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Ploshchad Aleksandra Nevskovo
Tel. 274 2635, 274 1124
Subway: Ploshchad Aleksandra Nevskogo
Bus: 8, 27, 46
Trolley: 1, 14, 16, 22
Holy Trinity Cathedral
Open: 6am- 8pm
daily
Church of the Annunciation
Tel. 274 2635
Open:
9:30am- 5pm (6pm in winter months)
Closed: Mondays and Thursdays
Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Monastery was constructed in the 18th century on a site of historic victory of Russian medieval prince Alexander Nevsky over Swedish army in 1240. During medieval period this area was a far border of the Novgorod Republic. Prince Alexander Nevsky was hired to protect these lands against Swedish forces that sailing up Neva river. Here they set a large military camp. Novgorod Republic was caught by a surprise, but young Alexander Nevsky decided not wait for mobilization of Novgorod residents. Instead he attacked Swedish forces and dealt a decisive and fairly simple victory on troops that were not prepared for a battle.
In local history publications, it is often written that Peter I himself
founded the Nevsky Monastery. sazhens on both banks of the Neva, land in
the Olonets region, and the rich Valdai Iversky Monastery with its
estates was also attributed.
The consecration of the monastery to
the holy prince Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky was explained by the fact
that it was in this place, as it was then believed, that the prince
defeated the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva in 1240. Considering that
the monastery was built at the height of the war with Sweden on the
reclaimed lands, the historical roll call is very revealing.
The
arrangement of the new monastery was led by Archimandrite Theodosius
(Yanovsky). The official date of foundation - the day of the
consecration of the first wooden Church of the Annunciation - March 25,
1713 (the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary).
The project of the architectural complex was developed two years later
under the direction of Domenico Trezzini. Trezzini saw the Nevsky
Monastery as a symmetrical ensemble of stone buildings occupying the
area between the Neva and the Black River. At the same time, it was an
additional outpost in the southeast of the new capital, designed
according to the rules of fortification art. From the monastery to St.
Petersburg it was planned to lay a wide road - "Nevsky Prospect".
As the monastery was being built, a town grew up near its walls
(settlements with wooden houses for workers and servants), a garden and
a vegetable garden were planted, which fed the brethren. Outbuildings
rose up all around - a smithy, a carpentry workshop, a stable and
stockyards, a saw mill. Produced and grown was stored in cellars for
subsequent sale through trading shops.
In 1720, a school for the
children of clergymen was opened on the territory of the monastery,
after 6 years it was transformed into a Slavic-Greek-Latin seminary.
Subsequently, it was called the Alexander Nevsky Main Seminary, and in
1797 Paul I granted it the status of an academy. Within the walls of the
Nevsky Lavra, more than one generation of bishops was trained. Many
representatives of the episcopate of the Russian Church of the XVIII-XIX
centuries. at one time or another served in this monastery. Since 1719,
the St. Petersburg Printing House operated at the Lavra, since 1714 - an
almshouse for retired soldiers.
Peter I, visiting the newly built
monastery on May 29, 1723, ordered the relics of Prince Alexander to be
transferred from the Vladimir Nativity Monastery to the new capital. The
remains of the prince arrived in St. Petersburg on August 30, 1724, in
memory of which a new feast of the Transfer of the Relics of the
Right-Believing Prince Alexander was introduced into the calendar of the
Russian Church.
Synodal period
The implementation of the
Trezzini plan dragged on for many years. The main part of the
construction work fell on the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna and the first
half of the reign of Catherine II. The cathedral, built according to the
original project, had to be dismantled. His new project was developed by
Ivan Starov, who included the entire left bank of the Monastyrka into
the monastery complex and laid out Alexander Nevsky Square in front of
the entrance to the monastery.
With the establishment of the St.
Petersburg diocese in 1742, its ruling bishops became the holy
archimandrites (abbots) of the monastery. Prior to that, for 20 years it
served as the residence of the Novgorod bishops.
In 1797, by
decree of Paul I, the monastery received the status of a lavra with the
following staff: vicegerent, dean, housekeeper, confessor, sacristan,
usher, 30 hieromonks, 18 hierodeacons, 24 monks, 20 sick-listed. Thanks
to the patronage of the monarchs and their families, the main monastery
of the capital was one of the richest in the country. His capital was
estimated at 3 million rubles, and land was 13,090 acres. The number of
inhabitants fluctuated around 130-150 people.
At the beginning of
the 20th century, the Lavra was overgrown with new institutions, such as
courses for singers. In 1909, a museum was formed - the Lavra Ancient
Storage, under which the southwestern tower of the Lavra (Library) was
allocated. In the Luga district, the Serafimo-Antonievsky skete was
created, assigned to the Lavra. During the First World War, an infirmary
was equipped in the monastery walls. According to a participant in the
revision of the Kablukov Monastery, in May 1917 the capital of the Lavra
was about 2 million rubles, of which 1,966,243 rubles were in
interest-bearing papers and only 133,155.54 rubles in cash.
In February 1917, the number of brethren was 113 people, including 63
monastics and 50 novices. In November 1917, the brethren participated in
the election of members of the Constituent Assembly. On December 14,
1917, a decree of the Holy Synod followed, based on the results of a
comprehensive audit conducted in May-July: the commission revealed a
number of abuses on the part of the Lavra authorities. The decree
contained administrative orders: in particular, the Lavra remained under
the direct jurisdiction of the Synod, Bishop Procopius (Titov) was
appointed rector with the dismissal of the Vicar of Elisavetgradsky.
