Snetogorsky monastery

View of the Snetogorsky monastery in 1665. Drawing by Nikolaas Witsen .

The exact date of the monastery is not known for certain. According to one legend, it could be founded by monks who arrived from the Holy Mount Athos . According to another legend, which in our time is the main one, the abbot Joasaph is considered the founder. ^[2]

For the first time, the monastery was mentioned in the Pskov annals of the late XIII century, according to which on March 4, 1299, the monastery that already existed by that time was burned during the attack on Pskov by the Livonian knights. At the same time, the abbot of the monastery, Rev. Martyr Joasaph and 17 monks, were killed. ^[2]

In the XIV-XV centuries, the Snetogorsky monastery became the main spiritual and monastic center of Pskov. The increased role of the monastery at the beginning of the XIV century is evidenced by the fact of the construction of a stone temple in it - one of the first after a long break in stone construction caused by the Mongol invasion of Russia. In Pskov near Krom on the banks of the Pskov River from the middle of the XIV century there was a monastery courtyard, where in 1352 the church of Ap. John the Evangelist. The compound strengthened the economic relations of the monastery with the Pskov posad; in addition, the monastery maintained commercial relations with the Baltic merchants.

The monks of the Snetogorsky monastery were the reverend Euphrosynus of Pskov , Savva Krypetskiy , who came from Serbia or from the Holy Mount Athos. They founded other monasteries located in the vicinity of Pskov: Spaso-Eleazarovsky and Krypetskiy .

Pskov princes and boyars who were retired were taking tonsure at the monastery. During the pestilence of 1420-1421. here, the sick Moscow governor, Prince Theodore Alexandrovich Rostovsky , tonsured his hair, but returned to Moscow later. In the porch of the monastery cathedral in 1416, Prince Grigory Yevstafievich, son of Izborsk Prince Yevstafy , was buried. In addition, inside the temple on the walls, funeral ceramics of the 16th – 17th centuries were preserved. Outside the cathedral, a monastery cemetery was formed. In ancient times, chapels were added to the northern wall of the temple, marking the places of some burials.

Located on the banks of the Great River at the entrance to Pskov, the monastery met merchants and travelers. In 1472, the Byzantine Princess Sophia Paleolog stayed here, moving from Italy to Moscow via Eastern Europe and the Baltic states.

During the Livonian War, the monastery was devastated by the troops of the Polish king Stephen Batory , besieging Pskov in 1581-1582. The monastery cathedral suffered from a fire, which had fatal consequences for his fresco painting. The brotherhood of the monastery was forced to take refuge in the Pskov compound of the monastery. In the same way, during the time of trouble, the ruin of the monastery was brought by the Cossacks and detachments of the Polish voivode Lisovsky, who alternately besieged Pskov. Finally, in 1615 the monastery was occupied by the Swedish king Gustav Adolf , who unsuccessfully tried to take Pskov .

Nevertheless, in the XVII century the monastery recovered from the destruction. The border position of Pskov, which acquired important commercial significance for all of Russia, played its role. Snetogorsky monastery had an extensive economy, participating in the supply of the army, as well as directing peasants living on the monastery lands for state-owned construction and repair of city walls ^[3] .

The position of the monastery deteriorated sharply at the beginning of the XVIII century in connection with the Northern War . In addition, in 1710 there was a major fire, including the destruction of the archive, which kept documents from the time the monastery was founded. The final decline of the monastery was caused by the secularization of church lands by Catherine II . In 1804, the monastery was abolished. Then, in its place, it was decided to arrange a suburban bishop's house.

In 1816-1822, the archbishop of Pskov Evgeny (Bolkhovitinov) lived here, who was not only an active bishop, but also an outstanding historian. In addition to works on the history of Russia, Vladyka also studied the history of Pskov, using the archives of the Pskov spiritual consistory. In 1825 the monastery was visited by A.S. Pushkin . During the existence of the bishop’s house, divine services were mainly carried out in the house church of St. Prince Vladimir - the former refectory of St. Nicholas.

After 1920, the ruin of the bishop's house began, affecting the ancient Nativity Cathedral, despite the fact that it was included in the list of ancient monuments subject to state protection. The temple lost a dome, roofs, window frames. The territory of the monastery was occupied by a rest house. In 1934, the Ascension Church bell tower was partially destroyed, reaching a height of 86 meters ^[4] . Currently, only the ruins of the first, most ancient tier have survived from it.

