Saint Petersburg Guide

ALEXANDER NEVSKY LAVRA

The foundation of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (Aleksandro-Nevskaya Lavra) is connected with the important events in the history of Russia. In 1240 Grand Prince and military commander Alexander Yaroslavich won a major victory in the war with Sweden on the Neva river, for which he was given the title Nevsky and canonized by the Orthodox Church as the Holy Patron of Russia.

St Petersburg being regarded by its founder as the administrative, political, economical and cultural capital of new Russia, the Alexander Nevsky monastery was intended to become the religious center of the country.

Founded by Peter I in July 1710, it was given the official title of "The Alexander Nevsky Monastery of the Holy Trinity" in 1797. At the turn of the 20th century there were 16 churches in the monastery complex, of which five still survive: Holy Trinity Cathedral, the Church of the Annunciation, St. Lazarus' Church, St. Nicholas' Church and the Church of the Holy Mother of God the Joy of all Mourners which is over the monastery gates.

On the 30th of August 1724 the relic of Saint Prince Alexander Nevsky was carried to St Petersburg from Vladimir and placed in the monastery's St Alexander Nevsky Church (in 1790 the relic was transferred to the newly built and sanctified St Trinity Cathedral). Since that time the Russian Orthodox Church has been celebrating this day as a holiday.

From the very beginning, the Alexander Nevsky monastery became the ecclesiastical educational center of the St Petersburg eparchy. It was only in 1956 that the St Trinity Cathedral was given back to the Orthodox Church and divine services were resumed there again. In 1987 was St Nicholas (Nikolskaya) cemetery church reopened (now belongs to the Lavra). Two years later another portentous event in the Lavra's life took place - Alexander Nevsky's relic was solemnly replaced in the St Trinity Cathedral. November 25, 1996 is the official date of the monastery's rebirth.

• Open: daily
• Location: 1 Nab. Reki Monastyrki

SIGHTS OF SAINT PETERSBURG
Alexander Nevsky Lavra Amber Room Cruiser Aurora Dostoevsky Museum Gatchina Hermitage House of Peter Great Isaak Cathedral Kazan Cathedral Kunstkamera Nabokov Museum Nevsky Prospect Novgorod Oranienbaum Peter and Paul Fortress Pavlovsk Peterhof Pushkin Museum Russian Museum Savior on the Blood Cathedral Tsarskoye Selo Vodka Museum Vyborg Yusupuv Palace