Ascension Monastery

The Ascension Monastery in Smolensk was founded in 1515 by order of Emperor Vasily III. In accordance with the architectural tradition of the period, the original monastic buildings were built of wood. The first half of the seventeenth century for Smolensk, as for many Russian cities, was marked by the Polish intervention, which ended in 1654. During the rule of the Poles, a Jesuit monastery was located in the monastery. The Ascension Monastery passed into the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church only after the liberation of Smolensk.

In 1667, the Strelets colonel K.P. Naryshkin, the father of the future sovereign Natalia Kirillovna, arrived to serve in Smolensk. Tradition says that it was in the Ascension Monastery that the future mother of Peter I was trained in literacy. History does not give an exact answer to this question, but it is well known that Peter I gave special protection to the Smolensk monastery.

In 1693-1700 the construction of the first stone temple on the territory of the monastery began. To create the drawings of the Ascension Cathedral from Moscow, a “master master” was specially sent - the architect Osip Startsev. Directly the construction was led by another Moscow architect - Danila Kalinin. The cathedral was decorated with a rich carved Baroque iconostasis. In 1787, a small Catherine Church was added to the cathedral, and in 1830 the doorway Akhtyr Church, built in the style of classicism, appeared.

Nowadays, in addition to its main function, the monastery buildings perform the role of a museum - there is an exhibition hall in the Ascension Church. It regularly hosts exhibitions of artists from the Smolensk region, Belarus and other regions, as well as exhibits items from museum collections.