Novospassky (New Saviour) Monastery

Novospassky Monastery, Moscow. Bell tower

Svetlana Tikhonova

Monastery was founded in 1462. It was transferred here from the Kremlin and, that is why, received the word New to the old name (Saviour). The Cathedral of Saviour was built there to resemble the Cathedral of Dormition of the Kremlin. This cathedral was the burial place for the family of Romanovs, the family of the last tsars of Russia.

The monastery was built as fortress to protect Moscow but it was never tested in this capacity. Novospassky Monastery is very well preserved monument of Russian history.

Now it is once again functional monastery so if you wish to go inside you should be clothed accordingly: long sleeves; skirt and head covered by kerchief or headscarf for women; not covered head for men.

Be sure to go around the monastery. There is small pond an monastery stays on a small hill over it. The view is very nice.
If it is summer and the weather is nice I recommend to go to Moskva river and make boat trip.
And again, if you have some time you could visit Krutitskoye Podvorye, small monastery situated nearby. You'll see it's cupolas going from Metro station to Novospassky Monastery, look on the left.