Scientists have discovered remains of the foundations of the towers and walls of the Novodevichy convent, which was built during the reign of Godunov Borisov, the press service of the Institute of archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
This discovery gave the answer to long-plaguing professionals mystery: exactly how has varied the monastery since its Foundation until the moment when it was rebuilt by Princess Sophia, sister of Peter I.
As it turned out, the monastery originally occupied a much smaller area, and in the time of Boris Godunov was surrounded by a small moat and a stone wall. It turns out that the architecture that we used to admire, – the creation of architects and artists 1680-1690 years, when the monastery was rebuilt, said the head of the Novodevichy expedition of archeology Institute of the RAS, corresponding member of RAS Leonid Belyaev.
Recall, he Novodevichy convent was founded in 1524 by Vasily III. During the reign of Boris Godunov, in particular, has been updated painting the Smolensk Cathedral, were built chambers which were called Asininity. Probably at the same time was a stone wall that stood until the late seventeenth century. A new wall with the “teeth” and tower with decorative finishes in the form of crowns appeared during the rebuilding of the monastery by the Princess Sophia was built, they say, “from scratch”.
During the current excavations experts managed to detect traces of the moat which surrounded the monastery, and traces of walls. Between them lay a wide strip. Managed to find a fragment of a tower which was dismantled during the construction of the new fence during the reign of the Princess Sophia. Part of it remained under the rubble of debris.
