Bogoyavlensky Convent
The Epiphany Monastery is not one of the ancient ones. According to two existing versions, it was founded at the end of the XVI century by Maria Nagaya, the mother of Tsarevich Dimitri and the last wife of Ivan the Terrible, or Ksenia Shestova (nun Marfa), the mother of the first tsar of the Romanov family Mikhail Fedorovich. The monastery was originally located in the southwestern part of the Kremlin, across the pond. She was caught in a Time of Troubles there. Enemy troops broke into the Kremlin, ravaged the monastery and killed the nuns along with Abbess Anastasia. In 1661, when work began in the Kremlin on the construction of new defensive fortifications, the monastery was moved to its current location – on the Rostov Road.
At first it was wooden, and only in 1700 the first stone cathedral church of the Epiphany appeared. In the 19th century, after the construction of a new cathedral, the church was rededicated in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. The architecture of the Church of Our Lady of Smolensk retains features that have become traditional for Uglich temple architecture. The restorers were lucky enough to uncover and restore the former decoration of the church's chapters – now, as many years ago, they are all covered with sparkling green tiles. Especially large-scale construction began in the monastery at the beginning of the 19th century. The buildings of the fraternal cells, the Fedorovskaya Church (1818), and a stone fence are being built. The Church of the Fedorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God is perhaps the most interesting Uglich monument of the 19th century.
Its cruciform plan is unusual for Uglich. Most likely, the influence of the capital's architecture in the second half of the 18th century affected here, when centric churches with a cross-shaped plan began to be built in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The interior of the church is decorated with bright murals. They were executed in 1822-1824 by the painter Epiphan Medvedev, Timofey Medvedev's brother, who painted the Transfiguration Cathedral. In 1853, the construction of the new huge Epiphany Cathedral was completed. Its foundation is connected with a poetic legend. The place where it was erected was originally occupied by the orchard of the Butorins. In the spring, when the apple trees were in bloom, Praskovya Butorina came out onto the porch and saw that three swans had landed in the garden. This happened for several years. After the sale of the land to the monastery, the abbess took this event as a sign, and the altars of the cathedral were placed in the place where the swans descended. The cathedral is an example of the official Russian-Byzantine style. It was built in 1843-1853. according to the design of architect Konstantin Ton. The construction of the cathedral, despite the apparent prosperity of the monastery, was a real feat for the nuns. When erecting such a large building, they made bricks themselves, lifted them onto the walls, and collected donations. The abbess of the monastery, Elizonida, who was the initiator of the construction, put in a lot of effort and efforts.
The last temple of the monastery was the small church of the Icon of the Mother of God "It is Worthy to Eat" (1886-1887), which was a two-story corner tower with a dome. In the 1920s, the monastery was closed, and then its ruin followed. The interiors of churches, countless icons were destroyed, the bell tower and fence disappeared, and the church was "Worthily Eaten" and rebuilt into an apartment building. The Epiphany Cathedral has been used as a warehouse almost to this day.
In 2003, the revival of two churches of the monastery began – the Fedorovskaya and Smolenskaya churches. In 2005-2007, the facades of the Epiphany Cathedral were restored – for the first time in many years of ruin and neglect, the most prominent temple in Uglich acquired a decent appearance. Since 2010, the monastery has been operating as a women's monastery again.
