Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery

a monastery in Suzdal’ founded in 1352 by Boris Konstantinovich, the prince of Suzdal’ and Nizhny Novgorod, and by Evfimii, a monk from the Pechero-Nizhny Novgorod Monastery. Originally called the Spaso-Preobrazhenskii Monastery, it was renamed Spaso-Evfi-miev Monstery after the discovery of Evfimii’s relics in 1507. The monastery had extensive landholdings by the 15th century, and in the 1680’s it owned 10,000 male serfs in many districts of the country. In 1766 a prison for offenders “in matters of faith” was set up in the monastery. Later transformed into a prison for political prisoners, the prison was closed in 1905.

The Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery is one of Suzdal’s most important architectural complexes. The thick walls, which are aproxi-mately 1,200 m long and are topped by 12 towers, date from the mid-17th century. The Preobrazhenskii Cathedral was built in 1564 and has undergone reconstruction work; its frescoes were executed in 1689 by G. Nikitin and others. Other noteworthy buildings are the Blagoveshchenie Church (17th century), the hip-roofed Uspenskaia Refectory Church (1525), and the bell tower (16th and 17th centuries).

D. M. Pozharskii is buried at the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery.