View source for Solovetsky Monastery

{{Short description|Fortified monastery located on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea in northern Russia}}
{{Expand Russian|topic=struct|Соловецкий монастырь|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox monastery
| name           = Solovetsky Monastery 
| image          = Соловецкий монастырь.jpg
|native_name = {{lang|ru|Солове́цкий монасты́рь}}
| full           = 
| other_names    = 
| order          = [[Russian Orthodox Church]]
| established    = 1436
| disestablished = {{circa}} 1917
| reestablished  = 1990s
| mother         =
| diocese        = 
| churches       =
| founder        = [[Zosimas of Solovki]]
| dedication     = 
| people         = [[Herman of Solovki]], [[Savvatiy]]
| location       = [[Onega Bay]], Solovetsky District, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia
| coord          = {{Coord|65|01|28|N|35|42|38|E|display=inline,title|type:landmark_region:RU}}
| oscoor         =
| other_info     = 
| public_access  = Yes
{{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
 |child = yes
 |ID = 632
 |Year = 1992
 |Criteria = Cultural: iv
 |Danger = 
 }}
| imagelink = 
| assocpastor = 
| asstpastor = 
| deaconness = 
| elder = 
}}
The '''Solovetsky Monastery''' ({{langx|ru|Солове́цкий монасты́рь}}, {{IPA|ru|səlɐˈvʲɛtskʲɪj mənɐˈstɨrʲ|IPA}}) is a fortified [[monastery]] located on the [[Solovetsky Islands]] in the [[White Sea]] in northern Russia. It was one of the largest Christian [[citadel]]s in northern Russia before it was converted into a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] prison and [[labor camp]] in 1926 to 1939, and served as a prototype for the camps of the [[Gulag]] system. The [[monastery]] has experienced several major changes and military sieges. Its most important structures date from the 16th century, when [[Filip Kolychev]] was its [[hegumen]] (comparable to an [[abbot]]).

== History ==
[[File:Solovki 1780s.jpg|left|thumb|The monastery in the 1780s.]]The Solovetsky Monastery was founded in 1436 by the monk [[Zosima of Solovki|Zosima]]; however, [[monk]]s [[Herman of Solovki|Herman]] and [[Savvatiy]] from the [[Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery]] lived on the island from 1429 to 1436, and are considered to be co-founders of the monastery. Zosima later became the first [[hegumen]] of the monastery. After [[Marfa Boretskaya]], wife of the [[posadnik]] of [[Novgorod]], donated her lands at [[Kem, Russia|Kem]] and Summa to the monastery in 1450, the monastery quickly enlarged its holdings, which was situated strategically on the shores of the White Sea.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the monastery extended its commercial activities, becoming an economic and political center of the White Sea region. This included [[saltworks]] (in the 1660s, it owned 54 of them), [[Trapping (Animal)|trapping]], fishing, [[mica]] works, [[ironworks]], [[pearl]] works, among others. [[Archmandrite]]s of the monastery were appointed by the [[tsar]] himself and the [[patriarch]].
[[File:Patriarch nikon snake.jpg|left|thumb|Saint [[Eleazar of Anzersky]] (unknown – January 13/23, 1656) has a vision of the future [[Patriarch Nikon of Moscow|Patriarch Nikon]]'s omophorion becoming a snake. After Nikon started criticizing the brotherhood, Eleazar subsequently banished Nikon from the monastery (which would soon become an [[Old Believers|Old Believer]] stronghold).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.staropomor.ru/Ist(6)/stradalcy.html|title=Старопоморы-федосеевцы / История / Симеон Денисов князь Мышецкий. "История об отцах и страдальцах Соловецких иже за благочестие и святые церковные законы и предания в настоящее времена великодушно пострадаша"|website=www.staropomor.ru|access-date=2017-09-06}}</ref>]]
By the 17th century, the Solovetsky Monastery had about 350 monks, 600–700 [[servant (domestic)|servant]]s, [[artisan]]s and [[peasant]]s. In the 1650s and 1660s, the monastery was one of the [[fortification|stronghold]]s of the [[Old Believers]] of the [[Raskol]] (schism) in the Russian Orthodox Church. The [[Solovetsky Monastery Uprising]] of 1668–1676 was aimed at [[Patriarch Nikon]]'s [[ecclesiastic]] reform and took on an anti-[[feudal]] nature.  In 1765, the monastery became [[stauropegic]] (from the Greek ''stauros'' meaning "[[cross]]" and ''pegio'' meaning "to affirm"), i.e. it was subordinated directly to the [[Synod]].

Together with the Sumskoy and [[Kem, Russia|Kemsky]] [[stockade]]s, the Solovetsky Monastery served as an important [[frontier]] fortress with dozens of [[cannon]]s and a strong [[garrison]]. In the 16th to 17th centuries, the monastery succeeded a number of times in repelling the attacks of the [[Livonian Order]] and the [[History of Sweden#Early Modern|Swedes]] (in 1571, 1582 and 1611).{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}}

[[File:The British Attack of Solovetsky Monastery.jpg|thumb|"Bombardment of the Solovetsky Monastery by the [[English Navy]]". A [[lubok]] (popular print) from 1868]]
During the [[Crimean War]], the Solovetsky Monastery was attacked by three [[Royal Navy|British]] ships. After nine hours of shelling on the 6 and 7 July 1854 the vessels left with nothing.

