The Holy Dormition Maiden Monastery is located in the village of Staraya Ladoga, on the bank of the Volkhov River, north of the stone fortress. It is one of the oldest monasteries of the North-West of Russia.
The monastery ensemble is mentioned already in the 15th century, and the date of its birth is considered to be 1156. At first the monastery was male, then the monastery was transformed into a women's monastery. On its territory, enclosed by a brick wall, one can count a dozen wooden and stone churches. a dozen wooden and stone buildings. Most of the buildings that have survived Most of the buildings that have survived to this day date back to the 19th century: a brick fence with four towers and three gates. towers and three gates, a refectory, a hospital building, a carriage shed, cell house, laundry, and nuns' quarters. Hospital building and house Holy Cross Church were built according to the designs of the famous architect A.M. Gornostayev in 1861-1862.
The central attraction of the Dormition Monastery is the Church of the Assumption. Church of the Assumption. This northernmost of the churches of the pre-Mongol period of Ancient Russia was built in about 1156 on land once owned by the saintly Venerable Anna of Novgorod. the Venerable Anna of Novgorod. According to one legend, it was at her will that the Holy Dormition Monastery was the Holy Dormition Monastery was founded.
The building of the cathedral is fully preserved. It is 18 metres long, 14 metres wide, and over 19 metres high. metres wide and over 19 metres high. The cathedral could accommodate more than a dozen of visitors. The walls of the temple are painted, however, the painting is poorly preserved. Restorers found fragments of frescoes not only in the cathedral, but also on the territory of the monastery. the territory of the monastery. Today about 13000 fragments of frescoes have been found, which is almost 35 square metres. which is almost 35 square metres. The Dormition Cathedral was built by Novgorod masters, who created an architectural masterpiece that united around itself all the buildings Dormition Monastery. In the census books, dated 1499-1500, there is a description of the Bogoroditsky Prechist Monastery from Ladoga, which owned numerous lands and villages.
In the 11th year of the 17th century the monastery was ravaged by Swedish troops. But 6 years later. the old woman Akilina gathered the scattered sisters and began its revival. В 1702 1702, during the terrible fire in Ladoga, all the buildings of the monastery, with the exception of the heavily damaged Dormition except for the badly damaged Assumption stone church, burned down.
In 1718 the Assumption Monastery was destined to become the refuge of the high disgraced wife of the Emperor Petra. the high disgraced wife of Emperor Peter I - Tsarina Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina. Following her, Evdokia Hannibal was exiled to the monastery. Then, during during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, relatives of the Decembrists were exiled here.
The donors of the convent were: famous in Russia philanthropist Alexei Romanovich Tomilov, whose estate on the north side adjoined the monastery, Count Dmitry Nikolayevich Sheremetev, the wife of the sovereign Alexander II Maria Alexandrovna, and and other famous people.
In the period from 1779 to 1822, the abbess of the monastery was the famous Szyhigumenya Evpraksia, who was at the same time the vicar of the Smolny Monastery. В 1856-1895 the monastery was under the administration of Hegumeness Dionisia. During During her work many stone buildings were built. In the middle of the 19th century the monastery took into its walls the famous poetess Elizaveta Shakhova (sikhimonakhinya Elizaveta).
Before the revolution in the monastery kept two miracle-working icons: the Great Martyr Barbara and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Barbara and the Assumption of the Mother of God. At the monastery worked school. The cemetery The cemetery of the monastery has not survived, the last surviving burials were destroyed during the restoration of the Dormition Church. restoration of the Church of the Dormition. At its altar part was buried hegumnya Eupraxia, now her grave is lost. On the right side of the altar only the tombstone on the grave and the tombstone on the tomb of Abbess Dionisia (1799-1895), who fulfilled the duties of an abbess in the monastery for almost 40 years. abbess of the monastery for almost 40 years.
Since 1917 the monastery was headed by Abbess Porphyria. In addition to the buildings, erected in the mid-19th century, on its territory were wooden and stone cell blocks, a wharf, a hotel for pilgrims, and the church of St Alexei the Man of God in the monastery cemetery, a stone building for the priesthood and a chapel on Varyazhskaya Street. Varyazhskaya Street. About 200 sisters served in the monastery. In 1922 the monastery was abolished.
In 2002 the ancient monastery was returned to the ROC. In 2003, a sister community was organised. At present, the monastery is an active monastery, continues to be restored.
