Andronikov Monastery of the Savior
The Andronikov Monastery was established by Metropolitan of Kiev Aleksiy in the mid-14th century and was named after its first Hegumen Andronik. The monastery was ransacked several times, but every time it was restored. One of its monks was icon painter Andrei Rublev. The existing single-domed Cathedral of Transfiguration of the Savior was built in the period when Rublev lived in the monastery, between 1410 and 1427. It is the oldest church (of the surviving ones) in Moscow outside the Kremlin. The window jambs still have fragments of the frescoes painted by Andrei Rublev and monk Daniil in 1425 - 1427. Both icon painters were buried in the Monastery, but the exact location of their grave sites is uncertain.
In the late 1680s – early 1690s, the wife of Peter I Tsarina Eudoxia Lopukhina financed the construction of a brick refectory church of St. Michael the Archangel, which was completed as late as 1739. The Church served as a family vault of the Lopukhins. It houses tombs of Tsarina Eudoxia’s father, mother, brother, uncles and other family members of several next generations.
In the mid-18th century, the Monastery was enclosed with a new stone fence with towers. In 1795 – 1799, a 73-meters high bell tower with the Church of St. Simeon the God-Receiver was built to the design of architect Rodion Kazakov in front of the Holy Gate.
A fire demolished the dome and drum of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration in 1812. In 1846 - 1850, the cathedral was reconstructed to the design of architect Pyotr Gerasimov. The wall painting by Andrei Rublev was almost completely removed. Since then, no paintings have been made in the cathedral.
The Monastery was closed in 1918, and one of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission’s first detention camps and a colony of homeless youth were located on its grounds. In 1924, the floors were ripped up and memorial plates were broken in the Lopukhins family vault. In 1928, the former monastery was given to the Serp I Molot factory, its buildings were used as accommodation for workers and a football field was set up on the site of the monastery cemetery. The bell tower was dismantled in 1930 – 1931. Since then, the Church of Michael the Archangel has been the vertical dominant of the monastery’s architectural ensemble.
The Monastery is a monument of history and architecture of federal significance. In 1960, it hosted an exhibition of the Central Andrei Rublev Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art.
In 1989, the restored cathedral was re-consecrated and resumed worship services. A small wooden bell gable was built to replace the demolished bell tower. At present, the Monastery is used jointly by the Church and the Museum.
