RUSSIAN CITIES - MAKAR'YEVSKII MONASTIR'

JOHN SLOAN

A ship crusing down the Volga enters the territory of the Mari autonomous region. Its capital is north of the river at Ioshkar-Ola. The Makar'yevskii Convent was originally a men's monastery. It was founded by the missionary St Makarii in 1435 but was burned four years after its founding by Kypchak Tatar Khan Ulu Mukhammed in 1439. Makarii was taken prisoner.
Makarii went into the forest near Kostroma on the Unshu river where he founded a new monasterey also called Makar'yevskii.
When in 1609, the wooden walls of the monastery burned down, the tsar ordered them replaced with stone walls. Tsar Feodor Ivanovich sent the boyar, Khvostov, to establish a cloister. The cloister gained such notoriety that the nun, Marfa Romanova, arrived in 1611 with her son Mikhail and prayed to God that her husband, Metropolitan Filaret Nikitich, return from captivity. He was the father of the soon to be crowned Tsar Mikhail Romanov. When in 1618, Filaret returned to Moscow, Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich recalled his mother's earnest pleas and in 1620, he came to the monastery to pay homage to its namesake and made generous offerings to the cloister. In 1620 Avrami from Murom came to this place and soon he was surrounded by other monks They rebuilt the Trinity cathedral. Near the cathedral they built a refectory (trapeznu) with the Uspenski Church.
The church records show that Archmandriate Ilarion built the refectory in 1654. It was large, 420 square meters in area and two storied. It was rebuilt but again captured by Stenka Razin's forces in 1670.. The monastery had seven churches and one cathedral where the remains of Makariy are venerated. A well is said to have been dug by the founder, the monk Makariy.
The cathedral was dedicated in 1664.
The Church of Archangel Michael over the gate was remodeled in 1670
The Church to St Makarii was built in classical style in 1808.
The original site, for almost 300 years, of the famous Nizhni fair was at the huge, white-walled monastery in this town. This was one of the most famous and important merchant fairs in Eastern Europe. Many merchants from Europe to Asia arrived in July to exchange goods. From the 1620's the fair was an important event in Russia economy. By 1800 there weree over 3000 government and private buildings to house the millions of rubles worth of trade goods. In 1816 a huge fire burned most of the buildings and millions of rubles were lost. The fair was then moved to Nizhni -Novgorod in 1817 where it was even more famous until 1917. It was revived in the 1920's and has recently been established again.

The Markar'yevskii convent stands alone on the left bank of the Volga far from any major town. It originally was not so close to the river, but when the Volga was dammed the water level rose.

View of the Makar'yevskii Convent as the ship approaches the dock.

The convent wall along the Volga. The entrance is under the 5-dome 'over-the-gate church dedicated to Archangel Michael.

The entrance gate to the convent is on the side facing the Volga.

The refectory Uspenski church was the first stone building in the monastery - It includes the square church on the left and the long two-story building connecting it to the tent-shaped bell tower. At th far left edge of the photograph we see columns on the porch of the Makar'yvski church.

On the left is the Cathedral of the Life giving Trinity with its silver domes. Ahead os one of the administrative buildings

In this view we see the Cathedral of the Life-giving Trinity in the right rear and the Uspenski church - with refectory building on the left .

The Cathedral of the Life - giving Trinity - built in 1664.

In the right forground is the Church dedicated to St. Makar'yeev in 1808. It has a classical portico on two sides and a single large dome. The silver domes in the left rear are on the Cathedral of the Life-giving Trinity.

Another side of the Church of St. Makar'yev - with the silver domes of the Trinity Cathedral directly behind it.

View from inside the convent of the over-the-gate Church of Archangel Michael.

Side view detail of the Trinity Cathedral.

Another view of the Church of Archangel Michael - over-the-gate.

Detail of domes of the Trinity Cathedral.

Another view of the St. Makar'yevski Church.

Detail of cathedral domes.

Entrance to the Trinity Cathedral.