Religious sites in Russia
Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery
Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery used to be the largest monastery of Northern Russia. The monastery was dedicated to the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, for which cause it was sometimes referred to as the Dormition Monastery of St. Cyril. The monastery was founded in 1397 on the bank of Lake Siverskoye, to the south from the town of Beloozero, in the present-day Vologda Oblast. Its founder, St. Cyril or Kirill of Bel ...
Founded: 1397 |
Location:
Kirillov, Russia
Dormition Cathedral
Dormition Cathedral or Assumption Cathedral used to be a mother church of medieval Russia in the 13th and 14th centuries. It is part of the World Heritage Site entitled White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal. The cathedral was commissioned by Andrew the Pious in his capital Vladimir and dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary), whom he promoted as the patron saint of his lands. Originally erected in 1158 ...
Founded: 1158 |
Location:
Vladimir, Russia
Königsberg Cathedral
Königsberg Cathedral (Königsberger Dom) is a Brick Gothic-style cathedral in Kaliningrad, formerly Königsberg. Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945, and the easternmost large German city until it was conquered by the Soviet Union near the end of World War II. In 1946 the city was renamed Kaliningrad. The construction of the cathedral is considered to have begun in 1333. The ...
Founded: 1333 |
Location:
Kaliningrad, Russia
New Jerusalem Monastery
The New Jerusalem or Novoiyerusalimsky Monastery was founded in 1656 by Patriarch Nikon as a patriarchal residence on the outskirts of Moscow. This site was chosen for its resemblance to the Holy Land. The River Istra represents the Jordan, and the buildings represent the "sacral space" or holy places of Jerusalem. In his time, Patriarch Nikon recruited a number of monks of non-Russian origin to populate the mo ...
Founded: 1656 |
Location:
Istra, Russia
St. Hyacinth's Church
St. Hyacinth's Church is a Gothic building, formerly a church, in Vyborg. It was built in the 16th century as a private church for members of the nobility, and became a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint Hyacinth in 1802. In 1970 the neglected and disused building was restored for use as a children's art school. It is now an art gallery. The wrought iron railings here once belonged to Cathedral of the Transfiguratio ...
Founded: 16th century |
Location:
Vyborg, Russia
Saint Sophia Cathedral
Saint Sophia Cathedral is the oldest surviving building in the city of Vologda. It was built in 1568-1570, when Ivan the Terrible introduced the Oprichnina and made Vologda its capital. The model after which the cathedral was built was the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. Ivan personally supervised the construction, and the builders were permitted to use almost unlimited resources. Ivan also, for unknown reason ...
Founded: 1568-1587 |
Location:
Vologda, Russia
Michael the Archangel Cathedral
There were originally several churches in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, but today only Michael the Archangel Cathedral exists. It was built in the middle of the 16th century and rebuilt in 1628-1631. The cathedral is the tomb of Kuzma Minin. In 1828, in front of the Archangel Cathedral was constructed the obelisk in honor of Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky (by architects Melnikov and Martos).
Founded: 1628-1631 |
Location:
Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia
Donskoy Monastery
Donskoy Monastery was founded in 1591 in commemoration of Moscow"s deliverance from the threat of an invasion by the Crimean Khan Kazy-Girey. Commanding a highway to the Crimea, the monastery was intended to defend southern approaches to the Moscow Kremlin. The monastery was built on the spot where Boris Godunov"s mobile fortress and Sergii Radonezhsky"s field church with Theophan the Greek"s icon Our ...
Founded: 1591 |
Location:
Moscow, Russia
Cathedral of Saint Demetrius
The Cathedral of St Demetrius (1194-97) is a royal church, built to the order of Grand Prince Vsevolod III. It is cubic in form, with three internal naves and a helmet dome. The cathedral is one-domed and four-pillared. Originally it was surrounded by galleries with towers that connected it to the prince"s palace. They were demolished during the restoration in the 19th century. The church is famous for its white-sto ...
Founded: 1194-1197 |
Location:
Vladimir, Russia
St. Paraskevi's Church
Church of St. Paraskevi, a small crossed dome church with three naves and four pillars, is one of Russia"s oldest churches. It is currently a museum and on the UNESCO World Heritage list as a part of Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings. The church was built in 1207 by Novgorod merchants and is named after Saint Paraskevi, who was the patron saint of the merchants. Previously, at least two different woode ...
