The Ferapontov Monastery is a monastery of the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

in Ferapontovo, Kirillovsky District,

Vologda Oblast Vologda Oblast (, ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is Vologda. The oblast has a population of 1,202,444 (Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census). The largest city is Cherepovets, t ...

, Russia. The monastery was founded by Saint Ferapont in 1398. The In 2000, the monastery was added to the

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list of

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

History

The monastery was founded by Saint Ferapont in 1398 in the Russian North, to the east from the

Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery (), known in English as White Lake St. Cyril's Monastery, is a Russian Orthodox monastery in Kirillov, Russia. It used to be the largest monastery and the strongest fortress in Northern Russia. The monastery was co ...

, named after his fellow monk, Saint Cyril of Beloozero. The fame of the monastery started to spread under Kirill's disciple, Saint Martinian, who was to become a father superior of the

Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius () is a lavra and the most important Russian monastery, being the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Posad, about to the northeast from Mosco ...

in 1447. Even after Martinian's death, his monastery was protected and favoured by members of Ivan III's family. The most ancient structure, the Cathedral of Nativity of the Virgin (1490), was built in brick by the masters of

Rostov Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

. This edifice is the best preserved of three sister cathedrals erected in the 1490s in the Russian North. All the interior walls are covered with invaluable

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es by the great medieval painter

Dionisius Dionisius (; – 1503/1508) was a Russian icon painter who was one of the most important representatives of the Moscow school of icon painting at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. He continued the traditions of Andrei Rublev. Dioni ...

. This is the last surviving Russian medieval church with fully painted walls. During the 1530s, they added a treasury, a refectory, and the unique Annunciation church surmounted by a belfry. At that time the monastery enjoyed special privileges conferred upon it by

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

, and possessed some 60 villages in the vicinity. The tsar himself frequently visited the monastery as a pilgrim. In the

Time of Troubles The Time of Troubles (), also known as Smuta (), was a period of political crisis in Tsardom of Russia, Russia which began in 1598 with the death of Feodor I of Russia, Feodor I, the last of the Rurikids, House of Rurik, and ended in 1613 wit ...

, the monastery was ravaged by the

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

. During its recovery the last buildings — the tent-like church of Saint Martinian (1641), a two-tented barbican church (1650), and a bell-tower (1680) — were added to the complex. The belfry clocks (1638) are said to be the oldest in Russia. As the monastery gradually lost its religious importance, it was being turned into a place of exile for distinguished clerics, such as the

Patriarch Nikon Nikon (, ), born Nikita Minin (; 7 May 1605 – 17 August 1681) was the seventh Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' of the Russian Orthodox Church, serving officially from 1652 to 1666. He was renowned for his eloquence, energy, piety and close t ...

. It was abolished by

Emperor Paul Paul I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination in 1801. Paul remained overshadowed by his mother, Catherine the Great, for most of his life. He adopted the laws of succession to the Russian throne—rules that lasted ...

in 1798, reinstituted as a convent in 1904, closed by the Bolsheviks 20 years later, and turned into a museum in 1975. The museum constitutes a part of the Russky Sever (''Russian North'') National Park since 1991. As of January 2013, images of the monastery and grounds were available via

Google Street View Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expa ...

. ferapontovo.jpg, Difficulty of access helped preserve the monastery intact since the 17th century. Ferapontov.jpg, St Nicholas, the patron saint of Russian merchants. Fresco by

from the Ferapontov Monastery.

References

External links

All the murals of the Ferapontov Monastery onlineOfficial web page of the monastery
{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1490 Churches completed in the 1490s 15th-century Russian Orthodox church buildings Russian Orthodox monasteries in Russia World Heritage Sites in Russia Fresco paintings Buildings and structures in Vologda Oblast 1398 establishments in Europe 14th-century establishments in Russia Museums in Vologda Oblast Art museums and galleries in Russia Religious museums in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Vologda Oblast Monasteries used as prisons