Danilov Monastery

Danilov Monastery, also known as Svyato-Danilov (Holy Danilov), stands on the right bank of the Moskva River and is considered Moscow’s first monastic community. The monastery holds stauropegic status, answering directly to the Patriarch. Its founding is linked to the name of Moscow Prince Daniil Alexandrovich, the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky. Today the monastery serves as the spiritual and administrative center of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Historians date the founding to 1282, when Daniil peacefully settled a dispute between princes Dmitry of Pereslavl and Andrei of Gorodets over the throne of Vladimir. The first structure was a wooden church dedicated to Daniel the Stylite, surrounded by monastic cells and a palisade. In 1293 the monastery was ravaged by the Golden Horde, after which it fell into decline: the brethren were transferred first to the Kremlin’s Savior Monastery on Bor, and under Ivan III to Krutitsky Hill. Its revival began under Ivan the Terrible: in 1561 a stone church of the Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils was founded on the monastery’s cemetery.

The monastery’s architectural appearance took shape mainly between the 18th and 20th centuries. The Church of the Holy Fathers has a composition rare for Moscow architecture: in 1729 an upper cathedral in the Baroque style was added above the lower Church of the Intercession, and in 1752 the tiered Church of Daniel the Stylite was added, creating two churches on a single foundation. The Trinity Cathedral was built in the 1830s to a design by architect Osip Bove in the late Classical style, funded by Moscow merchants. The gate Church of Simeon the Stylite was built in 1732 to a design by Ivan Michurin in the Baroque style. The perimeter is enclosed by walls with eight towers; in the 1980s the building of the Patriarchal residence was erected to a design by Yuri Rabayev.

The Soviet authorities closed the monastery in 1930: the relics of Prince Daniil were transferred to a parish church, and the cells were used as a reception and distribution center for homeless and juvenile offenders. A monument to Vladimir Lenin appeared in the monastery courtyard, and the monastery cemetery was destroyed. The bells were bought that same year by the philanthropist Charles Crane for Harvard University; they returned to Moscow only in 2008, and exact replicas were cast for Harvard in exchange. The monastery’s revival began in 1983, when the Soviet government handed the complex over to the Patriarchate ahead of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus; the restoration was led by architect Ivan Makovetsky.

Since 1988, Danilov Monastery has functioned as the spiritual and administrative center of the Russian Orthodox Church: it is the seat of the Holy Synod, and houses the Synodal residence and the Department for External Church Relations. The monastery has a museum, a Sunday school, courses for choir directors, singers and bell ringers, and icon-painting workshops. It also runs a publishing house and social assistance programs. Services are held daily, and the monastery receives pilgrims from across the country.

More than seven centuries of history — from a wooden church on the outskirts of medieval Moscow to the administrative center of the modern Church — have made Danilov Monastery a significant landmark of Orthodoxy in the capital. Its status as the city’s first monastic community defines its special place among Moscow’s holy sites to this day.