Nikitsky Monastery

After Grand Prince George reestablished the old town of Kleshchin as Pereslavl-Zalessky, the ruins of the older settlement were donated to the monastery.

During the troubles of 1611, the Poles under Jan Piotr Sapieha took the fortress after two weeks of siege and reduced it to ashes.

[1] The young Tsar Peter I selected it as his residence when he played with his amusement fleet on the nearby lake.

The first Tsar is supposed to have prepared the monastery to become his emergency residence in case of a boyar revolt.

[2] A later addition to the compound is the tall Neoclassical bell tower rising above the main gate; it dates from 1818.