Vasilievsky Monastery in Suzdal, Orthodox monastery in Suzdal, Russia.
Vasilievsky Monastery is a religious complex in Suzdal with buildings from different periods. The Cathedral of Basil the Great with its cubic shape and single dome forms the core, complemented by a three-tiered bell tower and other stone religious structures.
Founded in the 13th century on the road from the Suzdal Kremlin to Kideksha, the monastery began as a fortified outpost. It became an independent male monastery until 1764, when it lost its lands and was attached to the Rizopolozhensky Monastery; from 1899 to 1916 it belonged to the Spaso-Yevfimiev Monastery. In 1916 it became a women's community and was closed by the Soviet authorities on 15 February 1923. Re-established in 1995.
The monastery's name comes from Basil the Great, the name Prince Vladimir took at baptism; tradition links the site to the baptism of Suzdal's residents. The Sretenskaya refectory church, built at the end of the 17th century, has an eight-sloped roof resembling the church of the Bishops' Chambers in the Suzdal Kremlin. Since 1995 it has again been a male monastery of the Vladimir eparchy.
The monastery stands on Suzdal's eastern edge, on the road that once ran from the Suzdal Kremlin to Kideksha. Its grounds are partly occupied by private flats, so some buildings are not open to visitors. The cathedral was restored in 1959–1961 by architect V. V. Gasperovich.
The monastery began in the 13th century as a fortified outpost on the road from the Suzdal Kremlin to Kideksha, not Nizhny Novgorod. Tradition links the site of the cathedral to Prince Vladimir the Red Sun, baptized Vasily, and to the baptism of Rus. From 1916 it operated as a women's monastery until the Soviets closed it on 15 February 1923.
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