Mikhailo-Arkhangelsky Monastery, 13th-century Orthodox monastery in Veliky Ustyug, Russia
Mikhailo-Arkhangelsky Monastery is a religious complex from the 13th century in Veliky Ustyug featuring a cathedral dedicated to Saint Michael and several church buildings. The site sits near the riverbank and is enclosed by stone walls with defensive towers protecting the grounds.
Church tradition holds that the monk Kiprian founded the monastery in 1212, during the reign of Rostov prince Konstantin Vsevolodovich. A charter from Grand Prince Vasily III confirms it existed by 1521. A fire in 1651 destroyed the wooden buildings, and the stone cathedral and refectory church were built in 1653–1656. Soviet authorities closed it in 1919.
The monastery is named for the Archangel Michael, to whom its main cathedral is dedicated. The Church of the Presentation with its refectory and the gate church of the Vladimir Icon stand beside it. The Church of the Mid-Pentecost, built in 1710, marks the grave of the monk Kiprian, the monastery's traditional founder.
The monastery stands in the town centre, a short walk from the Sukhona embankment. The cathedral and gate church belong to the Veliky Ustyug Museum-Reserve and can be visited; the former brotherhood cells house a road transport college. The grounds are uneven, with cobbles and steps, so sturdy shoes help.
The five-domed Cathedral of St Michael the Archangel and the Church of the Presentation with its refectory were the monastery's first stone buildings, put up in 1653–1656 after a fire destroyed the wooden complex in 1651. The cathedral's bell tower carries a tent-shaped roof.
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