Before talking about Donskoy monastery, some news about winter sports in Russia.
One of the members has just changed his T-shirt during a pause ... it was below -10°C !
I have forgotten to take a photo with snow ...
No recent photo because the access was closed on February ... we will see it next time during summer season.
The monastery was closed soon after the Revolution, and it was chosen by the Bolshevik government as the site for a Museum of Atheism, opened in the Great Cathedral in 1929. Patriarch Tikhon, who was invested in 1917, was held prisoner in the monastery from 1922 to 1923, and buried in an unmarked grave there.
It is really easy to find places where to do ice skating or cross country skying. Most of the stadiums are covered with ice during winter time and transformed into ice skating rinks.
In each park, forest, on lakes, also on the Moskva river, you can enjoy cross country skying. Just take warm clothes, the metro and within 30-60 min you have reached any of these spots.
But don't hope to find big mountains around Moscow for downhill skying : there are just some hills and it will take less 30 s to reach the start of lifts from top of the hill (most of the time only 1 lift !).
Sometimes, we see joung people in the metro with snowboards : they are going near the university on the Vorobyevy Gory hill (Sparrow Hills).
Vorobyevy Gory hill : winter and summer
I invite you now to discover Russian landscape during winter season by watching some photos done during a cross country trip (50 km on north of Moscow) with a Russian group. The length was around 35 km (sorry, I have started the GPS watch 15 min later ...) and we have spent all the day to do the trip between Morozki and Radonezh.
There was some hills, that is why the maximum speed recorded was 27 km/h !
One of the members has just changed his T-shirt during a pause ... it was below -10°C !
It was already dark when we arrived at Radonezh railway station ... and 30 min later we took the "Elektrichka" (train) to Moscow.
If you want to participate, just join the "Hike.Narod" group : they propose every 2 or 3 weeks a trip around Moscow and don't forget to bring your skis, warm clothes, warm drink, and sandwiches !
Now, back to the main subject for February : the Donskoy monastery.
Where is it located ?
It is south of Moskow, near the Shabolovskaya metro station (500 m) but not so easy to find ! Ask to Russian people, they will know ... or use GPS device if you prefer ?
It has changed since this old photo ... now, there are a lot of buildings and houses all around the monastery.
Founded in 1591 to commemorate Boris Godunov's repulsion of a Tartar invasion, the Donskoy Monastery is one of the most impressively fortified in Moscow, and has had a turbulent and fascinating history.
I have forgotten to take a photo with snow ...When we see it outside, it looks a bit like Novodevichi monastery, and inside you will also have the same feeling.
You will find a map of the monastery near the entrance, but only in Russian ... foreign visitors are not coming here when visiting Moscow.
The history of this monastery ?
Godunov roused his troops on the eve of battle by parading the icon Our Lady of the Don, which legend claimed had been carried by Dmitry Donskoy at the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. When the Tartar forces fled after a brief skirmish, the decision was made to build a church to house the icon on the site and a monastery around it, which would also serve to protect the main highway from Moscow to the Crimea.
The original cathedral, now called the Old Cathedral or the Small Cathedral, was completed in 1593, and is a charming example of Moscow Baroque, painted soft red with typica kokoshniki - recessive rows of corbel arches that were a feature of Russian church architecture from the 12th Century - and topped with powder-blue onion domes. It now houses a copy of the icon, the original being on display in the Tretyakov Gallery.
No recent photo because the access was closed on February ... we will see it next time during summer season.The Great or New Cathedral was begun in 1684 on the orders of Tsarina Sofia, Peter the Great's half-sister and regent for the early years of his reign. The cathedral has some unusual features which can be attributed to the fact that its builders were masons and artisans brought from Ukraine. According to Ukranian custom, the five domes of the cathedral are positioned to represent the four corners of the earth, a design which scandalized Old Believers, who gave it the name "The Antichrist's Altar".
The impressive eight-tiered iconostasis was carved between 1688 and 1698, and centers on a sixteenth century copy of Lady of the Don. The frescoes in the cathedral were painted by Italian Antonio Claudio between 1782 and 1785, making them the first church paintings in Moscow to be executed by a foreigner.
Unfortunately, you will not see the icons wall like the photo because it is under restauration and with many scaffoldings.
And as it is forbidden to take photos inside the cathedral, these are coming from Internet.
At about the time of the construction of the New Cathedral, the walls of the monastery were also reconstructed in Moscow Baroque style. The high crenellated red walls, with twelve crowned towers built between 1686 and 1711, resemble those of the Novodevichy Convent. Of particular note is the soaring Gate-Church of the Tikhvin Virgin, which acts as the entrance to the monastery.
The Gate church, when entering the monastery
Not a lot of visitors when temperature below -15°C !
Let's have a look on other churches ... but each one was closed ...
The plague that ravaged Moscow in 1771 not only brought riots to the monastery - during which Ambrosius, Archbishop of Moscow, who had fled from the Kremlin, was bludgeoned to death by an angry mob - it also led to an edict from Catherine the Great that no cemetery be located within the city limits.
Seven Orthodox cemeteries were then established around the city, and the Donskoy Cemetery became the most prestigious. Among the great families that began to use the cemetery were the princes Golitsyn and Zubov, who built private chapels - the Alexander Svirsky Church and the Archangel Church respectively - within the grounds of the monastery.
Like Novodievitchi, the cemetery is closed to the monastery but with snow, it is a bit difficult to see tombs !
Services in the Old Cathedral resumed in 1946, but only in 1992 was the monastery returned to the Church. Soon after this event, which was marked by the reburial of Tikhon, a fire destroyed all the icons in the Great Cathedral.
The monastery is still undergoing restoration work, but is an active institution with a publishing house and a studio for icon restoration.
More information available on the Web site : http://www.vidania.ru/bookdonskoy.html
(sorry, only in Russian)
Last detail for the visit : it is free of charge ... at least during winter time !
But take care when walking because it is very slicy on the sidewalks ... more than in the centre of Moscow ...
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