The Alexander Nevsky Lavra is the place where the remains of one of the most important heroes in Russia history retained. This monastery has the highest rank in the Orthodox Church’s authority. The monastery complex houses the remnants of the Russian hero, Alexander Nevsky, and also several cathedrals and churches.
The monastery locates at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt at the heart of St. Petersburg. Peter the Great decreed to build this later becomes a monastery in 1710, exactly seven years after the foundation of the city itself at the location of one of the greatest battles in which Alexander Nevsky won. However, the exact location of that battle is around 20 kilometers away from the current monastery’s situation, but in terms of religious beliefs, this monastery is at the top of Saint Petersburg list of religious sites.
The first church was built in 1712 with woods in the attendance of Peter the Great himself. The Italian architect Domenico Trezzini built the next cathedral which was the Alexander Nevsky cathedral in 1724. When the construction completed, the remaining of the national hero, Alexander Nevsky transferred from the ancient city of Vladimir to this cathedral. That transport took several months to be done. One fact about this event is that in the day the Nevsky’s remains entered the cathedral is an annual celebration.
Empress Elizabeth commanded to build a silver shrine for this cathedral in 1750. The 1.5-ton true silver shrine designed with items and symbols from Alexander Nevsky’s victories throughout his life. The famous shrine moved into the cathedral in 1790 and seven years later, the Russian emperor, Paul gave the highest rank in the Orthodox Church authority to this monastery and named it the Alexander Nevsky Monastery of the Holy Spirit.
Until the 20th century, the monastery hosted around sixteen cathedrals which only five of them survived today. Those five cathedrals are the Annunciation Cathedral, The Holy Trinity Cathedral, The Lazarus church, the Saint Nicholas Church, and the Holy Mother Church. Like other religious sites around Russia, during the Soviet era, the Alexander Nevsky Monastery suffered a lot, but luckily, a great piece of it survived and went under restoration in recent years.
Some members of the Soviet government intended to take the monastery in 1918, but with the help of church-goers and the monastery workers they didn’t succeed, however, the monastery closed sometime later and all its valuables looted. All of the cathedrals and churches inside the monastery closed between 1931 and 1936. A part of the monastery territory gave to the Museum of City Sculpture, and the rest of it turned over to the government offices and their warehouses.
After so many struggles and demands from the religious people, the Trinity Cathedral finally began to work again in 1955, though, the demolition of the cathedrals lasted until 1959. The next religious place that started to give service again in the monastery was the St. Nicholas church in 1985. The remaining of the Alexander Nevsky which was moved to the Atheist Museum in the Kazan Cathedral transferred back to the monastery in 1989, and the rest of the monastery slowly started to give service again soon after.
Besides the marvelous architecture of the buildings inside the monastery which followed the Baroque and Neoclassical architecture style, and the history that the place got behind itself, one of the main attractions of this monastery is the cemetery that hosts many famous Russian’s resting places such as Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky, Mussorgsky, Rubinshtein, Quarenghi, Rossi, and Starov.
The Alexander Nevsky Lavra is one of the major attractions of the Nevsky Prospekt. The tourists would enjoy the amazing architecture of the buildings inside the monastery. They can also buy some bread from the monastery bakery which runs by the monks. Even if they don’t want to enter the monastery, they can still enjoy the architecture from the outside and witness the tombs of great Russians outside the monastery walls while they enjoy their walk inside the Obukhovskoy Street. So, now that you know about the importance of this monastery in Russia history, we recommend you to visit this place and add this monastery in your St. Petersburg tour in your travel to Russia's plans.
