Marfo-Mariinsky Convent - Closure

Closure

In 1920, the Convent was forced by the Soviet authorities to provide a comprehensive listing of the Order’s properties, both moveable and immoveable. This document has all information concerning not only the Cathedral of the Holy Protection, but the lower church of the Archangel Michael and All the Bodiless Powers, the hospital Church of Sts. Martha and Mary, the funerary chapel, and the Psaltery. This extraordinary catalogue and several which were later published provide a complete enumeration of the liturgical objects, icons, artworks, valuables, and their placement.

Despite the anti-religious sentiment, it was well-understood that the Convent and its churches represented a rare gesamtkunstwerk (complete work of art), and that its synergy of architecture, decoration, and collections of fine and decorative art were exceedingly important.

By 1922, however, the government began to order a systematic nationalization and confiscation of the convent's property, beginning to remove valuable gold and silver objects such as ikon oklads, rizas, gospel covers, crosses and ecclesiastical and liturgical objects.

In 1923, the convent tried to remake itself as the “Martha and Mary Community of Industry” in order to continue their works despite the civil war and official atheist position of the government. By 1925, the convent was being attacked for its makeup of former aristocrats and bourgeoises, and soon, the organization was under strain.

In 1926, the Church of SS Martha & Mary was closed, though the remaining nuns were able to remove over 200 icons and the “royal doors” from the cathedral by moving them to the Church of the Holy Protection. Shortly after this, the order was officially disbanded, and eighteen of the remaining nuns were exiled to Turkestan in Central Asia.

In 1928, both churches were finally closed, looted, pillaged, and desecrated. The frescos by Nesterov were covered and the church was turned into a movie theater. From 1945, the Church was used by the Grabar Institute as an icon and painting restoration studio.