During the Great Patriotic War , the headquarters of Army Group North was located here. The territory and buildings of the monastery were landscaped for the residence of German officers. At the same time, a meeting room was arranged in the Nikolskaya Church, a wine warehouse and a shooting gallery in the cathedral, and a garage in the ruins of the Ascension Church. During the retreat, German troops disabled an artesian well and a water tank, which stood above the Ascension Church.

In the post-war period, a holiday home and a children's sanatorium continued to exist. However, the Nativity Cathedral was placed under the authority of the state guard of historical and cultural monuments. Already in the late 1940s - early 1950s. partial restoration was carried out, continued in 1985 and is still ongoing ^[5] .

In 1993, the monastery was transferred to the Pskov diocese and opened as a female. Divine services are held in the refectory of St. Nicholas Church. It contains a reliquary with a particle of the relics of St. Martyr Joasaph of Snetogorsky ^[6] , icons with particles of the relics of the great martyr Panteleimon , St. Nicholas of Myra and Tikhon Zadonsky , icons of the Mother of God Tikhvin, Iverskaya, Snetogorsk , an icon of the Monk Makariy Zheltovodsky with a particle of relics, transferred to the monastery from Patriarch Cyril ^[7] . On July 26, 2012, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin was transferred to the Snetogorsky convent for 50 years for free use ^[8] .

The ensemble of the Snetogorsky monastery includes: the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary ( 1310 - 1311 ), the refectory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker ( 1519 ) ^[9] , the Bishop's House ( 1805 ), the ruins of the Snetogorsky pillar - the bell tower with the Ascension Church ( 1526 - XIX century ), Holy Gates and the fence of the monastery ( XVII - mid. XIX centuries ). The perimeter of the monastery fence is 420 meters . ^{[10] [11]}

Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin

The main shrine of the monastery - the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - was built in 1311 in the likeness of the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Mirozhsky monastery . In 1313 the temple was painted. The preserved, although not completely, frescoes are the only monument to the ancient Russian monumental painting of the 1st half of the 14th century and a striking example of the Pskov art school.

Cathedral Architecture

The temple in its architecture is in many ways similar to the Cathedral of the Mirozhsky Monastery built a century and a half earlier, but it has some significant differences from the latter. The internal space of the temple is decided in the form of an equilateral cross with smaller volumes adjacent to it in the corners. In the lower north compartment the chapel or a secluded monastic chapel was originally located, in the south - a staircase to the second floor. The upper northern room also served as an aisle; traces of a small iconostasis are preserved here. The upper southern room was a sacristy or a repository of documents. Premises-tents of the upper tier were connected by a narrow wooden flooring, replaced in the 16th century by a stone balcony.

In accordance with the internal arrangement of the interior, the side facades of the temple are asymmetric. Their eastern branches are decorated with high arches corresponding to the height of the branches of the cross. Here are the side portals of the temple, above them are placed for painting niches-kyoty and windows. The western sections of the bottom are decorated with low arches-niches corresponding to the lower tier of the western corner rooms. The eastern facade with three apses has basically retained its original form. The western facade, originally completed with three zakomaras , is now closed by the extensions to the temple that arose in the following centuries. The cathedral was completed with a dome placed in the center of the inner cross, the drum of which is decorated on the outside with an unusual belt of lancet arches, restored during restoration. In the XV century, the drum of the dome was raised, and the arched belt was replaced with ribbons of a runner and a curb . The shape of the roof has repeatedly changed during the history of the cathedral. Initially, the temple was covered with teskom in the form of a zakomar, and the head of the dome with a wooden plowshare - scales. In the 16th century, triangular forceps were placed on top of the semicircular zakomaras, the head of the dome made onion. Currently, the roof of the cathedral has a late four-slope shape with a flat completion of the facades.

Over time, the cathedral expanded. At the beginning of the 15th century, a narthex was already adjacent to its western facade. In the XVI century, the western facade of the narthex and the portal had exterior fresco paintings. Particularly strong changes were introduced to the architecture of the cathedral in the 17th century. In the XVIII century, the side chapels were added to the cathedral in honor of St. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Beheading of the head of St. John the Baptist. The lateral parts of the narthex were widened and encircled the porch of the 17th century on both sides. The aisles and the rebuilt porch were decorated in accordance with the Baroque architecture. At the same time, a large sacristy was added to the south apse of the temple (not preserved), and the ancient single-domed volume is decorated in the corners with four small decorative chapters. Already in the XIX century, decorative chapters were removed (including the heads of two chapels), the southern apse was restored. The bulbous head of the cathedral received an iron coating. The facade of the temple, painted in the XVIII century in a bright terracotta color, was again whitewashed.

