Novospassky Monastery

[1] The monastery was patronized by Andrei Kobyla's descendants, including the Sheremetev and Romanov boyars, and served as their burial vault.

[2] Upon the Romanovs' ascension to the Moscovy throne, Michael of Russia completely rebuilt their family shrine in the 1640s.

Apart from the large 18th-century bell-tower (one of the tallest in Moscow) and the Sheremetev sepulcher in the Church of the Sign, all other buildings date from that period.

They include: During the Soviet years, the monastery was converted into a prison, then into a police drunk tank.

In the 1970s, it was assigned to an art restoration institute, and finally returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1991.