The Bolsheviks tried to requisition the funds and property of the
Lavra even before the issuance of the Decree on the separation of church
and state: on January 13 (O.S.), 1918, the People's Commissariat of
State Charity issued an order to requisition the living quarters of the
Lavra and the Metropolitan's quarters for their own needs for almshouses
and shelters. On the same day, a delegation arrived at the monastery,
accompanied by an armed detachment, which presented a document signed by
the people's commissar Alexandra Kollontai, ordering to hand over all
existing cases for the management of houses, property and capital of the
Lavra to an authorized person. Having compiled an inventory, the
delegation left, but already on January 19, an armed detachment led by
commissar Ilovaisky arrived at the Lavra and arrested several clerics.
Someone sounded the alarm, the people gathered, the Red Guards were
disarmed; but the Petrograd priest Pyotr Skipetrov was mortally wounded,
which caused extreme indignation of the assembled people. As a result,
the Red Guards had to leave the monastery. On January 21, by order of
Metropolitan Veniamin of Petrograd, a citywide religious procession was
held in defense of the Church, in which about 500,000 people took part.
At the end of January, the Alexander Nevsky Brotherhood was organized
from the laity and monastics to defend the interests of the monastery
and protect church property. The events of January 1918 in the Lavra
became the first open clash between the new government and the Russian
Church, and here the Church managed to win the only major victory over
the Bolshevik government.
On January 23 (February 5), 1918, the
Decree on the Separation of Church and State came into force, which
forbade religious organizations from owning any property and depriving
them of the rights of a legal entity. However, in 1919, part of the
property remained in the ownership of the Lavra. The monastery continued
to operate until February 17, 1932, when on the night of February 18 all
the monastics were arrested in Leningrad.
As part of the campaign
to "confiscate church valuables in favor of the starving," on May 12,
1922, the Alexander Nevsky cancer was opened. The silver shrine, as a
work of high artistic value, was confiscated and entered into the State
Hermitage Museum, and on November 15 the relics were transferred to the
funds of the State Museum of Religion and Atheism.
In the same
year, 1922, the Lavra submitted to the Renovationist Higher Church
Administration. In October 1923, upon the arrival in Petrograd of the
newly appointed Vicar Bishop Manuil (Lemeshevsky) by Patriarch Tikhon,
she joined the "Tikhon" church.
At the end of 1933, the Moscow
Patriarchate "legitimized" the closure of the monastery and its
reorganization into a church parish. A year later, the Trinity Cathedral
was taken away from the faithful and transferred to the jurisdiction of
the city's House of Miracles, and two years later, in January 1936,
divine services in the Spiritual Descent Church, which remained active
longer than others, ceased.
In the 1930s, various workshops, a
city blood transfusion station and other state institutions, up to 17 in
number, were located on the territory of the abolished Lavra: an flying
club, the Spartak sports society, a vegetable store, the Prometheus
Central Research Institute, and hostels. On the basis of the monastery
necropolis, the State Museum of Urban Sculpture was created. Unique
tombstones from other city cemeteries were brought here, destined to be
destroyed over time.
In 1957, services were resumed in the
Trinity Cathedral, which became a parish. The relics of St. Alexander
Nevsky were returned to the cathedral on June 3, 1989.
The revival of monastic life within the walls of the Lavra began in
1996. Bishop Nazariy (Lavrinenko) was entrusted with leading this
process. The parish meeting of the Trinity Cathedral was abolished on
November 3, 1997, and management was transferred to the spiritual
cathedral of the Lavra; the charter of the monastery was adopted, the
main officials were appointed: dean, housekeeper, confessor, sacristan,
treasurer, secretary. The final transfer of all the Lavra buildings to
the diocese took place on April 18, 2000.
Along with the revival
of the monastery and liturgical life in the Lavra, there is a revival of
traditional crafts. Work here: an icon-painting workshop, cabinetmakers,
a jewelry workshop, a Christian tin miniature workshop. The pilgrimage
service organizes trips of believers around the Leningrad region and
beyond. In the summer of 2007, the restoration of the dome of the
Trinity Cathedral and the gilding of the 14-meter cross were completed.
The Lavra is administered by the Holy Archimandrite, the ruling
bishop of the St. Petersburg diocese, represented by the governor.
Among the miraculous icons of the Trinity Cathedral of the Lavra,
the icon of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, transferred from the Russian Museum in
1988, originating from the village of Ilyesha, stands out.
At the
end of 2020, the beginning of the restoration of the seminary building
of the Lavra was announced, the work should be completed by September
2021.
The Trinity Cathedral, erected in the time of Peter the Great according
to the design of Theodor Schwertfeger, was dismantled in 1753-1755. The
current building in the style of early classicism was built during the
reign of Catherine II according to the design of Ivan Starov and
consecrated on August 30, 1790; At the same time, the relics of Saint
Prince Alexander Nevsky were transferred to it from the Annunciation
Church of the monastery.
Trinity Cathedral
Annunciation Church
Feodorovskaya Church
Gate Church
Cemetery churches
Church
of Righteous Lazarus
Tikhvin Church
St. Nicholas Church
Despite some later additions, the architectural appearance of the Lavra
continues to be dominated by Baroque, the style in which the buildings
of the monastery courtyard (“circumference”) are designed:
Metropolitan Corps (bishop's house)
Northern (Prosphoran) building
with the Sacristy (northwestern) tower
Southern (Seminar) building
with the Library (southwestern) tower
Consistory and cemetery office
Lazarevskoye (Necropolis of the 18th century),
Tikhvinskoye
(Necropolis of art masters)
Nikolskoye
Cossack cemetery
The
Lazarevskoye and Tikhvin cemeteries, as well as the Lazarevskaya and
Blagoveshchenskaya tombs of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, are part of the
State Museum of Urban Sculpture, which was founded in 1932.