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'''Holy Dormition Monastery of Sviyazhsk''' is a [[monastery]] for [[monk|men]] now on the island of Sviyazhsk, located at the confluence of the Volga and Sviyaga Rivers upstream from the city of Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. The monastery was established in mid sixteenth century. It became a major institution associated with Christianity in the [[Diocese of Kazan]]. After being severely damaged during the Soviet time, restoration of the monastery and its dependency, the St. John the Forerunner [[Convent]], has been in progress since 1997.

==History==

Dormition Monastery was founded by the [[Archimandrite]] German (Sadyrev-Polevoy) in 1555 at the fortress of Sviyazhsk. Sviyazhsk was the base from which Ivan IV staged his final and successful assault on the khanate of Kazan in 1551. Arch. German was canonized in 1595. The monastery prospered as the adjacent town of Sviyazhsk became the chief town of the province as reflected in the name of the [[Diocese of Kazan|Diocese of Kazan and Sviyazhsk]]. While the initial economic significance of the town declined in the following years the religious importance of the monastery grew during the following centuries. By the mid eighteenth century the monastery was the most wealthy and influential in the Kazan [[diocese]].

During the years of Bolshevik rule, the monastery was closed and initially turned into a forced labor camp. Later, it was used as a detention camp for juvenile criminals. Subsequently, the monastery was used as a psycho-neurological clinic until 1993. In 1997, the monastery property was returned to the Church of Russia.

===Church of St. Nicholas===

The oldest [[church]] on the Dormition Monastery grounds is the Church of St. Nicholas. This church was built during the years 1555 and 1556 by a team of builders from Pskov led by Ivan Shyryay, The church was built out of limestone and includes the old [[cell]] used by St. German. A 138 foot (43 meters) high bell tower was built in the seventeenth century.

===Cathedral of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos===

Construction of the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos was begun in 1556 and continued until 1560, also by the team of craftsmen from Pskov led by Postnik Yakov and Ivan Shyryay. A number of changes were made to the [[cathedral]] over the following centuries. In the seventeenth century the [[refectory]] was added to the cathedral. The original design of the cathedral used a cylindrical drum and helmet shaped dome. In the eighteenth century, this combination was replaced by an octahedronical drum and a cupola in the Ukrainian baroque style. A high porch was added to the refectory in the nineteenth century.

===Convent of St. John the Forerunner===

On [[August 14]], 2004, the Convent of St. John the Forerunner became a dependency of the the Dormition Monastery. The convent is located a short, walking distance from the Dormition Monastery. The [[convent]] was established late in the sixteenth century in the northwest part of the town of Sviyazhsk. After fires in 1753 and 1759, the convent, in 1764, moved nearer the Dormition monastery, to the abandoned buildings of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius of Radonezh. This monastery had been founded in 1551, but was closed in 1764.

===Cathedral in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “The Joy of All the Sorrowful”===

The Cathedral in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “The Joy of All the Sorrowful” is the center piece of the convent. The cathedral was built over the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (1896 to 1906) to a design by F. D. Malinovsky. The cathedral is a large four pillared crucifix shaped temple in a neo-Byzantine style. The frescos were funded by the manufacturer Sergei Semyonovich Mechnikov. During the Soviet period the interior of the cathedral was desecrated, the icons were removed and the walls whitewashed, leaving only a shell of a church. The cathedral is now being restored.