Situated on the corner of Ulitsa Rozhdestvenka and Rozhdestvensky Bulvar is the Bogoroditse-Rozhdestvensky Convent (Rozhdestvensky Convent) dedicated to the Nativity (Rozhdestvo) of the Virgin Mary (Bogoroditsa). It is traditionally considered to have been founded in the 1386 by Princess Maria Andreevna of Serpukhov who became a nun and died at the convent in 1389. Many other royal ladies took the veil at the convent, not all of them willingly. Solomnia Saburova, the first wife of Grand Prince Vasili III, was first sent here so that Vasili could marry Yelena Glinskaya, who would succeed where Solomnia failed by giving Vasili an heir - Ivan the Terrible. The convent was closed in 1922 although some of its nuns remained living there. In 1993 a decision was made to reopen the convent after the land had been returned to the Orthodox Church.

Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral

As you walk through the main entrance which is located under the convent's bell tower the first sight that greets you is the convent's main cathedral - the Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral. The cathedral was built between 1501 and 1505 in the traditional Moscow style with a single dome on a tall tholobate, the base of which is decorated with kokoshniks.

Our Lady of Kazan Church

To the left of the cathedral is the Our Lady of Kazan Church which is situated in the convent's refectory. The large red and white church was built between 1904 and 1906 in the Russian-Byzantine Style. The modern frescos inside have since been restored but the church's old oak iconostasis was lost during the revolution.

St John Chrysostom's Church

On the other side of the cathedral is the white, green and brown St John Chrysostom's Church, which is probably the most beautiful and unusual of the convent's three churches. It was built between 1674 and 1687 and has small five domes.

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