Boris and Gleb monastery in Rostov the Great, Orthodox monastery in Borisoglebsky, Russia

The Boris and Gleb Monastery is a walled complex entered through two arched gateways in a white wall with a red-brown frieze and a row of small arched windows. A tall white cylindrical tower with a dark conical roof and horizontal red-brown stripes stands to the left. Inside are the Cathedral of Boris and Gleb (1522–1523), the Annunciation Church with its refectory (1524–1526), and the gate church of St Sergius (1679).

Founded in 1363 by the monk Feodor, who came from the Novgorod land, and Paul, with the blessing of Sergius of Radonezh, who chose the site. Vasily II took refuge here in 1433–1434, and in 1440 Abbot Pitirim baptised the future Ivan III in its walls. The monk Irinarkh, who lived here from the late 16th century, gave his blessing to Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin in 1612. Closed in 1924, the monastery housed a museum from 1928, and monks returned in 1994.

The monastery's name comes from Saints Boris and Gleb, whose feast day drew a large fair to the walls. Since 1997 pilgrims walk 40 km to the spring of Irinarch near Kondakovo before the prophet Elijah's day, carrying his chains in turn. The relics of Irinarch rest under a bushel in the cathedral porch.

The monastery stands in the settlement of Borisoglebsky, on the road from Rostov to Uglich, about 18 km west of Rostov Veliky. The gate church of St Sergius, rebuilt in 1679–1690 by the local architect Piotr Dossayev, was still under restoration in 2015, so parts of the entrance may be closed. The grounds are shared between the revived monastery and the local museum, which occupies part of the buildings.

Irinarch, a monk at the monastery from the late 16th to the early 17th century, spent 38 years in seclusion in his cell. In 1612 Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin received his blessing here before marching to defend Moscow from the Poles. His relics rest beneath a slab in the porch of the cathedral, and pilgrims on the annual 40-km procession to his spring near Kondakovo carry his chains in turn.