Avraamiev Monastery, Orthodox monastery in Smolensk, Russia

Avraamiev Monastery is an Orthodox monastery in Smolensk, set on the bank of the Dnieper River and made up of several buildings from different periods. The complex includes churches and residential structures arranged around an enclosed courtyard with trees.

According to later tradition, the monastery was founded between 1210 and 1219 by Bishop Ignatius of Smolensk, with Avraamy of Smolensk as its first abbot. It was originally called Bogoroditsky after its church of the Deposition of the Robe. In 1611 it was devastated and turned into a Dominican monastery, abolished in 1634, and revived as an Orthodox monastery in 1654. Closed in 1918, it was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, a process completed in 2013.

The monastery's name changed with its main church: it was first called Bogoroditsky after the Church of the Deposition of the Robe, and became Spaso-Preobrazhensky Avraamiev after the Transfiguration Cathedral was built in 1755. Its first abbot was Avraamy of Smolensk, and his successor Efrem wrote his life. From 1728 the Smolensk theological seminary occupied the grounds, its rectors serving as abbots.

The monastery is in the older part of Smolensk and can be reached on foot from the city center, though the route involves some slopes. It is worth checking opening conditions before visiting, as religious sites in Russia may have restricted access for tourists at certain times.

The monastery's first stone building was the two-storey Transfiguration Cathedral, built in 1755 (some sources say 1765), with the upper church dedicated to the Transfiguration and the lower one to Saints Avraamy and Merkury. From 1728 the Smolensk Theological Seminary operated on the grounds, and its rectors served as monastery superiors.