The Alexandr Nevsky Monastery
It is the main monastery in Saint-Petersburg that has a special status. Its history starts with the foundation of the city. The Monastery was consecrated in honor of one of the patrons of the city, Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky.
In the beginning of the tour you will hear about the origin of Orthodoxy and how it differs from Catholicism, we will tell you about the sacrament and the most popular rites, religious holidays, etc.
Sublime Holy Trinity Cathedral – is the monastery’s compositional centre .This place is very popular among pilgrims because the relics of St. Alexander Nevsky are housed there. If you wish, you can enter, but women must cover their heads and legs.
On the territory of The Alexander Nevsky Monastery there are two cemeteries which are opened for the visitors. The tombs of the geniuses and nobles of VIII-XX centuries are situated there. Every headstone is a masterpiece.
In the Lazarev Cemetery were buried: the first Russian academician – Mikhail Lomonosov, famous mathematician Leonhard Euler, distinguished statesman Sergey Witte, prominent engineer Agustin de Betancourt, Alexander Pushkin’s wife — Natalia Goncharova, and famous architects, creators of our city: Carlo Rossi, Jean-Francois Thoma de Thomon, Giacomo Quarenghi and Andrey Voronikhin.
The Tikhvin Cemetery is devoted to the clerisy. There you can observe the tombs of: Fyodor Dostoevsky – the author of “Crime and Punishment”, Russian Aesop – Ivan Krylov, the most known fabulist, eminent pianist Anton Rubinshtein, actress Vera Komissargevskaya (in her honor was named one of the theaters on the Square of Arts), choreographer and ballet-master — Marius Petipa, (his ballets are still included into repertoire of world best troops as the outstanding examples of chorographical heritage of the XIX century); opera and ballet composers, who were the members of the XIX century school of music elite: Mikhail Glinka, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Modest Mussorgsky and Alexander Borodin.
In the end of our tour you will be offered to try the bread made by local monks that, of course, differs a lot from bakery-shop bread.
Find out more about the religious life of Saint-Petersburg with us during the tour to The Alexander Nevsky Monastery!
