There are many monasteries in Russia that have an interesting history, but require serious restoration. One of them is located in the village of Goritsy, Vologda Oblast. The monastery was founded in the 16th century. Today, there are many tourists at any time of the year, although there are no foreigners among them. Restoration work in the monastery is still underway, and when they are completed, it is not known.
Hotels: Goritsy (Vologda Oblast)
This is a very small town, no more than six hundred people live here. There are no guest houses in Goritsy of the Vologda Oblast. The nearest is located in the territory of the Russian North Park. In order to see the sights of the village, you can book one of the hotels of the Kirillovsky district. True, Goritsy is usually visited by tourists traveling to the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery as part of a tourist program. Fans of independent trips around the Russian outback can use the services of the following hotels:
- " Lumanskaya backwater " .
- " Russia . "
- " At the lake . "
- Zvozsky Bereg.
However, it would be wrong to attribute all these organizations to one category. Lumanskaya Zavod is a mini-hotel. Goritsy of the Vologda region is visited during a river cruise. If you plan to travel by car, you should book a room in a cheap hotel, for example, in Lumanskaya Zavod or a hotel located on the territory of the Russian North.
" At the Lake " - a full-fledged guest house. Goritsy of the Vologda region is visited primarily because of the monastery. There are no hotels within walking distance from it, but, as already mentioned, they visit the village either during a tourist trip or in their own car. In the latter case, it will not be difficult to drive from the city of Kirillov, where there are about ten hotels of different levels, only seven kilometers. In addition, there are many interesting places in the district that are also worth visiting. But our article is about the village of Goritsy, Kirillovsky district, Vologda region. Therefore, we will tell about the events that took place here several centuries ago.
Maiden mountain
Where did the name of the village of Goritsy from the Vologda Oblast come from? Most likely from the word " mountain " . Local residents, by the way, pronouncing the name of the village, emphasize the second syllable. The first mention of this settlement dates back to the 16th century. However, then it was called differently - Maiden’s Mountain . And it is no coincidence, because the terrain here is quite hilly. In the vicinity of the village there are several mountains: Nikitskaya, Maura , Sandyreva, Gorodok, the Old cemetery.
Goritskaya settlement
In the village of Goritsy, Vologda region, the monastery was founded in 1544. By that time, a church already existed here. The village then did not receive a modern name. He was named Goritskaya settlement. It is noteworthy that the monastery was mentioned separately, that is, it was not part of the settlement. Until the beginning of the 20th century, there were only about 60 residential buildings in which approximately 250 people lived. In the village there was a shop, a wine shop, and a marina. This small town was included in the Kirillovsky district in 1927, after which the name " Goritskaya Sloboda " disappeared.
In Soviet times
After the revolution, the monastery, of course, was abolished. There are many legends. One of them, for example, talks about a mysterious event that supposedly happened already in Soviet times.
The monastery was converted into a home for the disabled. On warm summer days, patients were carried out on a stretcher to the banks of the Sheksna River. Once one of them was forgotten, but the nurse immediately had the spirit of the abbess of the abolished monastery, who had died as early as the 1920s, who threatened with a finger. Thus, an unexpected ghost reminded a staff member of a Soviet institution, scared to death, of her duties. They say that after the appearance of the harsh abbess, the nurses watched their wards more closely. But a guest from the past appeared here after the war. But what happened in the village in the early forties?
The front line stopped two hundred kilometers to the northwest, near the mouth of the Svir River. Enemy aircraft quite often, especially at the beginning of the war, flew over the village and dropped propaganda leaflets. Historians do not tell us anything more about this period. The House of Disabled was opened in 1946. There was no church on Nikita Mountain by that time. It was blown up by the Bolsheviks in the twenties.
There are many sparsely populated villages in Russia today. In the village of Goritsy, there are so few inhabitants because in the early sixties some houses were flooded. This happened as a result of the filling of the Sheksninsky reservoir. The hills that are in the vicinity of the monastery, then turned into small islands.
Goritsy village today
With the city of Kirillov, the settlement referred to in today's article is connected by an asphalt road. It was built in the early seventies. And before that, residents had to get to the district center along a dirt road that ran across the other side of Lake Aristovo . Buses run on this route since 1965.
The pier was built long ago - in the first decade of the reign of the last Russian emperor. In 1963, it was dismantled and a new one was built. Passenger shipping is currently discontinued. The marina accepts only tourist boats. In 2009, more than six hundred vessels stopped here.
Cruises
Before visiting the monastery, the history of which is described below, it is not necessary to find out the weather in Goritsy of the Vologda Oblast for two weeks in advance . But it is advisable to inquire about how sunny the next few days will be. After all, here you can not only see local sights, but also take a swim in Sheksna , enjoy enchanting landscapes, similar to which can only be seen in Russian villages, distant from large cities that have long lost their national color.
There is a great way to get acquainted with the sights of the Vologda Oblast and relax on the ship - go on a cruise along the Volga. One of these tourist routes ends in the village of Goritsy . Of course, the program is not limited to the local monastery . Tourists also visit the Museum of Flax and Birch Bark, Mount Sandyrev , the chapel of Cyril and Ferapont Belozersky.
Goritsy of the Vologda Oblast: Attractions
In addition to the Voskresensky monastery, the following historical and natural monuments are worth visiting here:
- Mount Maura .
