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Moscow's Donskoy Monastery a bit of a Disappointment

RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Monday, 19 November 2012 | Views [973]

Donskoy Monastery in Moscow

As it was the middle of autumn the days were getting shorter and opportunities to walk around without freezing were getting fewer and fewer. I have been exploring some of the churches and monasteries while living in Moscow but there are still many left that I haven’t seen. I went for a walk to Donskoy Monastery which is in the south of Moscow.

This small monastery was founded in 1591 to commemorate Boris Godunov’s repulsion of a Tartar invasion under Khan Kazy-Girey. The Donskoy Monastery is one of the most impressively fortified in Moscow but is not nearly as impressive on the inside.

The big Cathedral in side Donskoy Monastery

Godunov roused his troops on the eve of battle by parading the icon Our Lady of the Don, which legend claimed had been carried by Dmitry Donskoy at the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. When the Tartar forces fled after a brief skirmish, the decision was made to build a church to house the icon on the site and a monastery around it, which would also serve to protect the main highway from Moscow to the Crimea.

Little church inside the monastery complex

Bell tower of the small church

According to Ukranian custom, the five domes of the cathedral are positioned to represent the four corners of the earth, a design which scandalized Old Believers, who gave it the name “The Antichrist’s Altar”.The most impressive part about this monastery was its history.