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Cathedral Rotunda

The round brick tent crowning a rotunda in which center there is a small white stone chapel symbolizing the Holy Sepulcher rises 18-meter height above the Cathedral.

Diameter of a tent makes 22 meters, and it is the greatest construction of a similar sort in old Russian architecture.

Architects P.I.Zaborsky, Yakov Bukhvostov, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, Matvei Kazakov, Karl Blank and others took part in the creation of this ensemble.

Campanile - Bell Tower

From the south the Cathedral was adjoined with a high campanile in the seven circles, reminded a campanile of Ivan the Great in Moscow. It was completely destroyed by fascists and not restored till now.

In 1959 the museum was re-opened for public, although the Bell Tower has never been rebuilt, while the interior of the Cathedral is still bare. The New Jerusalem Monastery resumed its service as a male monastery only in the 1990s.

The beginning of regenerative works is planned on 2007.

The Voskresenskiy (Resurrection) Cathedral

The New Jerusalem Monastery, also known as the Voskresensky Monastery (Russian: Новоиерусалимский монастырь) is a male monastery, located in today's town of Istra in Moskovskaya Oblast’.

Power and volumes of the main temple of the Monastery amaze with the majesty and abundant of domes in spite of the fact that the cathedral rather approximately repeats the Jerusalem brother.

Nikon's idea on superiority of Russian orthodox church was embodied in christendom in creation of this grandiose cathedral. Simultaneously the embodiment of an image of the Sacred hailstones - "Heavenly Jerusalem" was found there.

Learn more wiki/New_Jerusalem_Monastery

Cathedral interiors

The interior of the is restored already more than 60 years. This process goes very slowly. However, visiting the Cathedral every year, I observe new and new changes. Even in a today's view the interior makes enormous impression.

When the process of restoration come to an end the Cathedral will become doubtless one of the most impressive and magnificent in Russia.

Patriarch Nikon's skith (hermitage)

A skith (hermitage) - a personnel monastery of patriarch Nikon is situated on the Istra coast, in three hundred meters from the main monastery. The building of a monastery was under construction and reconstructed within ten years till 1662. The same architect - Averky Mokeev got for his work the award in three rubles - the sum on those times considerable.

Originally the monastery was arranged on artificial island, formed by channels specially dug from Istra. Now a few is kept. A building of a monastery is originally and unusually enough. It represents the small, two-storeyed construction decorated by tiles topped by the church head in which are incorporated house church, inhabited and economic rooms.

Streletz's guns

The battle of imperial armies and rebelled streletz at the walls of the monastery was rather bloody. Imperial armies were headed by the best captain of the host - boyar Sheyin. He has just successfully won Smolensk from Poles.

Guns of the XVII century are installed at the central entrance to the territory of a monastery. They keep memory of this battle.

Monastery Walls

Walls of the monastery passed wars and sieges, they, as a matter of fact, did not intend for military operations. The unique battle which happened in 1698 by a monastery, was a fight of four rebellious streletz regiments who returned from a Livonian boundary to Moscow, with the governmental armies of general Gordon and boyar Sheyin.

That was the last in history of Russia streletz revolt, as it is known, it was stifled. 57 "instigators" of the mutiny were hung up at walls of the monastery. The others were lost during the mass executions arranged by Peter I after his returning from abroad in autumn of 1698.

Monastery Towers

Eight towers of the monastery by the tradition going even from Nicon, basically carry the Palestinian names: Gethsemane Tower, Sion Tower, David's house Tower, Inoplemennichia (Another tribe Tower), Varukh Tower, Ephrem Tower, Damasus Tower.

The tower above the western gate leading to the garden of Gethsemane, reconstructed in reign of empress of Elizabetha Petrovna, began to refer to Elizabeth Tower.

Monastery Bells

On the top circles of the Bell-tower there were installed a clock and 15 bells, the biggest had a weigh 500 poods. Portraits of tsar Alexey Mihajlovch and members of his family and patriarch Nikon were represented there.

Up till now it was kept only the Trehsviatsky bell, weight in 100 poods, with the image of Three prelates - Vasily Veliky, Grigory Bogoslov and John Zlatoust.

Church of St Helen and Constantine

The unique construction is also the underground church - in the name of Sacred Constantine and Elena. Its heads grow directly from the ground.

It was originally planned to arrange in a temple 365 chapels - on number of days in a year, but from this think in due course it was necessary to refuse.