THE NEW MAIDEN CONVENT

THE ONION LOOKING GOLDEN DOMES OF

THE NOVODEVICHY MONASTERY AS

SEEN FROM THE DISTANCE

In order to avoid all the noise and streets blockages caused by the numerous parades celebrating Labor Day around the city of Moscow, on May 1^st, the most important Russian Holiday, we took an excursion to the famous Novodevichy Monastery known in English as The New Maiden Convent, situated about one hour away from Moscow. Our trip would include lunch at a typically Russian restaurant located a few blocks from the Monastery that is rightfully said to be one of Russia’s most stunning historical places, very pleasing to the eye, because of its white colored battlement walls and golden domes.

In our way to the Monastery we could see many suburban areas of Moscow, populated mainly by the Stalin–era four story buildings that are known mostly by their obscure and unforgettable past, than for their contributiuon to the well being of the Russians of the 30´s and 40´s. Subsequently remodeled, these buildings still exist as a monument to how a housing project should NOT be made and how people of any country in the world should NOT be treated.

After about forty minutes in the highway toward The New Maiden Convent, we entered an open area of the Russian country side, where immense forests on both sides of the road showed us with their young green leaves, the Russians most expected beginning of spring time.

THREE ECUADORIANS IN FRONT OF THE

MAIN CHURCH WITHIN THE MONASTERY

After about one hour on the bus, we arrived to the famous Monastery, and our guide, explained to us how much Russian history has close connections with religion. He explained to us that in the past, the monasteries used to play a very important role in the lives of all segments of the Russian people.

TWO ORTHODOX PRIEST AND ONE STUDENT.

THE LONG BEARD IS SINONIMOUS OF WISDOM

For many generations, monasteries were not only religious centers, but they were also places were history itself took place, not always in a pleasant way. The Novodevichy Monastery or New Maiden Convent is a fine example of this. Our guide explained to us that this monastery is associated with some major Russian historic events. One of them is the rivalry for the throne between Peter the Great and his sister Princess Sophia. After being defeated by her brother, Sophia was sent to this monastery by the new powerful monarch, where she died after many years in her “prison” where she became a nun. The current occupants of the Monastery, Orthodox priests and students they care of this Russian historical treasure of architecture and art.

The Monastery was founded by the Great Tsar, Vasily III, in the 16^th century and initially, was both a religious institution and a fortress at the same time, thus the monastery’s strong walls and 12 battlement towers. This place is probably the best example of architecture of the period between 16th and 19th centuries and occupies the land of a convent that used to be a nunnery for ladies of noble birth and it is occupied these days by a total of 36 orthodox monks and it is also a seminary for the formation of new monks of the orthodox church

OUR GUIDE TRANSLATES WHILE AN

ARMENIAN PRIEST EXPLAINS THE

HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY

Our visit to this monastery was very educational; as we had an Orthodox priest from Armenia, give us some insights of this historic place. The translation into English of this young priest´s brief recounting of the Monastery´s history was made by Alexander, our excellent guide. Afterwards, we were allowed to visit the many historical chapels and churches within this very large compound. Most of the chapels and churches within the monastery are now mostly museums where mastery paintings and sculptures are kept for future generations of Russians. By pure coincidence, however, the Patriarch of Moscow, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, was celebrating mass at the main cathedral of the Monastery, so, many of our tour companions attended at least part of this mass and came out amazed by the beauty of the church, the great art treasures that it guards, and the details of the Orthodox ceremonial mass they has just attended.

Meanwhile, not necessarily oblivious to the mass, but more interested in interconnecting with other visitors and Russian people, a couple of our companions and I, started a very interesting conversation with a group of about five young Russian primary students, who were also visiting the monastery. Surprisingly enough, they spoke good English so we were able to communicate fairly well with them. Dmitry, one of them was particularly interested in knowing who we were and where we came from.