- Vvedensky church.
- Resurrection Cathedral.
- Trinity Cathedral.
- Museum of Flax and Birch Bark.
- Mount Sandyreva .
- Church of the Intercession.
- Chapel of Cyril and Ferapont of Belozersky .
The Resurrection and Trinity Cathedral, as well as the Intercession Church are located on the territory of the monastery.
Efrosinya Staritskaya
The Resurrection Monastery was founded by a relative of Ivan the Terrible. Namely, the widow of his own uncle - Euphrosyne Staritskaya. In the middle of the 16th century, there was already a monastery in Kirillov, and the Resurrection Church was operating in the village of Goritsy . In 1544, a small wooden church with the assistance of Efrosinya Staritskaya was replaced by a stone one. The history of the Goritsky monastery begins with this event.
The fate of Efrosinya Staritskaya was not easy. After her husband passed away, she was placed in prison. Among the boyars were those who saw in Efrosinya’s son a suitable candidate for the throne. Ivan the Terrible did not like this, but because he ordered his relative to send him away - to the monastery, which she founded. True, she was tonsured a nun in the Mother See, and was sent to the village of Goritsy after.
In the monastery of Euphrosyne, life was not so bad. The princess was allowed to take a servant and close advisers with her. She also moved the gold sewing workshop to the Goritsky monastery. Some works, by the way, have survived to the present day and are in the Russian Museum.
In 1569, by order of Ivan the Terrible, all representatives of the Staritsky clan were destroyed. And in October, the princess, along with several monks, was drowned in Sheksna . After several days, the body of Efrosinya Staritskaya was found and buried in the monastery.
Other nuns
The idea of sending uncomfortable relatives and former wives to the monastery, Ivan the Terrible, really liked. In 1575, Anna Koltovskaya , the fourth wife of the king, arrived in the village of Goritsy . Although, perhaps, she was here much later. It is known that in monasticism she spent most of her life. She was exiled both to Moscow cloisters and to Vologda. She spent some period of her long-suffering life in the Voskresensky monastery, but how long it was, is unknown.
Later, Maria Naguy , another wife of Ivan the Terrible, was exiled to Goritsy . Here she was known as Martha . In the Resurrection Cathedral, Maria Nagaya erected a chapel in memory of the murdered son. At the beginning of the XVII century, among the nuns was the daughter of Boris Godunov. Here she also turned out to be not of her own free will.
More than a hundred years later, the Great Reformer sent his former mistress, Varvara Arsenyev, to the Goritsky Monastery. There is an assumption that in the walls of this monastery she spent several years and Ekaterina Dolgorukova - the wife of Emperor Alexander I.
We only know about the famous women who were brought here by force. There were probably a lot of unfortunates. In the nineteenth century, violent tonsure in a nun went out of fashion. The monastery in the village of Goritsy was headed by the abbess of Mauritius, who led it for about forty-five years.
In the vicinity of the cloister
In addition to the cathedrals and churches mentioned above, the monastery includes water supply, several buildings and a cemetery. The first burials were made in the 80s of the XIX century. The churchyard is located on a mountain that acquired at the beginning of the 20th century the gloomy name "Old Cemetery".
The water supply system in the monastery was built during the abbess of Mauritius. Outside the monastery, they found a source, from there they led pipes into a stone chapel, built next to the Resurrection Church. The ancient water supply system is valid today. Outside the monastery there are several buildings that are in poor condition. In 2015, one of the walls of the monastery collapsed. The restoration is carried out, but, according to the reviews of tourists who have visited these places repeatedly, restoration work is sluggish, unhurried.
Vvedensky church
The temple does not belong to the oldest buildings in the village of Goritsy, Vologda Oblast. A photo of the Vvedensky church is located below. It was built in the second half of the XIX century. The Vvedensky church arose even before the foundation of the monastery, but it was another church - a wooden one. It is located outside the monastery, for a long time remained a parish. The stone church was erected in 1861. In Soviet times, it was closed later than the rest of the churches of the village of Goritsy . It operated until the start of World War II, and in the 40s a tractor garage was placed in its walls. There was a small cemetery near the church until the fifties of the last century, but after flooding, the graves went under water.
Mount Maura
There is such a tradition. Once the monks Kirill and Ferapont came here. We examined the surroundings for a long time in search of a suitable place for a new monastery. And finally found. True, not in the village of Goritsy , but a little further. Ferapontov and the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery laid the foundation for a number of monasteries, among which the monastery, which is described above.
Resurrection Cathedral
This is the same temple that was founded before the start of the construction of the monastery. At the beginning of the XVI century, the Resurrection Cathedral was a wooden building. Later, the founder of the monastery replaced her with a stone. The temple has survived to this day without significant changes. It is made in a typical architectural style for the 16th century. In 1611, a small bell tower was added to the church, which was restored in the 18th century. After another hundred years, the refectory appeared here.
Museum of Flax and Birch Bark
Visiting this attraction will be interesting for lovers of antiquity. Among the exhibits are tools for the production of birch bark and linen products. The museum building also has quite unusual workshops. Here you can learn the basics of birthing, painting on birch bark, pottery and the basics of other crafts , not in demand in modern life, but extremely interesting.