Ascension Monastery (Smolensk)

The monastery was founded in the 1630s by the Jesuits . In February 1665 it was turned into a female Orthodox monastery. The nuns of the Orsha Uspensky Monastery with Mother Superior Iraida Kurakina were transferred here.

In 1693, the dilapidated wooden Ascension Church at the request of Mother Superior Eupraxia was demolished, after which, by decree of Peter I , the construction of stone was begun. The stone Ascension Church was laid by the Moscow architect Osip Startsev , in 1693 - 1694 the Moscow architect Danila Kalinin rebuilt, in 1701 - 1704 he finished Kondrat Mymrin. Work under their leadership was carried out by masons from Yaroslavl peasants and Smolensk archers, funds for the construction of the church were allocated from the treasury. The construction was complicated by the damage that a severe hurricane caused to the unfinished church in 1697 .

The Ascension Church previously had a baroque iconostasis with Corinthian columns, created by master Yuri Beck; icons for him were written by the Protopop of the Assumption Cathedral Ignatius. The iconostasis of the former wooden church was moved to the lower church; Choirs were cut for her by an artel of a joiner from the village of Krasny Mark Borodavkin.

In 1764 - 1765, on the initiative of Mother Superior of the Olympics of Rydvan, the church of Catherine was attached to the Ascension Church.

In 1830, the church of the Mother of God of Akhtyr was built over the monastery gate according to the project of the provincial architect Alshevsky.

Until the revolution, the cells of the monastery remained wooden (not preserved until our time).

After the revolution, the monastery was abolished. Wooden cells were demolished, part of the monastery territory (stretching to the west and north from the cathedral to the present street of Voikov ) was given for urban development. For a long time, the Ascension Church housed an exhibition hall.

Currently, the monastery has been revived.

Ascension Cathedral

The Cathedral of the Ascension Monastery was built in 1693 - 1701 .

The church is three-part - consists of a quadruple with three apses, equal in width to the refectory and the bell tower. The four is crowned with an octagonal drum with a helmet-shaped head. Similarly, the completion of the bell tower, which consists of two quadrangles and an octal bell. The clock, which used to be on the bell tower, has not been preserved. Smooth walls are decorated with modest profiled platbands and octagonal windows (this form of windows first appeared in Russian architecture).

The building is two-story: on the ground floor is the lower church of St. Sergius of Radonezh. On the first floor there are flat ceilings (the original arches have not been preserved), on the second - closed arches.

Church of Catherine

The anteroom, attached in 1764 - 1765 to the Ascension Temple. Made in baroque style . Single-headed.

Church of the Akhtyr Icon of the Mother of God

It was erected in 1830 over the gates of the monastery according to the design of the architect Alshevsky.

Built in the style of late classicism. The small rectangular volume of the temple is completed by a massive round drum with a dome. The facades are decorated with pilaster porticoes in the spirit of the Tuscan warrant with pediments. On the sides there is a narrow gate.

• Ascension Monasteries // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Anikeev V.M. The earthly life of the holy monastery. Smolensky Spaso Ascension Convent in archival documents of the XVII – XX centuries. - Smolensk: Historical and literary magazine "Strannik", 2018. - 248 p. with ill. ISBN 978-5-6041915-0-7

• Ascension Monastery on sobory.ru
• Ascension Monastery on temples.ru
• A book is published on the history of the Smolensk Holy Ascension Convent

• A book has been published about the history of the Smolensk Holy Ascension Monastery. Synodal department for monasticism.