Ascension Convent

It is believed that Ascension Convent was founded in 1389 next to the Saviour Gates of the Kremlin by Dmitry Donskoy's widow, Eudoxia Dmitriyevna, who would take the veil there.

Eight years later, the cathedral was gutted by fire and then rebuilt in 1467 by princess Maria of Borovsk, wife of Vasili II of Russia.

During the Patriotic War of 1812, the sacristy of Ascension Convent, with the Icon of the Virgin Hodegetria, painted by Dionisius in 1482, was moved to Vologda.

But the most important 19th-century addition was the Church of Saint Catherine, built to a fanciful Neo-Gothic design by Carlo Rossi (illustrated, to the right).

In 1929, the convent complex – including the majestic 16th-century cathedral – was torn down by the Soviet government in order to make room for the Red Commanders School, named after the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

For the first time, opportunities for the large-scale archaeological study of such a vast section of the Kremlin Hill and the hidden layers of the cultural and spiritual heritage of the XII – early XX centuries were opened.

In August 2014, Russian president Vladimir Putin suggested an idea for restoring Ascension Convent and Chudov Monastery, which were demolished by the Soviet regime in the 1930s.