Alexander Nevsky Monastery

Seven years after the foundation of St. Petersburg, Peter the Great established the monastery complex in July 1710 on a site where Swedish maps had showed the position of the Swedish fort Landskrona. The site was of symbolic importance, as the original Swedish fort had been ransacked in 1301 by an army from Novogorod under the command of Prince Andrei, the son of Alexander Nevsky, the legendry Russian leader. On March 25th, 1713 Peter the Great consecrated the first wooden church built in 1712 on the site of the future monastery.

The Italian architect Domenico Trezzini designed a new church which was consecrated in 1724, and given the name Alexander Nevsky. Alexander Nevsky was considered a Saint by the Russian Orthodox Church, and so his remains were moved from their resting place in the ancient city of Vladimir to the church.

The construction of a silver shrine to protect the holy remains of Alexander Nevsky was ordered in 1750 by Empress Elizabeth. Constructed from one and a half tonnes of pure silver, it was decorated with pictures from the famous 'Battle of Ice' fought on Lake Peipus in 1242, and also many other victories of Alexander. The shrine was moved to the newly built Trinity Cathedral, built by Ivan Starov in the neo-classical style. In 1797 Emperor Paul gave the monastery the highest rank in Orthodox hierarchy and name, calling it Alexander Nevsky Monastery of the Holy Spirit.

The monastery complex was home to some 16 churches by the beginning of the 20th century, however only five survive today.

In January 1918 the Bolsheviks attempted to seize the monastery and its valuables, but were beaten back by loyal church goers that had been alerted by the ringing of the monastery bells. Eventually the Alexander Nevsky Monastery was closed and its valuable looted.

During the 1930's most of the monastery complex had been turned over to the city government which distributed it to various different institutes. By 1955 Holy Trinity Cathedral was returned to the Orthodox Church after a number of petitions from local believers. However, this still did not stop the destruction of the church and the monastery graveyard.

In 1985 services resumed in the Church of St Nicholas situated in the graveyard behind the Cathedral, and during 1989 the remains of Alexander Nevsky were returned to the Cathedral.

Many visitors come to the monastery's graveyards which are the resting places of many great names in Russian culture. Lazarus cemetery is the oldest in St. Petersburg and was founded in 1716 when Peter the Great buried his sister, Natalia Alekseevna here. Also here are the graves of the writer Mikhail Lomonosov and several great architects, Andrei Voronikhin, Andreyan Zakharov, Carlo Rossi, Giacomo Quarengi and the builder of the Trinity Cathedral, Ivan Starov.

The Tikhivin cemetery is the resting place of the most famous graves: In the far right-hand corner from the gate is an impressive bust of Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky over his grave, while close by are Anton Rubinstein, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka. Writer Fyodor Dostoevsky lies further back along the wall towards the gate. Other graves include those of the actress Vera Komissarzhevskaya, writer Ivan Krylov and sculptor Pyotr Klodt.