Зачатьевский ставропигиальный женский монастырь.

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It is the oldest convent in Moscow. It was founded by St. Alexis Metropolitan of Moscow in the third quarter of the 14th century (according to other sources - in 1360). The first residents of the Convent were sisters of St. Alexis, St. Juliana (Mother Superior) and Eupraxia. The first wooden church of the Convent in honour of the Conception of the Holy Mary by St. Anna was built on St. Alexis' money. In the beginning of the 16th century in the place of that church Grand Prince Basil the Third ordered to build the stone church in honour of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ with the side-chapel of St. Alexis the man of God. It was rebuilt in 1547. After the fire in 1547 the convent was moved from Ostozhie to Chertolie where it existed named as of St. Alexis (Alexeevsky) until 1837 when in that place the construction of the Church of Christ the Saviour began and the Convent was moved to Krasnoe (Red) Village.

In the original place only small Convent of the Conception remained but soon it was ruined. It was restored in 1584 by the tsar Fedor Ivanovich and tsarina Irina Fedorovna who built in the Convent the new church of the Conception with the side-chapels of the Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates and St. Irina and the refectory Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin.

In 1612 the convent was ruined by Polish soldiers. In 1623 it was restored. In 1804 - 07 in the place of the demolished church dated back to the 16th century under the design of the architect M.F. Kazakov the majestic Cathedral was built in honour of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin with the side-chapels of the Conception of the Holy Mary by St. Anna, the Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates, St. Alexis the Metropolitan of Moscow (1799) and the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (1887). The capacity of the new Cathedral included fully (in the Kazan side-chapel in 1887) the church in honour of the Icon of the Mother of God "The Unburnt Bush" (1766) located over the place of burial of the sisters of St. Alexis the Metropolitan of Moscow. In 1812 the Convent was ruined by Napoleon's army (the residents of the Convent were under protection of the enemy officer Baron Taulet for three days) but it was restored quickly. In 1844 - 50 the building of the alms-house with the church was built in honour of the Advent (1846 - 58; architect - M.D. Bykovsky). The intensive construction took place on the border of the 19th -- 20th centuries.

In November in 1917 the Convent was in the area of violent battles (the Red Army men stormed the headquarters of the Moscow Military District in the Vsevolzhsky Lane). On the 16th of March in 1925, 9 days before his death St. Tikhon the Patriarch of All Russia served his last Liturgy.

The Convent was closed in 1927. The cathedral continued to serve for some time and was destroyed in the 1930-ies. In that place the building of the secondary school was built. After the Convent was closed the venerable Icon of the Mother of God "The Merciful" and some other sacred things were kept in the Church of Elijah the Prophet in the Obydensky Lane. Nowadays the Icon of the Mother of God was given back to the Convent.

The Convent was revived on the 5th of May in 1995.

A part of the fence, cell houses (the 19th -- 20th centuries) are extant. Under the control of the Convent the alms-house, publishing house, sewing and iconography workshops and bakery operate.

Churches
Over-the gates church in honour of the Icon of Christ Not Made With Hands (1696 over the northern Holy Gate of the Convent) was built on the money of A.L. Rimsky-Korsakov the Stolnik of Peter the Great in the style of Moscow baroque. It is the only surviving church of the churches of the ancient cloister. It was recorded as parish (people were baptized and married in the Church but in other churches of the Convent it was not allowed). It is small, single-domed quadrangular with the octagonal crown. It is surrounded from the south and west with the open ambulatories. The entrance to the ambulatories is from the external side of the fence because until 1744 the church was a house church of the Rimsky-Korsakov family. Divine services were resumed in 1993.

Under the over-the-gates Church there is the Chapel of St. Alexis the Metropolitan of Moscow. The Church of the Conception of the Holy Mary by St. Anna was arranged after the convent reviving in one of the premises of the refectory.

Since 2001 the Church of the Advent has been under restoration.