Talk:Holy Dormition Monastery of Sviyazhsk

As a side note to this article, my wife and I had the good fortune during the summer of 1997 while visiting her cousins in Kazan (her father came from Kazan) to be taken on a tour of the island of Sviyazhsk and of these monasteries. Of particular note was the situation at the convent. The little church, Trinity Church, was there and was interesting, but the remainder of the convent area was an abandoned mess. A guide took us into the cathedral “The Joy of All Sorrowful”. The cathedral structure seemed intact, but the interior was bare, no icons, and all the walls painted over in white. Such a beautiful cathedral stripped bare! Also, the buildings that were cells for the nuns were occupied by the farmers of the area and not well kept. If the restoration of the Raifa Monastery is an example (we visited it also, and at the time was about 80% restored, it was beautiful) the restorations at Sviyazhsk must now had restored a lot of the former glory. Dormition monastery, while abandoned, was in better condition than the “The Joy of All the Sorrowful”. Of note, these churches were at that time locked and not open to wandering “visitors”. The guide had the keys!