Tolga Monastery in Yaroslavl

Everyone who happened to visit Yaroslavl saw on the left bank of the Volga shining domes with crosses, a slender high bell tower, white-stone walls of temples and other buildings of the Holy Virgin Tolga Convent, one of the oldest in Russia. It is adjoined by an evergreen relict cedar grove - a monument of landscape gardening art.

The date of the foundation of the monastery dates back to the beginning of the 14th century. At that time only a small wooden church was built in the place where Bishop Prokhor of Rostov was shown the icon of the Blessed Virgin. Over time, around the small church, Tolgsky Monastery arose, which was then a man's monastery. The icon, revered miraculous, is still kept within its walls. Thanks to the miracles of healing that took place at the icon of the Mother of God, Tolga Monastery was widely known for many, many years and often visited by believers.

Until now, only fragmentary information about the early period of the monastery's existence has been preserved in a few, miraculously surviving documents and legends.

The formation of the architectural ensemble of the monastery took place gradually over many centuries. The early buildings were wooden. The first stone cathedral church was built near the end of the 16th century, but the exact date is unknown. In this five-domed Vvedensky Cathedral there are still small fragments of the ancient painting of 1690. Unfortunately, the recent reconstruction has changed them beyond recognition, offensively, but they are no longer felt in antiquity.

Another ancient temple - the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross with the chapel and the refectory - was built in the early 17th century, in part to the money donated by Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich to the Tolga monastery. The church is the earliest stone structure of all the surviving buildings of the monastery, it was erected in memory of that vague and difficult time when the Polish feudal lords pillaged and then burned the Tolga monastery. Yaroslavl, Pskov, Vologda, many cities and villages suffered from the invasion of Poles, Lithuanians, Swedish feudal lords. The Holy Cross Church serves as a monument to this difficult period for the Russian historical period. Now inside it is the most important shrine - the defender and savior Tolga miraculous icon.

Particular attention is drawn to the completion of one of the churches of the 18th century - the Church of the Savior, which is the only monument of the Moscow Baroque on Yaroslavl lands. The extremely uplifting central head in the form of a complex octagonal dome is surrounded by eight miniature glazes with neat gilt domes. The complex includes a temple, which used to be the holy gate - the Gate Church of St. Nicholas, erected in 1670.

Yaroslavl and Tolgsky women's monastery are part of the Golden Ring of Russia, in the cities of which the greatest monuments of architecture are preserved - old cathedrals, churches, ancient buildings, monasteries and monasteries. All of them carry within themselves a part of the Russian soul, its ancient Slavic power and strength. Here you can understand and feel the greatness of Russia, soak in the power of the Russian spirit. Tolga monastery in former times always enjoyed the attention of Russian autocrats and often received valuable gifts from them, many of which have survived to this day. And today it receives tourists and pilgrims, you can not only see the sights, but also take part in the services.