Goritsy Monastery Convent (Горицы)

 nunnery, listed building / architectural heritage, Russian Orthodox Church

The nunnery at Goritsy, also known as the Resurrection Convent, was founded in 1544 by Princess Efrosiniya, the wife of one of Ivan the Terrible's sons. Some years later the Princess, and her son Vladimir, were involved in a plot to assasinate Ivan. Vladimir was executed and in 1563 the Princess exiled to the convent she had founded. She became Sister Evdokiya and started an embroidery workshop but she continued appealing to Ivan for release. Eventually she drowned in the river in a boat accident .

The strongly fortified convent, typical of abbeys along the northern river routes continued for centuries to serve as a place of exile for women who had offended the czars in ways treasonous or trivial, among them the mother of Prince Dmitry who died under suspicious circumstances at Uglich.

The complex is close to the river and is clearly seen from passing ships. There are several churches and a number of other buildings constructed at various times in the 16th to 19th centuries. The convent had declined in importance in the 1800s and it was closed by the soviets in the 1920s. Some of the buildings were used as meeting halls and a movie theater until the complex was abandoned and allowed to fall into dereliction. The area has now been cleared of overgrowth and scaffolding indicates that restoration has begun.
(Trinity Cathedral built on the spot of the graves of nuns Ephrosiniya and Yuliania, and the low fence - date back to the first part of the 19th century.)