Simonov Monastery

(full name, Simonov Uspenskii Monastery), a monastery founded in Moscow circa 1379 and situated 0.5 km from the old Simonov Monastery (founded 1370). The Simonov Monastery served as a fortress, defending the capital from the south, from the side facing the Moskva River and Brashevskaia Road. In the late 14th and early 15th centuries the monastery enjoyed the patronage of Prince Dmitrii Donskoi and his sons. The Kirill-Belozersk and Ferapontov monasteries were founded by monks who had left the Simonov Monastery. From the 15th to 17th centuries the Simonov Monastery was one of the largest religious feudal landowners. In the 16th century Vassian Patrikeev and Maksim Grek lived and wrote at the monastery. The monastery is situated on the high, left bank of the Moskva River. The turreted stone southern walls (1640’s) and a richly decorated refectory on a high substructure (1677–80, architects I. Potapov and O. Startsev) have been preserved.