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The convent's main cathedral was consecrated in honor of the Smolenskaya Icon of the [[Panagia Hodegetria|Mother of God Hodigitria]], which according to legend was painted by St. Luke himself. This copy of the icon was brought to Russia from Greece in 1046 by Tsarina Anna Monomakh and was later taken to Smolensk and then to Moscow before it was returned to Smolensk in a ceremony held on the present-day site of the monastery.
[[Image:SmolensktCatNovoDevichy.JPG|left|thumb|300px|Smolensky Cathedral]]
The six-pillared five-domed Smolensky Cathedral is the oldest structure in the convent. Documentation dates its construction to 1524–1525; yet its lofty ground floor, imposing proportions, and prominent central gable are typical of monastery cathedrals built at the direction of Ivan IV (the Terrible). Most scholars agree that the cathedral was rebuilt in the 1550s or 1560s; it was formerly ringed by four smaller [[chapel]]s, in an arrangement reminiscent of the [[Cathedral of the Annunciation Cathedral (Kazan Moscow Kremlin, Russia))|Annunciation Cathedral]] in the Kremlin. Its frescos are among the finest in Moscow.
While Smolensky Cathedral is the focal point of the monastery, but there are other churches within the walls, most of which date from the 1680s. At that time the convent was thoroughly renovated by the regent Sophia Alexeyevna (who, ironically, was be incarcerated there later). The blood-red walls and crown-towers, two lofty over-the-gates churches, a refectory, and residential quarters were all designed in the Muscovite Baroque style, supposedly by Peter Potapov. In the old cathedral, a new basin for holy water and gilded carved [[iconostasis]] were installed in 1685. Four tiers of the iconostasis contain sixteenth-century [[icon]]s endowed by Boris Godunov while the fifth tier displays icons by leading seventeenth-century iconographers, Simeon Ushakov and Fyodor Zubov.
