If you are sensitive, passerby, take a breath! (walks around Moscow)

« Beyond Taganka the city ended. Between the Krutitsky barracks and the Simonov Monastery lay vast cabbage fields. There were also powder magazines. The monastery itself stood beautifully... on the banks of the Moskva River. Now only half of the former building remains of it, although Moscow could be proud of the architecture of this monastery no less than the French and Germans are proud of their castles.
Historian M.N. Tikhomirov

East street, 4... official address in reference books of the oldest monastery in Moscow - Simonovsky. It is located near the Avtozavodskaya metro station.

The Simonov Monastery was founded in 1379 by the nephew and disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Abbot Theodore. Its construction was blessed by Metropolitan Alexy of Moscow and All Russia and St. Sergius of Radonezh. The new monastery is located a few kilometers from the Kremlin on the high bank of the Moskva River on land donated to the monastery by the boyar Stepan Vasilyevich Khovra (Khovrin), who later took the monastic vows in this monastery under the name of monk Simonon. Nearby - the busy Kolomna road passed. From the west - the site was limited to a steep left bank above the bend of the Moskva River. The area was the most beautiful.

For a quarter of a century the buildings of the monastery were made of wood. Vladimir Grigorievich Khovrin builds the temple of the Assumption of the Virgin in the Simonov Monastery. This temple, one of the largest then in Moscow, still stands on a massive white stone basement and is very decorated in Italian (in its restructuring at the end of the 15th century, a student of Aristotle himself, Fioravanti, took part). Its construction was completed in 1405. Seeing this majestic building, contemporaries said: "Such a blunder has never happened in Moscow." It is known that in the 19th century the icon of the Lord Almighty, which belonged to Sergius of Radonezh, was kept in the temple. According to legend, Sergius blessed Dmitry Donskoy with this icon for the Battle of Kulikovo. After the restructuring at the end of the 15th century, the Assumption Cathedral became five-domed.

Dormition Cathedral of the Simonov Monastery 1379-1404

(reconstruction by P.N. Maksimov based on the results of field studies in 1930)

In addition to the monastic Assumption Cathedral, Vladimir Grigorievich also “made a brick fence near the monastery.” It was the first stone monastery fence in Moscow architecture, erected from a material then new in Moscow - brick. Its production has just been established by the same Aristotle Fioravanti not far from Simonov, in the village of Kalitnikov. In the 16th century, unknown architects erected new fortress walls with powerful towers around the Simonov Monastery (some historians suggest the authorship of the famous Russian architect Fyodor Kon, the builder of walls white city Moscow, the Smolensk Kremlin and the walls of the Borovsko-Pafnutiev Monastery). Each of the fortress towers had its own name - Dulo, Forge, Salt, Watchtower and Taininskaya, which overlooked the water.

Tower "Dulo". 1640s

View from the bell tower on the Moscow River. On the foreground tower "Dulo" and "Sushilo". Photo of the beginning of the 20th century.

Since its inception, the Simonov Monastery has been located on the most dangerous southern borders of Moscow. Therefore, its walls were made not just monastic, but fortified. In 1571, Khan Davlet Giray looked at the burning Moscow from the tower of the monastery. The capital then burned out in three hours, and about two hundred thousand Muscovites died in the fire. In 1591, during the invasion of the Tatar Khan Kazy-Girey, the monastery, together with the Novospassky and Danilov monasteries, successfully resisted the Crimean army. In 1606, archers were sent to the monastery by Tsar Vasily Shuisky, who, together with the monks, repelled the troops of Ivan Bolotnikov. Finally, in 1611, during a severe fire in Moscow, which arose through the fault of the Poles, many residents of the capital took refuge behind the monastery walls.

The Royal Doors from the Simonov Monastery.
Detail. Wood. Moscow. Late 17th century

Throughout history, the monastery was the most visited in Moscow, members of the royal family. Everyone considered it their duty to take part in the construction and decoration of the monastery, once one of the richest in Russia. The monastery bell tower was also famous throughout Moscow. So, in the Nikon Chronicle there is a special article “On Bells”, which speaks of a strong and wonderful bell ringing, which, according to some, came from the cathedral bells of the Kremlin, and according to others, from the bells of the Simonov Monastery. There is also a famous legend that on the eve of the assault on Kazan, young Ivan the Terrible clearly heard the ringing of Simon's bells, foreshadowing victory.

Therefore, the Muscovites felt reverence for the Simonovskaya bell tower itself. And when to XIX century she came into disrepair, then famous architect Konstantin Ton (the creator of the Russian-Byzantine style in Moscow architecture) erected a new one in 1839 above the northern gate of the monastery. Her cross became the most high point Moscow (99.6 meters). On the second tier of the bell tower there were the churches of John, Patriarch of Constantinople, and St. Alexander Nevsky, on the third - a belfry with bells (the largest of them weighed 16 tons), on the fourth - a clock, on the fifth - an exit to the head of the bell tower. This majestic building was built at the expense of the Moscow merchant Ivan Ignatiev.

