Akatovo, Orthodox women's monastery in Akatovo, Moscow Oblast, Russia
The Trinity Alexander Nevsky Monastery stands in the village of Akatovo, Klin district, Moscow Oblast. Its walled grounds hold the stone Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky, built from 1892 in Russian Revival style to a design by Alexander Kaminsky, and the stone Church of St Nicholas, modelled on 17th-century Moscow architecture by Ivan Mashkov. A gate with towers opens through the perimeter wall.
Founded in 1889 by the merchant Fyodor Zakharov as a women's community in memory of the abolition of serfdom, it was registered by the Holy Synod in 1890 and became a monastery in 1898. Closed in 1927, its buildings served as a rest home, warehouses and from 1948 the "Fakel" pioneer camp. A patriarchal metochion was established in 2000, and the community became a stauropegic monastery again in 2013.
The monastery's name links the Holy Trinity with Alexander Nevsky, patron saint of Alexander II, in whose memory the merchant Fyodor Zakharov founded the community. Its main shrines were icons of the Mother of God "Quick to Hear" and Saint Panteleimon, brought in 1891 by the Athonite monk Aristoklis. A gold-embroidery and an icon-painting workshop operated here, and a school for peasant children ran at the wooden church of Peter and Eugenia.
The monastery stands in Akatovo, Klin district, Moscow Oblast, about 90 km northwest of Moscow; access is by road from Klin. The complex was long abandoned after the pioneer camp closed in the early 1990s, and rebuilding of the wall, towers, refectory and school continued after 2006. Visitors should dress modestly and avoid disturbing services.
The monastery's cemetery was turned into a football field during the Soviet era, and the site later hosted the "Fakel" pioneer camp of the Moscow machine-building plant "Soyuz", whose location was chosen by aircraft designer Alexander Mikulin. The camp closed in the early 1990s.
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