NOVODEVICHY CONVENT, Introduction Part I

Hi, my name’s Marcy, and I’m your personal guide. Along with MyWoWo, I’d like to welcome you to one of the Wonders of the World, The Novodevichy Convent.

The Novodevichy Convent or the Convent of Our Lady of Smolensk is a wonderful religious complex built in Russian Baroque style, whose long history begins in 1524 when the Grand Prince of Moscow Vasily III had it erected to celebrate the defeat of the Lithuanian principality and the reconquest of Smolensk in 1514.

The following year, the Tsar had the precious icon "Our Lady of Smolensk" transferred here from the Kremlin to be kept in the main church of the monastery, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Smolensk. The icon was transported in a solemn procession, presided over by the Tsar and the Patriarch, which has been repeated every year since for about four centuries.

The monastery immediately became the most prestigious in all of Moscow, with the annexation of 36 villages, lands and treasures accumulated thanks to the number of influential people who lived within the walls of the complex....