Simonov Monastery in the 17th century. Reconstruction by R.A.Katsnelson

There was a time when Simonovo was known as a favorite place for out-of-town walks of Muscovites. Not far from it there was a marvelous pond, dug out by the brethren with the participation of Sergius of Radonezh himself, according to the chronicles. It was called that - Sergius Pond. AT Soviet time it was filled up, and today the administrative building of the Dynamo plant is located on this site. About the pond a little more below.

The plague epidemic that began in 1771 led to the closure of the monastery and its transformation into a "plague quarantine". In 1788, by decree of Catherine II, a hospital was organized in the monastery - there was a Russian-Turkish war.

The refectory of the Simonov Monastery. 1685
Photo from the History of Russian Art by I. Grabar

A major role in the restoration of the Simonov Monastery at one time was played by the Chief Prosecutor of Moscow, A. I. Musin-Pushkin. At his request, the empress canceled her decree and restored the monastery to its rights. The Musin-Pushkin family is buried in the family crypt of the necropolis of the temple of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God of the monastery.

The first, in the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Mother of God, was buried the contributor and builder of this church, Grigory Stepanovich Khovra. Later, the cathedral became the tomb of Metropolitans Varlaam, the son of the Moscow Prince Dmitry Ioannovich (Donskoy) - Prince Konstantin of Pskov, the princes Mstislavsky, Suleshev, Tyomkin, the boyars Golovins and Butyrlins.

Until now, in the ground, under the local Children's Park, rest: the first gentleman of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, associate of Peter I, Fyodor Golovin; the head of the Seven Boyars, who renounced the Russian throne three times, Fyodor Mikhailovich Mstislavsky; princes Urusovs, Buturlins, Tatishchevs, Naryshkins, Meshcherskys, Muravievs, Bakhrushins.

Until 1924, there were tombstones on the graves of the Russian writer S.T. Aksakov and an early deceased friend A.S. Pushkin poet D.V. Venevitinov (the epitaph blackened on his tombstone: “How he knew life, how little he lived”).

Headstone over the graves of the Venevitinovs

The monastery was closed for the second time in 1923. Her last abbot Antonin (in the world of Alexander Petrovich Chubarov) was exiled to Solovki, where he died in 1925. Today Abbot Anthony is counted among the new martyrs of Russia…

A. M. Vasnetsov. Clouds and golden domes. View of the Simonov Monastery in Moscow. 1920

From the once powerful fortress, only a few buildings have survived:
- Fortress walls (three strands);
- Salt tower (corner, southeast);
- Blacksmith tower (five-sided, on the southern wall);
- "Dulo" (corner, south-western tower);
- "Water" gates (1/2 of the 17th century);
- "Kelari building" (or "Old" refectory, 1485, XVII century, XVIII century);
- "New" refectory (1677-1683, architects P. Potapov, O. Startsev);
- "Sushilo" (malting plant, 16th century, 2/2 of the 17th century);
- Treasury cells (1/3 XVII century).
- One closed temple with 5 altars has been preserved, while five other temples with 6 altars have been destroyed.

Contemporary photographs of the state of the monastery

Well, now for some lyrics. This monastery is also famous for its romantic stories...

The Simonov Monastery was immortalized by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin:

“... the most pleasant place for me is the place on which the gloomy, Gothic towers of the Simonov Monastery rise. Standing on this mountain, you see on right side almost all of Moscow, this terrible mass of houses and churches, which appears to the eyes in the form of a majestic amphitheater: a magnificent picture, especially when the sun shines on it, when its evening rays blaze on countless golden domes, on countless crosses ascending to the sky! Below are fat, densely green flowering meadows, and behind them, on yellow sands, a bright river flows, agitated by the light oars of fishing boats or rustling under the helm of heavy plows that float from the most fruitful countries. Russian Empire and endow greedy Moscow with bread.

On the other side of the river, an oak grove is visible, near which numerous herds graze; there young shepherds, sitting under the shade of the trees, sing summer days, so uniform for them. Farther away, in the dense greenery of ancient elms, the golden-domed Danilov Monastery shines; still farther, almost at the edge of the horizon, the Sparrow Hills turn blue. On the left side, vast fields covered with bread, forests, three or four villages, and in the distance the village of Kolomenskoye with its high palace are visible.

"Lizin Pond"

In his story " Poor Lisa" Karamzin very reliably described the surroundings of Tyufeleva Grove. He settled Liza with her elderly mother near the walls of the nearby Simonov Monastery. The pond near the monastery walls in the southern suburbs of Moscow suddenly became the most famous pond, a place of mass pilgrimage for readers during years. The pond was called Saint, or Sergius, because, according to monastic tradition, it was dug by Sergius of Radonezh himself, the founder and first abbot of the Trinity Monastery along the Yaroslavl road, which became the famous Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

The Simonov monks bred some special fish in size and taste in the pond and treated Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich to it when he, on his way to Kolomenskoye, stopped to rest in the chambers of the local rector ... A story was published about an unfortunate girl, a simple peasant woman, who ended her life in a completely un-Christian way - ungodly suicide, and Muscovites - for all their piety - immediately renamed the Holy Pond into Lizin Pond, and only the old inhabitants of the Simonov Monastery soon remembered the former name.