Between the 16th and the early 20th centuries, the monastery was also a place of exile for the opponents of [[autocracy]] and official [[Orthodoxy]] and a center of [[Christianization]] in the north of Russia. The monastery also had a large library of [[manuscript]]s and books.

[[File:Соловки.jpg|right|thumb|The monastery in August 2009.]]
The monastery garden also had some exotic flora, such as the Tibetan wild roses presented to the monks by [[Agvan Dorzhiev]], a Lama.

After the [[Bolshevik Revolution]] and [[Russian Civil War]], the Soviet authorities closed down the monastery and incorporated many of the buildings into [[Solovki prison camp]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai134_folder/134_articles/134_098_art_rezaguliyev.html |title=Solovetsky Monastery }}</ref> one of the earliest forced-labor camps of the [[gulag]] during the 1920s and 1930s. "In the earliest years of the Soviet prison system, the Solovetsky Special Prison Camp (SLON) was home to a large group of . . . imprisoned writers."<ref>Lydia Roberts, review of ''Intellectual Life and Literature at Solovki 1923–1930;  The Paris of the Northern Concentration Camps'' by Andrea Gullotta (Legenda, 2018) in ''Los Angeles Review of Books'', 3 May 2018.</ref> The camp main activity was logging, and when most of the surrounding area had been deforested, the camp was closed. Before the Second World War, a naval cadet school was opened on the island.

A small brotherhood of monks has re-established activities in the monastery after the [[collapse of communism]], and it currently houses about ten monks. The monastery has also recently been extensively repaired, but remains under reconstruction. The Solovetsky Monastery is also an historical and architectural [[museum]]. It was one of the first Russian sites to have been inscribed in the [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage List]].<ref name=unesco>{{cite web|title=Cultural and Historic Ensemble of the Solovetsky Islands|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/632|website=World Heritage List|publisher=UNESCO|access-date=1 January 2016}}</ref>

== Layout ==
The Solovetsky Monastery is located on the shores of the Prosperity Bay (''бухта Благополучия'') on [[Bolshoy Solovetsky Island|Solovetsky Island]]. The monastery is surrounded by massive wall 8 to 11 meters high and 4 to 6 meters thick. The wall incorporates 7 gates and 8 towers (built in 1584–1594 by an architect named Trifon), made mainly of huge [[boulder]]s up to several [[Tonne|tonnes]] of weight. There are also religious buildings on the monastery's grounds with the principal structures interconnected with roofed and arched passages. They are in turn surrounded by multiple household buildings and living quarters, including a [[refectory]] (a 500&nbsp;m² [[room|chamber]]) with the Uspensky [[Cathedral]] (built in 1552–1557), Preobrazhensky Cathedral (1556–1564), Church of [[Annunciation]] (1596–1601), stone chambers (1615), [[watermill]] (early 17th century), [[bell tower]] (1777), and Church of Nicholas (1834).

==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Bibliography==
*Brumfield, William.  ''Solovki: Architectural Heritage in Photographs'' (Moscow: Tri Kvadrata, 2008) {{ASIN|B002P5OP1I}} {{OCLC|255613915}} (in English and in Russian)
== External links ==

[[File:Banknote 500 rubles 2010 back.jpg|thumb|Solovetsky Monastery, as depicted on the [[Russian ruble|500-ruble banknote]] (1997 (Modification of 2010) issue.]]
{{Commons category|Solovetsky Monastery}}
*[http://www.solovky.ru/ Solovki museum]{{in lang|ru}}
*[http://www.solovki-monastyr.ru/ Official site of Solovetsky monastery]{{in lang|ru}}
*[http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?parent_id=100137&word= Solovetsky Monastery in the 19th century] Photo album at NYPL Digital Gallery
*[http://www.solovki.ca/english/mon.php Foundation of Solovki Monastery]
*[http://rbth.ru/articles/2010/06/24/miracle_of_light_solovki_transfiguration_monastery.html Miracle of Light: the Solovetsky Transfiguration Monastery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120711103405/http://rbth.ru/articles/2010/06/24/miracle_of_light_solovki_transfiguration_monastery.html |date=2012-07-11 }}
*[https://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai134_folder/134_articles/134_art_rezaguliyev.html Linoleum print of Solovetsky Monastery by GULAG prisoner], Azerbaijani Alakbar Rezaguliyev, "Black and White Realities of Stalin's Era, ''Azerbaijan International'', Vol. 13:4 (Winter 2005), pp. 40-45.

{{Russian North}}
{{Major fortresses of Western Russia}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1420s]]
[[Category:15th-century churches in Russia]]
[[Category:Defunct prisons in Russia]]
[[Category:Prison museums in Russia]]
[[Category:Russian Orthodox monasteries in Russia]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in Russia]]
[[Category:1429 establishments in Europe]]
[[Category:15th-century establishments in Russia]]
[[Category:Solovetsky Islands]]
[[Category:White Sea]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Arkhangelsk Oblast]]
[[Category:Museums in Arkhangelsk Oblast]]
[[Category:Religious museums in Russia]]
[[Category:Kemsky Uyezd]]
[[Category:15th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings]]
[[Category:Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Arkhangelsk Oblast]]
[[Category:Monasteries used as prisons]]

[[hu:Szoloveckij-szigetek#A Szoloveckij-kolostor története]]