Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery - After Secularisation

After Secularisation

After the Bolsheviks had the monastery secularised and turned into museum (1924), a wooden shrine from 1485 and several traditional timber structures were put on exhibit on the grounds. During Soviet restoration works, superb 16th-century frescoes were discovered in the gate church of St. Sergius (1560–94).

On the other hand, the monastic library and some other treasures were transferred to Moscow or St Petersburg. These included the oldest extant copies of the 12th-century Daniel's Pilgrimage and the Zadonshchina.

The larger part of the monastery is still administrated as the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum of History, Art, and Architecture. The monks were readmitted into the higher, or Ivanovsky, priory in 1998. As of 2011, the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery was one of the four acting monasteries in Vologda Oblast.

The ensemble of the monastery has been designated as a cultural heritage monument of federal significance.