Tikhvin Convent of the Presentation in the Temple

Subject / Religion. Church/Monasteries and convents
The Tikhvin Convent of the Presentation in the Temple (the town of Tikhvin). It was founded on the right bank of the Tikhvinka River, probably like the Dormition Convent, according to the order of Ivan the Terrible in 1560. The wooden walls were constructed under the direction of F.D. Syrkov. Maly (Small) Posad (settlement), settled by craftspeople and trade people, appeared nearby the convent at the village of Issadi. In 1613 a camp of the voevode S.V. Prozorovsky was placed in the convent, then the convent was captured by Swedes. They formed the main camp there and on 14-17 September, when Swedes retreated, the convent was burned. After concluding the Stolbovo Peace Treaty the convent was revived under the hegumeness Daria. There is the information that the stone cathedral of the Presentation in the Temple was built in the middle 1600s after the Troubled Times; in 1645 side-chapels of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Venerable Cyrill of Belozero were built. In 1645 the stone single-pier refectory with the two-apsidal two-domed warm church of the Nativity of the mother of God and St. John of Novgorod (it was rebuilt after conflagrations of 1676, 1685, 1704). In 1764 the convent owned 1338 people and 380 desyatinas of plough-land. At the same time, during staffing the convent was classified as the second class one. Under the Mother Superior Augusta (Sveshnikova; she was being the Mother Superior during 1823-1858) the convent was renewed: common refection was put, the territory was enlarged, the fence with for corner tower was built (fragments of the fence are survived), the cell building and superior building were built (they are survived), the four-tier bell-tower with the Holy Gates and the church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr and St. Augusta the Martyr in the Classicism style (1834-1836; the architect I.I. Sharleman). Under the Mother Superior Seraphima (Timkovskaya; she was being the Mother Superior during 1858-1876) the convent was visited by Alexander II on 19 June 1859. Maria Solopova, the future Mother Superior Taisia Leushinskaya, a zealot of godliness, lived in the convent during 1861-1872. In 1882 under the Mother Superior Raphaela (Varnot, she was being the Mother Superior during 1876-1900) the Cathedral of the Presentation in the Temple was restorated and was splendid decorated in the Russian style of the 17th century. Ye.A. Hannibal, the first wife of A.P. Hannibal, was imprisoned in the convent and later she was buried in the local cemetery. On 27 March 1844 N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov was baptized in the Cathedral of the Presentation in the Temple. The convent was visited by Maria (Mirra) Lokhvitskaya and her sister Nadezhda (Teffi) more than once. In the late 19th century an orphanage for girls was organised in the convent. By 1917 about 200 nuns lived in the convent. The last Mother Superior Ioannikia (Kozhevnikova) lived in the convent in a cell, placed in the bell tower until 1920, She was shot on 3 December 1937 and was canonized as a new martyr. Churches were closed in 1924-1926, a children's colony was placed in the convent buildings. Survived buildings were rebuilt, the inner decoration was lost, the crowning part of churches were removed, dwelling and sport establishments were placed in them; the cemetery was annihilated, on 4 December 1998 a memorable Holy Cross was erected near the Cathedral of the Presentation in the Temple. In summer 2005 the bell tower was passed to the Tikhvin Convent of the Dormition and in 2006 public worships were begun to perform in the gatehouse church. A nun community is supported to form. Bertash, Aleksandr Vitalyevich
Alexander II, Emperor
Avgusta (Sveshnikova, mother superior)
Charleman, Iosif Iosifovich
Daria, mother superior (Anna Alekseyevna, Tsarina)
Hannibal, Abraham (Ibrahim) Petrovich
Hannibal, Yevdokiya Andreyevna
Ioann IV, Tsar
Ioannikiya (Aleksandra Yakovlevna Kozhevnikova)
Lokhvitskaya-Skalon, Mirra Aleksandrovna
Prozorovsky, Simeon Vasilyevich (Sergi, monk of strictest monastic rule)
Rafaila (Varnot), mother superior
Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay Andreyevich
Serafima (Timkovskaya), mother superior
Syrkov, Fyodor Dmitriyevich
Taisia (Maria Vasilyevna Solopova), mother superior
Teffi, Nadezhda Aleksandrovna
Leningrad Oblast, the/Volkhov District/Issad Village
Leningrad Oblast, the/Tikhvin District/Tikhvin Town
Topographical landmarks/Tikhvinka River, the
Виноградова Л.В. Тихвинский Введенский девичий монастырь. СПб., 2005
Описание Тихвинского Введенского девичьего монастыря / Сост. Ю.Ю. Черемская. СПб., 2006.
Tikhvin Dormition Convent, the