Convent of Saints Mary and Martha (Moscow)

 monastery, Art Nouveau / Jugendstil (architecture), orthodox christianity, conjunto, interesting place, listed building / architectural heritage, object of cultural heritage of federal importance (Russia)

The secluded Convent of Saints Mary and Martha hides behind a stone wall with latticed gates. Although the compound buildings appear to date from medieval times, Aleksei Shchusev constructed them between 1908 and 1912. The architect did considerable research into historical religious architecture and combined the characteristic styles of ancient Pskov and Novgorod with a Kremlin church demolished by Stalin and Style-Moderne. Some of the most interesting features include the helmet-domed Church of the Protection with its triangular pointed gables, unstuccoed walls of brick, limestone carvings of mythical creatures and Slavonic script haphazardly placed on the outer walls.

The convent was built for Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, the last Tsarina's sister and the widow of the Grand Duke Sergei Romanov, who was assassinated in 1905. After her husband, the Governor-General of Moscow, was murdered, the Grand Duchess resolved to found a religious community for women who would serve the poor. To fund her plans, Elizabeth gave away two-thirds of her jewelry, and used the remainder to buy this property on Bolshaya Ordinka Street. In 1909 Elizabeth became a nun and the mother superior of the Saints Martha and Mary Sisterhood.

Despite being a nun, Elizabeth was arrested by the Bolsheviks in 1917 and murdered a year later after being thrown alive into a pit with other members of the Romanov family. Services in the church ended after Easter in 1918. The convent was closed down in 1926, and an ambulance service established on the grounds. Despite this, the community continued to perform its charitable work until the Communists prohibited it completely in 1928. Later the hospital became a state-run institution, and the premises housed icon restoration workshops and various offices.

Sometime in 1992, the church was returned to the Moscow Patriarchy. And since 1995, women in light gray dresses cut in the style of nuns' habits have been seen along Bolshaya Ordinka Street as the convent was reestablished and is now located across the street.