Donskoy Monastery
Fortified sixteenth-century monastery and cemetery where a Soviet-era crematorium once stood beside ornate aristocratic tombs.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow follows Patriarch Tikhon, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, buried here in 1925 after dying under house arrest. Soviet officials built Moscow's first crematorium in one of the monastery's churches two years later, and for decades believers assumed it had been used on his body. You'll hear about the fire an arsonist set in the small cathedral where he lay, late in Soviet history, and the repairs it forced on the monks. Best heard standing before that cathedral now.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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