Founded: 1207 |
Location:
Veliky Novgorod, Russia
Pskov-Caves Monastery
Pskov-Caves Monastery or Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery is a Russian Orthodox male monastery. It was founded in the mid-15th century, when the first hermits settled in local caves. The first cave Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos was built in 1473 (its modern facade was constructed in the 18th century). After the monastery had been destroyed by the Livonian feudals, it was rebuilt by a Pskovian Mikhail Munekhin-Misyur ...
Founded: 1473 |
Location:
Pskov, Russia
Saviour Cathedral
The unassuming Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior, with its white walls, green roof, and single onion dome, is an edifice that was built in 1152. It is one of the oldest churches in Russia.
Founded: 1152 |
Location:
Pereslavl-Zalessky, Russia
Ipatiev Monastery
The Ipatiev Monastery is a male monastery situated on the bank of the Kostroma River just opposite the city of Kostroma. It was founded around 1330 by a Tatar convert, Prince Chet, whose male-line descendants include Solomonia Saburova and Boris Godunov. In 1435, Vasily II concluded a peace with his cousin Vasily Kosoy there. At that time, the cloister was a notable centre of learning. It was here that Nikolay Karamzin d ...
Founded: 1330 |
Location:
Kostroma, Russia
St. George's Church
Staraya Ladoga was the first seat of Rurik in 862, and, after Rurik moved the seat to Novgorod, remained in the Novgorod Lands. It controlled one of the most important waterways at the time, the Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, of which the Volkhov River was a part. The stone construction in Staraya Ladoga started either in 1114 or 1116, and in the second half of the 12th century seven or eight stone churche ...
Founded: 1180-1200 |
Location:
Staraya Ladoga, Russia
Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery
Monastery of St. Jacob Saviour (Spaso-Yakovlevsky) is an Eastern Orthodox monastery situated to the left from the Rostov kremlin on the Rostov"s outskirts. Monastery was founded in the 14th century by St Iakov of Rostov. The earliest kept building of a monastery is Cathedral of Conception of St Anna. It has been constructed in 1686. Another 17th-century building is Savior Transfiguration Cathedral which once belonge ...
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Rostov, Russia
Saint Nicholas Cathedral
Saint Nicholas Cathedral (Nikolo-Dvorishchensky Cathedral), founded by Mstislav the Great in 1113 and consecrated in 1136, is the oldest surviving building in the central part of Veliky Novgorod after the Saint Sophia Cathedral. It is on the World Heritage list as a part of object 604 Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings. The cathedral is located outside of the kremlin walls, on the right bank of the Volkhov R ...
Founded: 1113-1136 |
Location:
Veliky Novgorod, Russia
Ryazan Cathedral
Ryazan"s most famous site is probably the magnificent Dormition Cathedral. It was built between 1693 and 1699 by the architect Yakov Bukhvostov in the Naryshkin baroque style. In form it consists of a tall red brick structure decorated with carved white stone window frames and topped with five central domes. Inside the cathedral has a towering iconostasis 27 metres in height which includes two miracle-working icons: ...
Founded: 1693-1699 |
Location:
Ryazan, Russia
Yuriev Monastery
The St. George"s (Yuriev) Monastery is usually cited as Russia"s oldest monastery. It was used to be the most important in the medieval Novgorod Republic. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site named Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings. According to legend, the monastery was founded in the 11th century by Yaroslav the Wise (whose Christian name was George), but the first historically-reliable ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Veliky Novgorod, Russia
Solovetsky Monastery
Solovetsky Monastery was the greatest citadel of Christianity in the Russian North before being turned into a special Soviet prison and labor camp (1926–1939), which served as a prototype for the GULag system. Situated on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea, the monastery braved many changes of fortune and military sieges. Its most important structures date from the 16th century, when Filip Kolychev was its hegumen. ...
Founded: ca. 1436 |
Location:
Solovetsky, Russia
Valaam Monastery
The Valaam Monastery, or Valamo Monastery is a stauropegic Orthodox monastery located on Valaam island in Lake Ladoga. It is not clear when the monastery was founded. As the cloister is not mentioned in documents before the 16th century, different dates - from 10th to 15th centuries - have been expounded. According to one tradition, the monastery was founded by a 10th century Greek monk, Sergius, and his Karelian companio ...
Founded: Late 1300s |
Location:
Valaam, Russia