Church of the
Transfiguration of the Lord
The Transfiguration Church, located within the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, was built as a memorial to the Alekseevsky Convent, which historically stood on this site. This is a narrative about one of Moscow’s oldest convents, whose history is inextricably linked with the history of the cathedral itself. Metropolitan Alexis founded the first convent for women in Moscow on the bank of the Moskva River in the 1360s, which received the status of the Old Convent of the Maidens. The original church was wooden and consecrated in the name of St. Alexis, the Man of God, which gave the monastery its name – Alekseevsky. In the 16th century, after the great fire of 1547, the monastery was moved to the Chertolye area – precisely to the territory where the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour would later be built. The fire had destroyed the buildings, but by the order of Tsar Michael Feodorovich, in honor of the birth of his heir Alexis, a unique dual-tented church was erected in 1634, becoming an outstanding monument of 17th century Moscow architecture. In connection with the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (1837–1838), the monastery was relocated to Verkhnyaya Krasnoselskaya Street, receiving the name Novo-Alekseevsky. All its ancient buildings, including the famous dual-tented church, were completely dismantled. To preserve the memory of the destroyed cloister, the Transfiguration Church was created and consecrated in the basement level of the modern Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The interior decoration of the church is stylized after the 16th century – the era when the monastery was established on this land. The church has a tripartite altar structure: the main altar is consecrated in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord, and two small side chapels are dedicated to Alexis, the Man of God, and the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. The solemn consecration and opening of the Transfiguration Church took place on August 19, 1996. The Divine Liturgy on that day was led by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia. Since that moment, the church has been an active place of worship. Main Shrines of the Church: The Icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, painted by the artist Evgraf Sorokin, which miraculously survived the destruction of the first Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The ancient Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. The Icon of St. Nicholas, formerly kept in the basilica in the city of Bari. Thus, the area on Volkhonka, now dominated by the country’s main cathedral, remained an important spiritual center for many centuries, a tradition initiated precisely by the Alekseevsky Monastery.
Address: Moscow, Volkhonka str., 15