Numerous trees that surrounded him were covered and cut with inscriptions of compassion for the unfortunate beauty. For example, like this:

In these streams, poor Liza died days,
If you are sensitive, passerby, take a breath!

However, according to contemporaries, from time to time more ironic messages appeared here:

Erast's bride died here in the pond,
Drown, girls, and there's plenty of room for you.

In the twenties of the last century, the pond became very shallow, overgrown, and became like a swamp. In the early thirties, during the construction of a stadium for the workers of the Dynamo plant, the pond was filled up and trees were planted in this place. Now the administrative building of the Dynamo plant rises above the former Liza Pond. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, a pond named after her was listed on the maps, and even the railway station "Lizino".

View of Tyufeleva Grove and Simonov Monastery

Along with the pond, the Tyufel Grove has also become a popular place of pilgrimage. Secular ladies used to come here every spring to collect lilies of the valley, just like the heroine of their favorite story did.

Tyufel's Grove disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century. However, contrary to popular belief, it was not the Bolsheviks who exterminated it, but representatives of the progressive Russian bourgeoisie. On August 2, 1916, the solemn laying ceremony of the first automobile plant in Russia took place here. A company called Automotive Moscow society(AMO) belonged to the trading house "Kuznetsov, Ryabushinsky and Co." However October Revolution did not allow the plans of entrepreneurs to be realized. In August 1918, the still unfinished plant was nationalized, and on November 1, 1924, the first Soviet truck, the AMO-F-15, was assembled here from Italian parts.

Romantic walks around the Simonov Monastery brought together two people - Dmitry Venevitinov and Zinaida Volkonskaya.

Dmitry was introduced to Zinaida Volkonskaya in 1825 by V. Odoevsky. The Moscow home of the princess was well known to all connoisseurs of beauty. Its charming mistress turned it into a kind of academy of art. Pushkin called her "Queen of Muses and Beauty".

P.F.Sokolov Portrait of D.V.Venevitinov. 1827

The meeting with Volkonskaya turned Venevitinov's life upside down - he fell in love with all the passion of a twenty-year-old poet. Alas, hopelessly: Zinaida was 16 years older than him, and besides, she had been married for a long time, to the brother of the future Decembrist.

Z. Volkonskaya

The time has come, and Zinaida asked for a break in relations, giving Dmitry a ring as a sign of eternal friendship. A simple metal ring, brought to light from the ashes during the excavations of Herculaneum ... Friends said that Venevitinov never parted with the princess's gift and promised to wear it either going down the aisle or standing on the verge of death.

To my ring

You were dug in a dusty grave,
Herald of love for centuries
And again you are grave dust
You will be bequeathed, my ring.
But not love now by you
Blessed eternal flame
And over you, in anguish of the heart,
I made a holy vow...
Not! friendship in the bitter hour of farewell
Gave sobbing love
You as a pledge of compassion.
Oh, be my faithful talisman!
Keep me from grievous wounds
And light, and an insignificant crowd,
From the caustic thirst for false glory,
From a seductive dream
And from spiritual emptiness.
In the hours of cold doubt
Revive your heart with hope
And if in the sorrows of imprisonment,
Far from the angel of love
It will plot a crime, -
You with wondrous power tame
Outbursts of hopeless passion
And from my rebellious chest
Turn away the lead of madness.
When will I be at the hour of death
Say goodbye to what I love here
I will not forget you in farewell:
Then I will ask a friend
So that he is cold from my hand
You, my ring, did not take off,
So that the coffin does not separate us.
And the request will not be fruitless:
He will confirm his vow to me
With the words of the fatal oath.
Ages will fly by, and perhaps
That someone will disturb my ashes
And in it you will be opened again;
And again timid love
You will whisper superstitiously
Words of tormenting passions,
And again you will be her friend,
As it was for me, my ring is true.

When these poems were written, Venevitinov had only a few days to live. At the beginning of March 1827, he danced at a ball, and then, flushed, he ran across the yard to his wing in a barely thrown overcoat. The cold was fatal. On March 15, Venevitinov passed away. In a moment of agony, his friend, Fyodor Khomyakov, brother of the poet Alexei Khomyakov, put the ring on the finger of the dying man.

In January 1930, the Simonov Monastery, where Venevitinov was buried, was blown up in order to build the Palace of Culture on the vacant site. The exhumation of the poet's remains was scheduled for July 22. “The skull of Venevitinov,” wrote M.Yu. Baranovskaya, an employee of the Historical Museum, “surprised anthropologists with its strong development. I was struck by the musicality of the fingers. From the ring finger right hand a bronze ring that belonged to the poet was removed. Venevitinov's ring was transferred to the Literary Museum.

House of Culture ZIL

The Simonov Monastery will soon be 630 years old. The first restoration work began here only in the 1950s. In the 1980s, the restoration of the Salt Tower and the southern wall was underway, at the same time part of the eastern wall was restored.

