A Walk Around Serpukhov

8 points4 km0 hours

Serpukhov has kept the atmosphere of an old merchant town, with its churches, monasteries, and 19th-century mansions. Here, an hour's drive from Moscow, you can feel the measured rhythm of provincial life. Come here for a leisurely stroll through the historic center and to get to know provincial Russia without the bustle of the capital.

Route author

Susanin Team

Things to do

📜 Learn the city's history
📸 Take photos

Route points (8)

Vysotsky Monastery of the Conception in Serpukhov

Point on route “A Walk Around Serpukhov”

Point 7

Vysotsky Monastery of the Conception

🕍 Place of worship • 📜 Historic site

The Site's History

The Vysotsky Stauropegial Monastery is one of the oldest monasteries in Russia and the Moscow Region. It was founded in 1374 by Prince Vladimir Andreevich the Brave of Serpukhov with the blessing of St. Sergius of Radonezh. The monastery was founded on a high hill (vysota) by the Nara River, which gave it the name Vysotsky. Its first abbot was Athanasius, a disciple of Sergius of Radonezh, under whose leadership the monastery developed quickly and became a center of icon painting, the so-called Vysotsky Deesis tier, which influenced the style of the great icon painter Andrei Rublev.

Shrines and Relics

The monastery suffered repeatedly from raids, notably by the Crimean khans and Polish-Lithuanian troops, and was always rebuilt with the help of tsars and benefactors. It holds numerous shrines and relics, including the miracle-working icon of the Mother of God “The Inexhaustible Chalice,” venerated as a deliverer from alcoholism and drug addiction. Today the Vysotsky Monastery is an active Orthodox stauropegial monastery for men, a center of pilgrimage and of Serpukhov's spiritual life, with a rich history and architecture.