 Spasso-Andronikov Monastery is situated on the steep bank of the Yauza river right where the road from Moscow to the Horde began. This is where the famous battle with Khan Batiy took place.
There is a beautiful legend about the foundation of the Monastery. In year 1360 Alexey was coming back from Konstantinopol, after having been ordained in metropolitants. He run into heavy weather and his ship was about to sink.
But Alexey prayed to God painstakingly. He swore to build a cathedral in honor of escaping from the deep. The pray was heard and Alexey`s ship and life were saved. Sergiy Radonezhsky`s disciple Andronik was invited to be in charge of the erection of the Monastery.
Later on he became its first abbot. Christ The Saviour Cathedral - one of the mo st ancient architectural monuments of old Moscow was built under his guidance.
Outstanding icon-painters Andrew Rublev and Daniel Cherny took an active part in adorning the Cathedral. At the end of the XVIII century there was erected a 73-meter high bell-tower with the Church of Simeon the God-Receiver.
A famous architect Kazakov designed the modern appearance of the building. There`s a cemetery near the Cathedral where many prominent people of different epochs are buried. Among them the first abbot of the Monastery, warriors perished in Kulikovskaya battle, Andrew Rublev, the founder of the Russian theatre Feodor Volkov and many others.
In the twenties Spasso-Andronikov Monastery was used as a concentration camp for political criminals. The Monastery is considered to be a historical, architectural and nature reserve.
Andrew Rublev`s Museum has occupie d the territory of the Monastery since 1959. Only recently the Cathedral, its walls and towers have been reconstructed, and in 1989 Christ The Saviour Cathedral was taken under Moscow Patriarchy authority.
District: Downtown
Address: 10, Andronevskaya Sq., Moscow
Underground: Ploshchad Ilyicha
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