On May 29, 1991, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia blessed the creation of a parish in Simonovo for believers with hearing impairments. On December 31 of the same year, a deaf community of the church in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God of the former Simonov Monastery was registered here. The monastery, which lay in those years in the heart of the capital in ruins.

Temple of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God

The year 1994 was a turning point for Simonov in the history of the holy monastery - the Moscow government allocated free use The Moscow Patriarchate now has the entire complex of surviving buildings of the Simonov Monastery.

In the community of the deaf and hard of hearing, it is planned to create a step-by-step system of education and training of the deaf: Kindergarten- school - school. It is also planned to organize a house for the elderly and infirm. For all this, cadres are being trained at the St. Dimitrovsky School of Sisters of Mercy.

A project launched on the day of the city in Moscow free tours We walk around Moscow. It turned out that the project was so necessary that they decided to make such walks regular. In early autumn, I already visited two excursions, I especially liked the visit to the Sviblovo estate. This time I managed to get on the tour of the Secrets and Legends of the Simonov Monastery. To my surprise, I had not heard of such a place in Moscow, so I gladly set off to discover new sights of the capital for me. We were also interested in the fact that they promised to show us the burial place of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo and famous composer A. Alyabyeva. We met with the guide at the Avtozavodskaya metro station. And immediately began the story of what was located earlier in these places. Many centuries ago, there were dense forests here that belonged to the boyar Stepan Khovrin. In 1370, he gave the nephew of Sergius of Radonezh, Fyodor, part of his possessions, and he founded a monastery in them. Since Stepan Khovrin also became a monk and took the tonsure under the name Simon, the monastery was called Simonov. After some time, Fedor left the monastery and founded a new Simonov monastery a little aside. His architectural ensemble formed over centuries and almost all of it was destroyed in the 1930s. What can be seen now is only a small part of the former splendor.

Simonov Monastery in Moscow

On the way to the monastery, we were shown two unusual buildings on Leninskaya Sloboda Street - these are the former railway stations of the Lizino station, passenger and freight. They were built in 1915 at the expense of younger son a major railway rich man P.G. von Derviz. Indeed, the silhouettes of the buildings are very reminiscent of the stud farm in the Ryazan estate of Pavel Pavlovich von Derviz in Starozhilovo. Both there and here the buildings were supposedly built according to the design of the famous architect F. Shekhtel. They also told us the history of the appearance of the name of the station. The fact is that in Simonova Sloboda he liked to walk famous writer, author of the "History of the Russian State" N. M. Karamzin. In 1792, he wrote the very popular story "Poor Liza", which tells about the unhappy love of a girl, because of which she drowned herself in Sergius Pond near the Simonov Monastery. After the book was published in Moscow, a real “licking” began: lovers came to the pond and swore love to each other, lonely girls and romantic boys wrote poems on nearby trees. Lizina Square, Lizin dead end and Lizino station appeared in the area.

Only in the late 50s. In the 20th century, this station was closed, as the need for it disappeared. Now it would not even occur to an ignorant person that these two beautiful houses were once railway station buildings. Finally, we come to one of the towers of the Simonov Monastery.

Simonov Monastery in Moscow

Now there are only three of them, and before the monastery was surrounded on all sides high wall with five towers. Simonov Monastery at all times was a very powerful and well-defended fortress, which was the first to meet the enemy on the outskirts of Moscow. Its walls repelled the attacks of the troops of Khan Kazy Giray, stood in the way of Ivan Bolotnikov, suffered greatly from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders and the Napoleonic army, but were destroyed by their own people. From the former outpost, only the southern wall and three towers have survived: Forge, Salt and Dulo. They were built in the 17th century on the foundations of older buildings.

Simonov Monastery in Moscow

At the most powerful tower "Dulo" you can see huge boulders left from the old walls. It turned out that it is currently impossible to enter the territory of the monastery. For the first time I see that ordinary people are not allowed into the monastery. Even the group and I were only allowed to stand by the wall for five minutes. Taking pictures is also strictly prohibited. In general, such a conspiracy only causes suspicion that some dark deeds are going on on the territory of the Simonov Monastery. We had to look at the preserved architectural objects through the bars with barbed wire. Two buildings attract the most attention. The first is a huge building called Sushilo.

Simonov Monastery in Moscow

It served for the economic needs of the monastery. There is some European trend in its architecture. It reminds of Dutch houses, as well as the preserved refectory. This second one is awesome beautiful building Simonov Monastery, which immediately catches the eye. It was built under Tsar Fedor Alekseevich, the elder brother of Peter the Great, who also loved everything European.

Simonov Monastery in Moscow

The famous architect Osip Startsev supervised the work. In one of the towers of the refectory there were the personal quarters of the king, and in the other a church. Previously, this building was richly painted, let's hope that over time it appearance will restore. Now the Tikhvin Church is located inside - the only thing that can be freely visited in the monastery.

