Andronikov Monastery - Monuments

Monuments

Since the 1930s, when the Communists destroyed the 14th-century Saviour Cathedral in the Wood, the monastery's cathedral has attracted a renewed interest as the oldest preserved in Moscow. Consequently, its present outlook is the result of a controversial Soviet restoration (1959–1960), which sought to remove all additions from later periods. Nothing but traces of the frescoes by Andrei Rublev and Daniil Chyorny remain visible on its walls.

The second oldest monument (1504–1506) in the abbey is a spacious refectory, the third largest such structure after those in the Palace of Facets and Joseph-Volotsky Monastery. The adjacent baroque church was commissioned by Eudoxia Lopukhina in 1694 to commemorate the birth of her son, Tsarevich Alexis, and contains a burial vault of the Lopukhin family.

Massive 17th-century walls and towers are reminiscent of the period when the monastery defended the eastern approaches against the Moscow Kremlin. In 1795, they started a Neoclassical belltower, one of the tallest in Moscow. This astonishing belfry was destroyed in 1929–1932, and its bricks were subsequently reused in construction of nearby buildings.

  • Church of Michael the Archangel (1690s, restored 1960)

  • The katholikon (1420s, restored 1959)

  • Chapel of Dmitry Donskoy (2000-01)

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