Troitse-Scanov Convent, Orthodox monastery in Narovchatsky District, Russia.
The Troitse-Scanov Convent is an Orthodox convent in the Narovchatsky District of Russia, made up of several churches and monastic buildings grouped around a central courtyard. The main church is a two-story structure topped with five cupolas and decorated with painted facades and ornamental details from the late 18th century.
Founded in the mid-17th century as a men's monastery, it was rebuilt after a fire on 26 April 1676 destroyed all its wooden buildings. A brick five-domed two-storey cathedral was begun in 1795 under the monk Arseniy I and completed by Abbot Cornelius; its lower Dormition altar was consecrated on 8 October 1801 and its upper Trinity altar on 29 May 1808. Closed after 1917, it reopened as a convent in 1985.
The name combines Troitse, from Troitsa (Holy Trinity), with Scanov, which a tradition derives from the landowner boyar Iskansky; another version links it to the Skanova river. The convent's most revered shrine is the Trubchevsk icon of the Mother of God, painted in 1765 by the monk Euthymius at Chelnsky Monastery near Trubchevsk.
The convent is located a few kilometers outside the village of Narovchat and is most easily reached by car. Religious services are held throughout the year, and visitors are welcome as long as they follow the dress code common to Orthodox monasteries.
The cave monastery is not under the convent buildings but in Mount Plodskaya, about 1.5 km away. Arseny II withdrew into these passages in 1826; three levels of corridors and cells survive for over 600 m of an original 2.5 km, reached by a staircase of 144 steps.
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