The Marfo-Mariinskaya Cloister, which is sometimes also called the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent, was founded in 1909 by Grand Duchess Yelizaveta Fyodorovna, the sister of Empress Aleksandra Fyodorovna, who was born Princess of Elisabeth of Hesse. Yelizaveta decided to found the cloister after her husband Grand Duke Sergey Aleksandrovich was assassinated in 1905. In 1918 Yelizaveta herself was murdered by the Bolsheviks and in 1926 the cloister she had founded was closed down. The territory was later used as the base of the Igor Grabar Art Restoration Centre. It was only reopened as a cloister in 1992.

Intercession Church

The cloister's main church is the beautiful Intercession Church which was built between 1908 and 1912. The building is decorated with three black domes, one large central one and then two elongated domes on either side of the entrance. Just outside the church there is a statue of Grand Duchess Yelizaveta Fyodorovna, which was unveiled in 1990 and is the work of Vyacheslav Klykov.

Golgotha Memorial

Also in the grounds of the cloister is a small mound which is called Golgotha and a memorial cross has been installed there dedicated to the Alapaevsk Matyrs - those who were killed along with Yelizaveta Fyodorovna in Alapaevsk by the Bolsheviks in 1918.