Initially, the iconostasis of the temple was low and occupied only the opening of the central altar apse. Over time, it was replaced by a taller and wider tiered one. The iconostasis resumed in 1855. At the same time, a sacristy was arranged in the northern chamber of the narthex, where, in particular, icons from the old iconostasis were kept. In the XX century, the decoration of the cathedral was lost.

Restoration work of the late 40s - early 50s. XX century and in particular the comprehensive restoration, begun in 1985, allowed to recreate the architectural history of the ancient Pskov temple ^[12] .

Cathedral painting

The date of the beginning of the painting of the temple is known thanks to the recordings on the fields of the Pskov Pareminik . The temple was painted in 1313, shortly after completion of construction. The frescoes of the cathedral are a vivid example of the Pskov art school.

Having survived the strong fire of the monastery in 1493, the painting was badly damaged in 1581 during the siege of Pskov by the troops of Stephen Batory . After the war, the murals were forced to whiten as irreparably damaged. This is reported by the Scribe Book of the Pskov County of 1584-1587. The first trial cleansing of ancient painting was undertaken back in 1909. Work on the disclosure of the frescoes was carried out by the expeditions of the Central Museum of Computer Science in the 1920-1930s and, as was believed, were completed in 1948-1949. However, starting in 1985, significant new discoveries were made in the cathedral of previously unknown fragments of painting in the dome and altar. As a result of recent studies, it seems possible to give a complete reconstruction of the entire mural program ^[13] .

The painting system of the temple in many respects echoes the monuments of the pre-Mongol period.

The dome depicts the Ascension of the Lord , repeating the paintings of many Novgorod temples of the XII century and the Cathedral of the Mirozhsky monastery . The frescoes in the drum of the dome are lost. The sails preserved the figures of the evangelists with their symbols and a fragment of the ubrus with the image of the Holy Savior.

In the central altar apse in the lower registers there is a two-tier frontal hierarchal rank. Above was the traditional Eucharist .

On the arches supporting the dome, the Old Testament high priests are depicted, representing the New Testament priesthood. The arches and walls of the branches of the domed cross are occupied by several narrative cycles.

In the southern part of the temple, in the third register of murals on the eastern wall, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (occupying the traditional place of the temple image to the right of the altar) and the Introduction to the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary are depicted. The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is depicted above in the second tier, traditionally on either side of the altar apse: on the left is the archangel Gabriel , on the right is the Mother of God. The Nativity of Christ is presented after the Introduction in the third register on the southern and western walls of the southern branch of the cross.

Gospel scenes are divided into several separate cycles. Above are several major compositions: the Meeting of the Lord , the Baptism of the Lord , the Resurrection of Lazarus , the Crucifixion of Christ and the Resurrection of Christ . Below, on a smaller scale, the events preceding the passions of Christ , other scenes of passions and events after the Resurrection of Christ are depicted: the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem , the Transfiguration of the Lord , the Descent from the Cross , the myrrh-bearing wife at the Holy Sepulcher , the Presentation and Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles .

The largest and most impressive composition in the mural of the cathedral - the Assumption of the Mother of God - is located at the entire height of the northern wall of the church, opposite the one depicted on the south side of the Nativity of Christ. The contrast or, rather, the juxtaposition of these two compositions is also known from the murals of temples of the pre-Mongol period ^[14] .

In the interior of the Nativity Cathedral on the western wall, a scratched drawing has been preserved depicting, judging by the Polish inscription, Major Sobansky, preserved nearby in the southwestern tent. This is one of the testimonies of the stay in the monastery of the army of the Polish king Stephen Batory in 1581 ^[15] .

The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin is presented on a Bank of Russia coin from the series “Monuments of Russian Architecture” ^[16] .

By the decision of the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, July 7, 2019 was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List (in the list of temples of the Pskov school of architecture) ^[17] .

• Снетогорский Рождество-Богородицкий мужской монастырь // Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона : в 86 т. (82 т. и 4 доп.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Лифшиц Л. И. Программа росписи собора Снетогорского монастыря // Гос. Третьяковская галерея. Вопросы русского и советского искусства: Материалы научных конференций 1972—1973 гг. — М.: ГТГ, 1974. — Вып. 3. — С. 21-51.
• Лифшиц Л. И. О стиле росписи Снетогорского монастыря // Древнерусское искусство: Монументальная живопись XI—XVII вв. — М.: Наука, 1980. — С. 93-114.

• Сайт Снетогорского женского монастыря
• Каменная летопись. Снетогорский монастырь (ТК «Телеком», 2002)