Alexandrovsky Monastery, Eastern Orthodox monastery in Suzdal, Russia.
Alexandrovsky Monastery stands on the left bank of the Kamenka River in Suzdal. Its Church of the Ascension, built in 1695 with funds from Tsarina Natalia Naryshkina, mother of Peter the Great, is a tall two-tiered quadrangle topped by five onion domes. A tent-roofed bell tower with almost undecorated walls rises beside it, and a low 18th-century wall with decorative turrets and a two-tiered Holy Gate encloses the grounds.
According to tradition, Alexander Nevsky founded the monastery in 1240. It was burned by Polish troops in 1608–1610, and no building from before the 17th century survives. Catherine II's secularization of church lands abolished the women's monastery in 1764, turning its cathedral into a parish church. In 2006 it was re-established as a men's monastery of the Vladimir-Suzdal eparchy.
The monastery was originally a women's convent, called the Great Lavra because so many orphaned nuns entered it after the Tatar invasion. It was abolished in 1764 under Catherine II's secularization and re-established in 2006 as a men's monastery of the Vladimir-Suzdal Eparchy.
The monastery sits in the center of Suzdal and can be reached on foot from most other points of interest in town. When entering the church, visitors are expected to dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered.
The monastery is named after Alexander Nevsky, the 13th-century Russian prince and saint to whom it is said to have been dedicated. Local tradition holds that he was personally involved in its founding, though the historical record on this point remains unclear.
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