russia: lenin, danilov monastery, and holiday lights

Tuesday touring continues, I really need to get better about doing something or going to see something every Tuesday.

Like so many other places I've visited recently, I learned about the Danilov monastery on social media. It is a walled monastery near the right bank of the Moscow River, in Moscow.

Wikipedia tells me it has been the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church since 1983. The year of this designation surprised me, because that was during the existence of the Soviet Union, and I didn't think the state wanted anything to do with religion back then.

Danilov Monastery is the official residence of the Patriarch of Moscow and all of Russia. I'm pretty sure I know which building has his residence, there is a giant mosaic on the exterior wall of one building in the monastery. This building is blocked off from visitors, so that's my guess.

As with any religious facility in Russia, this one has a long history, including being moved around several times. First it was here, then it was moved to the Kremlin, then it was moved back. It was also used as a fort.

As far as I could tell, there were two main buildings that looked like churches. One is called the katholikon, it's actually three churches in one building. I went inside, and saw at least two areas, but I'm not sure about a third.

The other unmissable building was yellow, with big steps on all four sides and a dome on top. It wasn't open, so I'm not sure if it was a church or not.

After leaving the monastery I used the metro system to get to the area near the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. It's the big white cathedral on the list of most tourists.

The church is pretty new, at least the building is. Before the current church the location was actually a giant city pool for a long time, as the Soviet government did not want religion to be important in the life of any citizen. I've seen a few photos of the area when it was a pool and whoa.

There was a church there in the past, I assume it had the same name.

The reason I came to the area was to check out the holiday lights. The pedestrian bridge on one side of the church has a very non traditional series of Christmas trees. Think upside down cone, with lights spiraling around, and the cones leaning over to the side.

The other side of the church also had a couple sets of lights, which looked like shooting stars.