Simonov Monastery in Moscow

The main cathedral of the monastery - the Assumption, as well as the tall bell tower, which at that time was the tallest building in Moscow, were blown up in 1930. Now the ZIL House of Culture is located on the site of the temple. At the same time, one of oldest cemeteries Moscow, where Peter the Great's friend and colleague Pyotr Golovin, composer A. Alyabyev, poet D. Venevitinov, representatives of such famous noble families like the Urusovs, Naryshkins, Tatishchevs, Buturlins and many others. Now, on the site of the cemetery under the walls of the monastery, a small city park has been laid out, where the townspeople walk with strollers, the children ride down the hills, not even realizing that many generations of quite famous families are buried under the park.

Simonov Monastery in Moscow

Opposite the Simonov Monastery, if you go through the park, you can go to the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin.

Simonov Monastery in Moscow

It was in its place that the old Simonov Monastery appeared. The first church was founded here in 1370, later it was naturally rebuilt many times.

Simonov Monastery in Moscow

It was here that the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo were buried, including the famous heroes Peresvet and Oslyabya. After the revolution, the compression shop of the Dynamo plant was placed in the building of the temple. It was not until the 1980 Olympics that the authorities remembered the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo and decided to find their graves. Excavations were made on the territory of the temple, and the remains of several dozen people were discovered. Above them was a symbolic gravestone.

Simonov Monastery in Moscow

By the way, gravestones, brought here from the destroyed cemetery near the walls of the Simonov Monastery, adjoin the walls of the temple.

Simonov Monastery in Moscow

Old buildings are now densely surrounded by modern business centers, townhouses and shopping malls. Therefore, not everyone will be able to navigate and find all the historical objects of Simonova Sloboda on their own. The more valuable community projects which allow Muscovites to get to know their city better.

The area where the Simonov Monastery was founded (now it is near the Avtozavodskaya metro station) has been known since the 12th century. Here was one of the villages of the boyar Kuchka - Simonovo - hence the name of the monastery. The location of the monastery was strategically advantageous. He stood at the passing Kolomna road, which led to the Kremlin. The territory was also distinguished by its beauty and picturesqueness.

Initially, the Simonov Monastery was founded in 1370 on the site where the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Stary Simonov is now located, on the left elevated bank of the Moskva River. the disciple of the Monk - Theodore, who was the son of Sergius Stefan's brother. When Theodore decided to found his own monastery, he was blessed for this by Sergius of Radonezh. The holy elder came to Simonovo, examined the place and approved the choice of his nephew. The monastery was founded with the blessing of Metropolitan Alexei. Theodore was the first hegumen of the Simonov Monastery and took an active part in its life. Thanks to his care, in 1379 the monastery was moved to a new location, a quarter of a mile north of the old monastery. There is a legend that Dmitry Donskoy himself pointed to a new place, since it was convenient for defending the approaches to Moscow and was located in a strategically important direction. In 1379, a stone cathedral was laid in the name of the Assumption Holy Mother of God, which was consecrated in 1405, in its splendor, it was revered as the only one in Moscow. The old monastery was not destroyed, but remained in existence with the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin and cells for monks under the name of the Simonovsky old monastery. It was dependent on the new monastery, and during the time of Ivan the Terrible, it existed separately. The old monastery served as a tomb for the monks of the new Simonov Monastery. In 1380, the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo, warrior monks Alexander Peresvet and Rodion Oslyabya were buried here. Silent elders also lived here. By the 18th century Church of the Nativity of the Virgin became a parish.

The abbot of the Simonov Monastery, Theodore was the confessor of the Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy and obtained from the Patriarch of Constantinople for himself the rank of archimandrite, and for the monastery - the status of stavropegial.

In his youth, St. Jonah labored in the bakery of the Simonov Monastery, later Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Russia (since 1448 the first metropolitan appointed in Russia without a Patriarch of Constantinople). In memory of him, there was a custom in the monastery to distribute monastic bread from the refectory to all pilgrims. At the beginning of the XVI century. writers lived in the Simonov monastery: the monk Vassian (in the world - Prince Vasily Ivanovich Patrikeev), the Athonite Maxim the Greek. Tsars Mikhail Fedorovich, Alexei Mikhailovich, Fedor Alekseevich lived in the Simonov Monastery during fasting. In August 1431, Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich, before going to the Golden Horde, dined in a meadow near the Simonov Monastery. In 1591, the Simonov Monastery took part in repulsing the attack of Khan Kazy Giray. In the autumn of 1606, the monastery actively resisted the advance of the troops of Ivan Bolotnikov, and in 1610-1613. was ruined by the Polish-Lithuanian invaders and fell into decay.

The monastery was a large feudal lord: until 1764 it owned about 12 thousand peasants, had many villages and villages, several small monasteries and a desert were assigned to it. According to church utensils and sacristy, the monastery was revered along with the richest monasteries in Russia. During the secularization of the monastic lands, the nearby surroundings were preserved for the Simonov Monastery, it was assigned to the first class, it was the third stavropegial in Moscow. In 1771, a plague epidemic began, some of the monks were transferred to the Novo-Spassky Monastery, and quarantine was arranged in Simonovo. By the end of the epidemic, few monks survived, the monastery died out, so its staff was transferred to the Epiphany Monastery. In 1788, by order of Catherine II, the monastery was abolished with the establishment of a hospital within its walls. Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod Musin-Pushkin A.I. on the advice of Metropolitan Gabriel of Novgorod, he decided to intercede with Catherine II for the restoration of the ancient national shrine, the monastery was renewed on May 6, 1795 in the first class. In 1812, the monastery suffered from the French, the temples and sacristy were looted, precious manuscripts were destroyed.

