View of the monastery from the lake
Greetings, friends.
In the spring, I was driving along the road from Klin towards my daughter's country house and saw a monastery on the right side of the lake. At that time, I couldn't find out any details about this place.
In September, I drove along this road again, but I had planned a stop at this monastery in advance to explore this place.
The last time I looked at the monastery from the road, I was struck by the corner turrets of the monastery wall. They are very large, tall, much higher than the walls themselves. I have never seen such a design before. There are 7 towers in total, and each tower has its own name.
At first, I decided to look at the monastery from the outside, walk along the wall,s and look at the lake.
I went to the right tower, called the Voskresenskaya Tower, then along the way I passed through the Sentry Tower, the Nikolskaya Tower, and went out onto the dam between Iosifovsky Pond, Lake Podstennoe, and Guryevsky Pond. It turned out that fishermen were sitting on the pond, on the pier.
Iosifovsky Pond, pier
Voskresenskaya tower from the pond side
Yes, I decided to turn off the road that runs along the wall to walk to the pier and look at the fishermen.
Sentry tower
This tower is higher than the corner Voskresenskaya. They have more windows for firing. Its name suggests that it was supposed to carry one of the main defensive functions during the construction of the monastery. Although it seems to me that I was mistaken about the height of this tower. It is the same as the angular ones.
A distant tower, an overgrown lake. The tower is called the Blacksmith Tower, and it's really big and tall! Its height to the top of the weathervane is 44.5 meters, and the walls are 2.5 meters thick.
It's time to go inside the monastery and see what's there. I've already visited two monasteries over the past year, and I have a rough idea of what I might see there.
The main entrance to the monastery, more precisely it is called the Gate Church of Peter and Paul.
Immediately to the left, you can enter the gatehouse church or go to a small tea room where you can drink tea, coffee, eat a cake, or a cupcake. The Staritskaya Tower is visible in the distance.
I go straight to the Assumption Cathedral; there is another church on the left. Why are there so many churches on the territory of the monastery? Isn't one enough?
I did not go inside the Cathedral. By the way, I didn't say anything about the history of the monastery.
The Iosifovo-Volotsky Monastery, or the Iosifo-Volokolamsk Assumption Monastery, is an Orthodox male Stavropol cenobitic monastery. It is located in the village of Teryaevo, Volokolamsk Municipal District, Moscow Region, 16 kilometers northeast of the city of Volokolamsk.
The monastery was founded in 1479 by St. Joseph in the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God. It belonged to the Novgorod Diocese
The first stone cathedral was built in the 15th century. The cathedral church of the Dormition of the Mother of God (1688-1696), built in the Moscow Baroque style, now stands in its place.
In the year of the monastery's foundation, the first wooden church appeared in it, which was replaced by a stone cathedral in 1486. It was painted by the painter Dionysius. In 1490, an octagonal bell tower was built next to the cathedral, the prototype of the bell tower of Ivan the Great in the Moscow Kremlin. In its lower tier was the temple of the Smolensk Hodegetria (1495)
The history of the monastery is rich in historical events, starting from the Time of Troubles, the invasion of Polish troops at the beginning of the 17th century, the events of the Soviet Era, the German occupation, and the post-Soviet period.
I didn't quite understand the significance of this building. It seems to be something from a very ancient one. By the way, I was just thinking. These are probably the remains of a bell tower, which was the prototype of a similar bell tower in the Moscow Kremlin. It was destroyed during the Soviet era and now there are plans to restore it.
The monks live in the monastery on complete self-sufficiency in terms of food. Well, in any case, they provide themselves with fruits and vegetables. I saw green beds with beets, carrots, and potatoes. The photo shows 2 greenhouses. On the right, behind a wooden fence, there is a garden of fruit trees.
The necropolis. There are even dates of the XV-XVI centuries on the tombstones.
My walk through the monastery is over. But if I travel along this road again next year, I will stop at this place again and visit this monastery and hermitage, which is located not far from the monastery.
By the way, the location of the city can be seen by clicking on the link to the map in the comments to the article by 
Don’t Worry, Be Happy (C) Bobby McFerrin
Text & Photography by
With love
Good luck and have fun
