THE ALEXANDER NEVSKY LAVRA

The construction of the stone Monastery town began in 1717. On August 30, 1724 by the order of Peter the Great the remains of St. Alexander Nevsky were transferred to the new church of the Annunciation and St.Alexander Nevsky. Peter the Great conceived the Monastery as the chief orthodox monastery of Russia. The Highest priests of the Orthodox Church hierarchy were educated in the Theological School located in the territory of the Lavra. The Printing house appeared here in 1720 at the Monastery, where such famous books "The Primer Book" of F. Prokopovitch, "The Praise of the Russian Fleet", "On Poltava and Gangut victories" of Buzhinsky, etc. were printed.

In 1726 the Slavonic/Greek/Roman seminary was established here. Later on the Academy of Theology (which operates now) was organized. In 1797 the Monastery was transformed into the Laura (the word can be translated as "abbey") with the large historical archive and library. In 1909 the Museum of Lavra was established. The Metropolitan Garden, the Lazarev cemetery (now the Necropolis of the 18th century), the Tikhvin cemetery (now the Necropolis of People of Arts), and Nicholay cemetery occupy a large plot of the Lavra territory. Many Russian luminaries were buried here.