The Simonov Monastery was famous for the splendor of its temples and the harmony of its bells. From the very foundation of the monastery, a large stone construction was carried out on its territory, which continued in the 15th, 16th and subsequent centuries. In the first half of the XIX century. Simonov's chant was famous, which they wanted to introduce in other churches. At that time, the monastery with its surroundings was a favorite place for out-of-town walks of Muscovites.

Finally, the ensemble of the Simonov Monastery was formed to mid-nineteenth in. Before the revolution of 1917, there were churches in the monastery: the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos in 1543-1549, the Church of the All-Merciful Savior above the western gate in 1593 (the monastery was sometimes called Spas-Simon after it), the hospital church of St. Nicholas above the eastern gate in 1834. , the Church of Our Lady of Tikhvin at the refectory of the 17th century, the Church of Alexander Svirsky in 1700, the Church of Alexander Nevsky and John of Tsaregradsky in the second tier of the bell tower, built in 1835-1839. in the northern fence by the architect A.K. Ton (height 99.6 m, was 12 m higher than the bell tower of Ivan the Great). The monastery was surrounded by a stone fence with five towers (Storozhevaya, Tainitskaya, Dulo, Smithy and Salt), erected in the 16th-17th centuries. The towers were covered with tiles, on two towers angels were mounted on gilded balls, on the rest - weather vanes. Three gates were arranged in the fence: the main western gate served to enter and enter the monastery, the northern one under the bell tower served to enter the cathedral, and the eastern one to enter the monastery garden. On the territory of the monastery, in the western part, there were two orchards (priest's and fraternal), paths lined with trees were laid out throughout the monastery, a sundial was installed in open areas.

There was a large necropolis in the Simonov Monastery. Stepan Vasilyevich Khovrin and many Khovrins-Golovins, the son of Dmitry Donskoy Konstantin (in the monks Cassian, 1430), the baptized prince of Kasimov Simeon Bekbulatovich (in the monks Stefan, 1616) were buried in the cathedral. The cemetery was located near the eastern fence, behind the Assumption Cathedral and the Tikhvin Church. There were buried: the writer S.T. Aksakov (1859) with his relatives, friend A.I. Herzen historian V.V. Passek (1842, was buried free of charge for having written the history of the Simonov Monastery) with children, composer A.A. Alyabiev (1851) with relatives, poet D.V. Venevitinov (1827) with his relatives (they were related to A.S. Pushkin), famous publishers S.A. and N.S. Selivanovskie, writer and publisher of magazines Maxim Nevzorov (1827), uncle A.S. Pushkina N.L. Pushkin (1821) and son-in-law of the poet L.N. Gartung (1877), collector A.P. Bakhrushin (1904) and many other prominent figures in our history and culture.

The Simonov Monastery was closed in 1923, the vacated monastery premises were given over to housing for the workers of Simonovskaya Sloboda. The Simonov Monastery was gradually destroyed. The last temple was closed in May 1929. The monuments at the monastery cemetery were preserved until November 1928, then the necropolis was demolished, and a square was laid out in its place. In 1930, the Assumption Cathedral was blown up, the church of Alexander Svirsky, the Watchtower and Taynitskaya tower and part of the wall were destroyed, later other churches and buildings were destroyed. On the site of the monastery in the early 30s. The Palace of Culture of the Proletarsky District (later ZIL) was built. In Soviet times, various institutions were located on the remaining territory of the monastery. At present, the entire complex of the monastery with the Tikhvin Church has been handed over to a community consisting of deaf and dumb people.

In 1509, the wooden Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Stary Simonovo, next to which the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo, Peresvet and Oslyabya, were buried, was replaced by a stone one. In 1660, stone tombstones were erected over the graves of the monks. In 1785-1787. to the west of the church, new stone bell towers with a refectory were built. In 1846-1855. the refectory with a bell tower were rebuilt, two aisles were arranged in the refectory: the southern one of St. Nicholas and the northern one of Sergius of Radonezh, in which the graves of the heroes turned out to be. In 1870, cast-iron tombstones were erected over the graves of Peresvet and Oslyab and a metal tent was erected.

After the revolution, the church ended up on the territory of the Dynamo plant named after Kirov, and they wanted to demolish it. Then it was equipped with a transformer, then a compressor station. Thanks to the public, in 1983 the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin was transferred Historical Museum to create an exposition dedicated to the Battle of Kulikovo, and the restoration of the temple began.

