In 1924, the monastery was converted into a museum and library collections transferred to Moscow and St. Petersburg. The icons have been combined with those of other monasteries and made ​​accessible in an impressive collection of the public in the former refectory.

Since 1998, the monastery is again inhabited by monks ( in 2007 it was two, three already in 2008 ) renovated and gradually.

Today on The complex includes 12 churches, a chapel, the Kremlin wall with towers 10, a kitchen, refectory, Archimandrite, priest and monk building, two hospitals, a boiler house and a windmill.

Parts of the architectural ensemble of the monastery

Churches

  • Resurrection Cathedral ( Успенский собор ) ( 1497-1498 ) with the churches "Vladimir " ( 1554 ), " St. Kirill " (1780 ) and" Epiphany " (1645 ) ( церкви Владимира, Кирилла и Епифания )
  • Ephraim Church ( Церковь Евфимия )
  • Gewandlegungskirche ( Церковь Ризоположения ), offset from the village Borodawa
  • Church of St. Sergei ( Церковь Сергия Радонежского ) ( 1560-1594 )
  • Church of St John the Baptist ( Церковь Иоанна Предтечи ) ( 1531-1534 )
  • Sacred Gate with the Johannes Climacus Church ( Святые ворота с церковью Иоанна Лествичника ) (1523/1572)
  • Bell Tower and Archangel Gabriel's Church ( Колокольня и церковь Архангела Гавриила ) ( 1531-1534 )
  • Water Gate to the Transfiguration ( Водяные ворота с церковью Преображения ) ( 1595 )
  • Yevfimiev Church (1653)

Towers and gates

  • Kazan tower with entrance gate ( Казанская башня с въездными воротами; 17th century)
  • Vologda Tower ( Вологодская башня; 17th century)
  • Kusnetschni Tower ( Кузнечная башня; 17th century)
  • Switotschni Tower ( Свиточная башня; 16th century)
  • Bread tower ( Хлебная башня; 17th century)
  • Blind Tower ( Глухая башня )
  • Cooking Tower ( Поваренная башня; 18th century)
  • Granowitaja Tower (16th century )
  • Belozersky Tower ( Белозёрская башня; 17th century)
  • Merescheni Tower ( Малая Мереженная башня; 16th century)
  • Boiler House Tower (16th century)
  • Leaning Tower ( Косая башня; 17th century)
  • Thera Pontos Tower ( Феропонтовская башня, even Moscow tower, 17th century)
  • Trinity Gate

Other buildings

  • Treasury
  • Seminary
  • Fortress walls of the "old town " (16th century) and the "new city " ( 1653-1682 )
  • Prison complex
  • Hospital building (late 16th to the beginning of 17th century)
  • Wooden windmill (19th century)
Starets Sergius of Radonezh
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