The Annunciation Monastery () is a church complex in the village of in the urban district of

Tolyatti Tolyatti or Togliatti ( , ; , ), known before 1964 as Stavropol, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Samara Oblast, Russia. It is the largest city in Russia which is neither the administrative center of a federal subjects of Rus ...

Samara Oblast Samara Oblast (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Samara. From 1935 to 1991, it was known as Kuybyshev Oblast. As of the Rus ...

in Russia.

History

Founding

Barbara Bakhmetev Varvara Aleksandrovna Bakhmeteva (Варва́ра Алекса́ндровна Бахме́тева; 1815 – 9 September 1851), birth name Varvara Alexandrovna Lopukhina, was a Russian noblewoman who was the beloved and tragic muse of the great ...

(née Lopukhin) was the lifelong love of the poet

Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov ( , ; rus, Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, , mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲerməntəf, links=yes; – ) was a Russian Romanticism, Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called ...

and the inspiration for some of his works, but the pair was not allowed to marry. Instead, Barbara was married to the wealthy landowner and master of Fyodorovka, Nikolai Fedorovich Bakhmetev. Barbara was never happy or well after her marriage, and fell more deeply ill after the death of Lermontov in 1841. In

1846 Events January–March * January 5 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Country with the United Kingdom. * January 13 – The Milan–Venice railway's bridge, over the Venetian Lagoon betwee ...

Nikolai Bakhmetev constructed a stone church, the altar which was dedicated in honor of St. Barbara, in hope of a cure for his wife. This was the first building of what would become the Annunciation Monastery. The first priest of the church was Alexander Kornilievich Yastrebov. Barbara Bakhmetev died in 1851 at the age of 36. In 1871, Peter Flerinsky was baptized in the church. Flerinsky later became Bishop Paul, a leader of the Orthodox Church in early Soviet times (and sometime prisoner of the Soviets).

Deconsecration and renewal

On March 6, 1930, the church bells were removed. The church, like many others in the diocese, was closed, and the property seized by the state. The building was used as a recreation center, and later as a shop. In the late 1980s the building was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Restoration was undertaken, and the church was replastered and painted. The floor was paved with marble, and a new

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere withi ...

was installed. The restoration was undertaken by a group of artists led by the

People's Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. The term is confusingly used to translate two Russian language titles: Народный арти ...

and

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...

laureate Andrei Vasnetsov and the Central Research and Design Institute of Residential and Public Buildings architect E. Ioheles. On May 19, 1989, the church was reopened. Nicholas Manihin, provost of the

Stavropol Stavropol (, ), known as Voroshilovsk from 1935 until 1943, is a city and the administrative centre of Stavropol Krai, in southern Russia. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 547,820, making it one of Russia's fastest growing cities. E ...

region of Samara diocese, consecrated the church in honor of the Annunciation. The first rector of the restored church was Archpriest Vladimir Novichkov (Father Gregory). One of the icons saved by a believer when the church was seized in 1930 was returned for the rebirth of the church. In 1990, construction began close to the Annunciation Church of the monastery complex, which included a

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monastery, monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminary, seminaries. The name ...

, another church in honor of St. Barbara, ten monastic cells, and outbuildings.

Architectural features

The church has a triangular

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. From under the

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

s protrude kokoshniks (an architectural feature, peculiar to Russia, of semicircular decorative elements at the end of the outer section of a wall, which takes its name from that of a traditional Russian woman's headdress, ''Kokoshnik''). The church is crowned with five golden

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

s (originally blue, these were later gold-plated). The Annunciation Church building is officially recognized as an architectural monument of Tolyatti. Because the city was completely relocated when the Kuybyshev dam was built in the 1950s, it is now the oldest building surviving in Tolyatti. The monastery is located directly on the shores of the

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

, and clearly visible from ships sailing the river.

References

External links

Brief description at Advantour

{{in lang, ru * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110820190007/http://matrixtour.ru/displayimage.php?album=4&pos=35 Photo of the Annunciation Monastery Russian Orthodox monasteries in Russia 1846 establishments in the Russian Empire Monuments and memorials in Tolyatti Buildings and structures in Samara Oblast Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Samara Oblast