The address of the Simonov Monastery: Moscow, Vostochnaya st., 4.
Getting to the Simonov Monastery is easy. Metro Avtozavodskaya (last car from the center). Then you go along Masterkova Street, after crossing with Leninskaya Sloboda Street, you also go straight ahead along Vostochnaya Street. And ahead on the left you see the Salt Tower of the Simonov Monastery.
The monastery was founded in 1370 south of Moscow on the lands of the boyar Stepan Vasilyevich Khovrin. Becoming a monk, Stepan Vasilyevich received the name Simon, hence the name of the monastery.
The monastery was one of the most revered in Russia. But in 1920 he was abolished. And in 1930, some of the buildings were completely blown up. And in their place they erected a recreation center ZIL. And in the other part they arranged some kind of production.
The history of the monastery is rich. Yes, everything is simple: type in any search engine "Simonov Monastery" - and hundreds of links open with an abundance historical facts. There's enough for ten gears.
I want to talk about something else. Here, it would seem - well, what is there to see? Few of the buildings have survived. One church is the Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. Of the walls - only the southern one, a fragment of the western one and a small part of the eastern one. Three towers.
Restoration? Well, so ... it’s neither shaky, nor rolls ... THEY CAN BE OFFENDED ABOUT ANY WAY ...
And still.
Not a single monastery evoked such emotions in me as Simonov did. I'll try to explain.
You know, the monks were not meek lambs, and along with church books and a rosary, they just as skillfully held a sword in their hands when it came to the freedom of the country. And monasteries were by no means always quiet cloisters, but more often powerful fortresses.
And in the Simonov Monastery... It has it... The spirit of the people, the spirit of recalcitrant and unconquered Russia... He, this spirit is in every brick, it flows from every crack in the walls of the monastery towers...
And it’s not for nothing that the monks Oslyabya and Peresvet are buried in the Simonov Monastery ... Yes, yes, the same heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo ...
Let us clarify, however, that their burial is located not far from the current one ... in Stary Simonovo, this is on Vostochnaya Street, 6, on the territory of the Dynamo plant, in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and you can freely go to it ...
So… you are standing in the middle of seemingly destroyed buildings…
And you understand that, by and large, this is not the main thing ... important, but not the main thing ...
The spirit... that's as long as it is...
After all, there is the Simonov Monastery ...
And they besieged it, and destroyed it, and robbed it, and blew it up ...
A - it's worth it! The Simonov Monastery stands!
Do you remember Pushkin's lines? " Here is the Russian spirit, here it smells of Russia ... ":
The Simonov Monastery stands!
As a symbol of Russia.
And will stand.
From now on and forever.

Contacts of the Simonov Monastery:

115280, Moscow, st. Vostochnaya, 4.

Only own photographs were used - date of shooting 26.04.2010 and 21.03.15

M. "Avtozavodskaya"
Address: East street, 6.

The Simonov Monastery was founded in 1370 by St. Theodore, a disciple of Sergius of Radonezh. It got its name from the name of the monk Simon (in the world of the boyar Khovrin), on whose lands it was built.
In 1380, in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, the remains of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo, monks Peresvet and Oslyaby, were buried.
Simonov Monastery played essential role in the defense of the southern approaches to Moscow. Perhaps none of the guardian monasteries had such powerful fortifications. He repeatedly had to withstand attacks, first by the Tatar hordes, and then by the Polish-Lithuanian invaders.
In the XVI century. Maxim Grek lived and wrote his compositions here. The architectural ensemble of the monastery was impressive. Suffice it to say that there were 6 churches in the Simonovsky Monastery. The main attractions of the monastery were the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin, built in 1389-1405, and a five-tiered bell tower over 94 meters high, built in 1839 according to the project of the architect K.A.Ton. The territory of the monastery was surrounded by a wall with five towers.
There was a large necropolis in the Simonov Monastery. S.V. Khovrin and many Khovrin-Golovins, the son of Dmitry Donskoy Konstantin (1430) were buried in the cathedral.
The cemetery was located near the eastern fence, behind the Assumption Cathedral and the Tikhvin Church. There were buried: the writer S.T. Aksakov (1859) with his relatives, composer A.A. Alyabiev (1851) with relatives, poet D.V. Venevitinov (1827) with his relatives (related to A.S. Pushkin), A.S. Pushkin’s uncle N.L. Pushkin (1821), collector A.P. Bakhrushin (1904) and many other outstanding figures of our history and culture.
The Simonov Monastery was closed in 1923, the vacated monastery premises were given over to housing for the workers of Simonovskaya Sloboda. The Simonov Monastery was gradually destroyed. The last temple was closed in May 1929. The monuments at the monastery cemetery were preserved until November 1928, then the necropolis was demolished, and a square was laid out in its place.
In 1930, the walls of the monastery, as well as five of its six churches, were blown up. In subsequent years, the Palace of Culture of the ZIL plant was built on its territory.
Only three southern towers remained from the fortifications of the monastery, connected by the rest of the wall. Among the survivors is the corner tower "Dulo", built in the 16th century. the famous architect Fyodor Kon, the builder of the fortifications of the Moscow White City. The Church of the Tikhvin Mother of God, built in 1677, the refectory of the monastery, built in 1680, as well as a number of outbuildings survived, although they were badly damaged.
Currently, the Church of the Tikhvin Mother of God has been handed over to believers. An Orthodox community of the deaf and hard of hearing was formed here.
The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin ("in Stary Simonov") has also been preserved, which in the 1930s ended up on the territory of the Dynamo plant and was used as production premises. Currently, the church, the current building of which was built in 1509, has been restored and returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, the graves of Peresvet and Oslyaby were restored.