ECUADORIANS POSING WITH RUSSIAN CHILDREN

WHILE TALKING ABOUT OUR COUNTRIES

The more we told them about us, the more questioning he became. He asked me if I could tell him a short story from my country, and, in about three minutes I told him my personal story without telling him it was my own. At the end, I asked him if he liked my story, and he happily answered that he was indeed very happy to have heard it, and that he would tell it to his peers and to his parents. By the way, he said, “I suspect the person whose story you have told us, its you, isn´t it? This was one of the highest points of my visit to Russia. I´ll never forget this young kid´s bewitched happy face.

As the Monastery´s story goes, during the course of time, the Monastery started to be used as a cemetery for Russia's intellectuals and merchants, and, in the 20th century, it became a cemetery for many of the Soviet Union's most well-known citizens. During the Soviet era, after the innicial looting and destruction, as order was restored, many art treasures were saved and the Monastery was converted into a Museum of Russian art.

At about one O´clock in the afternoon, we left the monastery and were taken to a typically Russian restaurant in the surrounding country side where crystal clear water converged from different brooks, while spring was showing its nascent green best in the surrounding hills.

SMALL RUSSIAN MERCHANTS SELLING

THEIR HAND MADE MERCHANDISE IN

THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE MONASTERY

Just as we see in Ecuador and in many other Latin American countries, as we walked to the restaurant, we could see many small merchants showing, on top of their small table-like stands, their merchandize for the tourists, consisting mostly of “matrushkas” and other Russian inexpensive souvenirs with prices in Russian currency (exchange rate about 28 Rubbles for one dollar) fluctuating between five and ten dollars apiece. Many of the people in our tour stopped for five to ten minutes to buy these souvenirs.

A RUSSIAN STYLE STEW ON OUR TABLE

NEAR NOVODEVICHY MONASTERY

The Restaurant was full with the 156 people in our tour, the service was not “great” to say the least, as only two waitresses were minding our whole group, but, at least for our group of Ecuadorians, the food was “ok”. It consisted of a cabbage salad, with the main course being a stew made with small peaces of beef, potato and tomato, tasting very much like a Hungarian Goulash, served in a casserole type of plate. This was the best of the three dishes finally served. The most important thing, it calmed our hungry stomachs. After lunch, and at about three in the afternoon, we were bussed back to Moscow, a trip during which everybody slept. By the time we arrived, all the fuzz from the many parades was gone.

This was going to be our last full day in Moscow, so we, the Ecuadorians decided that we wanted to eat Russian food at a good restaurant. The Café Pushkin, an icon of Moscow, and the place we wanted to go right from the beginning of our trip, unfortunately was out of the question, because it was closed for renovations, so we again requested the hotel´s front desk´s help to find a good place. They recommended a Kazakh restaurant on Tverskaya Ave. about three blocks from Mayakovskaya metro station. After a minor confusion about the address of the restaurant, we found it. We were the only foreigners in the whole palace which was patronized mainly by Russians, Armenians and Kazakhs. There we found a young man (Vassily), about 30, who knew (from the reservation made at the hotel) we were coming. He spoke a perfect English with a New York accent (as a student he had lived in New York City for five years), and introduced us to the rest of the waitresses and waiters in the whole floor. From then on, we were waited on as VIP’s. We ordered wine and every one of us was free to choose from the menu. At the end of dinner, everyone was very happy to have come to this place, where we shot many photos, including some with the personnel in the restaurant.

DINING AT A KAZAKH RESTAURANT IN MOSCOW

That was a nice way to say good bye to Moscow, a city which we had enjoyed from the beginning to the end. The icing on the cake had not been eaten yet, though, as our visit to the inside of the Kremlin was programmed for the following morning, after which we were programmed to get on board of the Leo Tolstoy, a nice looking vessel which had been used by the Kremlin’s big shots in Soviet times, and that had been reconditioned for tourism after the fall of the Soviet regime.