russia: dzerzhinsky; nikolo ugreshky monastery

Nikolo Ugreshky monastery is not mentioned in either my Russia guidebook, or my Moscow guidebook, I found out about its existence on social media.

Wikipedia tells me the monastery has a history dating at least as far back as 1521, though not in its current form. Over the centuries various parts of the monastery were destroyed and rebuilt, depending on the political situation of the time. During communism the grounds became a child labor colony, then a labor colony in general. 

When everything was handed back to the church in 1991 most of it had fallen into disrepair. The church put everything back together, and added a seminary to the complex.

The monastery is about 30 kilometers from Moscow, it took me approximately 90 minutes to get there. I had to take two different metro lines, then a suburban bus for a while. The bus was perfect because the drop off point was directly across the street from the monastery.

The monastery is surrounded by a brick wall, most of what I could see of the wall was painted white. There were towers of various shapes at what seemed to be random distances along the wall, I assume these were originally built when the complex was also a fortress protecting the approach to the city of Moscow.

I entered through a gate going under one of these towers, and followed the path to the center of the grounds. 

There is a bell tower in the middle of the complex, it was separate from the main church. I'm used to seeing bell towers in the walls of monasteries, it was nice to see something different. I'm not sure, but I don't think visitors can climb up, but how fun would that be?

I worked my way around, and found the front steps of the main church. The Assumption Cathedral is considerably newer than much of the monastery, it was built between 1880 and 1894. 

The outside of the church and the front steps were not particularly eye catching, at least not any more than any of the other churches I've seen all around the country. The onion domes were a little different in that one was a different colour (gold,) from the others. With the gray sky, anything with colour is noticeable. 

The inside of the church was really impressive. The iconostasis is gold, and very bright. The ceiling is high, the sanctuary (is that what it's called in an Orthodox church?) felt airy and open. All of the walls and ceiling areas were painted, and were absolutely lovely. As is my habit, I spent half my time wandering around looking straight up. The artists who paint the ceilings of churches must have permanents cricks in their necks, but I'd say it's totally worth it. 

After leaving the church I walked around the rest of the grounds, ending near the pond. Most of the pond was frozen (at least the top of the water was frozen,) but the area that was still open was filled with ducks swimming back and forth.

Another lovely walkabout Wednesday.