in Stary Simonov
Church of the Nativity website
The current stone church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Stary Simonov was built in 1510. There is a legend that the church was built by Aleviz Novy, but it has not been confirmed by chronicle data.
In the XVIII century. burials of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo were discovered near the church.
In 1785-1787, instead of wooden ones, a stone refectory and a bell tower were built, in 1849-1855. they have been rebuilt. There are two chapels in the refectory: St. Nicholas and St. Sergius.
In 1870, a cast-iron tombstone of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo, Alexander Peresvet and Andrey (Rodion) Oslyabi, was installed in the Sergievsky side-altar.
In 1928 the church was closed.
In 1932, the bell tower was demolished, the cast-iron tombstone of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo was scrapped. Subsequently, during the expansion of the Dynamo plant, the church ended up on the territory of the enterprise. Access to the temple was closed. The compressor shop of the Dynamo plant was located in the church building - a powerful motor was dug into the floor of the church, which, while working, shook the walls. As a result, the church was on the verge of destruction.
In 1989 the church was handed over to believers.
In 2006, the bell tower was restored, on which the bell "Peresvet" (2200 kg) was placed, received as a gift from the governor of the Bryansk region, the homeland of the heroes-monks Peresvet and Oslyaby. In the twentieth century they were numbered among the saints.

Plant "Dynamo" named after Kirov (Leninskaya Sloboda street, 26)
The Moscow plant "Dynamo" named after S.M. Kirov was one of the largest electrical engineering enterprises in the USSR. It produced electric motors and equipment for electric urban transport, crane-lifting devices, excavators, rolling mills, marine vessels, etc. Some of the products were exported abroad.
The plant was founded in 1897 on the basis of a Belgian joint-stock company, it was the Russian division of the American company Westinghouse. At first it was called the Central Electric Society in Moscow. Produced semi-handicraft electrical equipment according to foreign technical documentation.
By 1932, the plant produced the first in the USSR traction electric motors for electric locomotives, and on November 6, the first Soviet-designed electric locomotive, Vladimir Lenin (VL19), was built.
During the years of the Great Patriotic War produced weapons and repaired tanks. The main technological processes were mechanized and automated: there were more than 100 conveyor and production lines with a total length of over 3.5 km.
Since 2009, the plant does not exist. Production has ceased, the premises are being scrapped or rented out. Basically, there are car services. Part of the equipment has been moved to sites in other cities.

Simonov Monastery, view from the Moskva River

Salt tower. It was built in the 1640s, when the monastery fence, destroyed in the Time of Troubles, was being rebuilt. The octagonal tent of the tower with rumored windows rests on an intermediate octagon cut by arches. The tent ends with a two-tier observation tower.	Blacksmith tower.	Tower "Dulo". Built in the 16th century. the famous architect Fyodor Kon, the builder of the fortifications of the Moscow White City.
The Old Refectory. Built in 1485. One of the oldest buildings in Moscow.	The building of the refectory with the Tikhvin Church was built by Parfen Petrov in 1680. However, the style of the master's work did not satisfy the customer, and three years later the refectory was rebuilt under the guidance of the famous architect Osip Startsev. The lower part of the building has much more ancient history: in the basement of the temple, fragments of a building of the end of the 15th century were found. The building, built by Osip Startsev, has the form of "Moscow Baroque". The western facade of the refectory, decorated with a figured stepped pediment, looks especially picturesque. In the middle of the XIX century. two chapels were added to the church, then, in 1840, the church was re-consecrated in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God.	Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God
Dryer or Malting. It was intended for storing food supplies and drying malt and grain. The building was built simultaneously with the refectory chamber by the architect Parfen Potapov and was originally surrounded by a gallery on pillars. On the second and third floors there are large pillarless halls.	A stone in the place where the monastery's holy well was.	Remains of old graves and the entrance to the church.
salt tower	Fragment of the monastery wall	Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God
Recesses in the monastery walls	Decoration of platbands of the windows of the Church of Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God	Gate of the Simonov Monastery
Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God		blacksmith tower
Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God	Stained glass windows in the Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God	Stones at the base of the tower "Dulo"
	Ancient tombstones that were used as a curbstone in Soviet times	Poems condemning the desecration of ancestral graves
Vostochnaya st., 6. Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Stary Simonov	Vostochnaya st., 6. Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Stary Simonov.	Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary	Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, bell tower	Recreated tombstone of Peresvet and Oslyaby. Sculptor V.M.Klykov, 1988
Instead of the destroyed bell tower, a small stone belfry was installed in 1991, and the restoration of the bell tower was completed only by 2006.	church building