Russia

Ferapontov Monastery

WHS Score 3.03
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Votes 16 Average 3.5
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Votes for Ferapontov Monastery

0.5

  • Yevhen Ivanovych

1.0

  • Stanimir

3.0

  • Ivan Rucek
  • Yuri Samozvanov

3.5

  • Alexander Lehmann
  • Hanming
  • Martina Rúčková
  • Szucs Tamas
  • Wojciech Fedoruk

4.0

  • Alexander Barabanov
  • Michael anak Kenyalang
  • Olli-Pekka Turunen

4.5

  • George Evangelou
  • Tikhon Puliaev

5.0

  • alexandrcfif
  • disnsam

The Ensemble of the Ferapontov Monastery is a Russian-Orthodox monastic complex whose interior is considered one of the purest examples of Russian medieval art.

The monastery was built in the Rostov architectural style and blends in with the surrounding landscape. The wall paintings were made by Dionisy the Wise, the greatest Russian artist of the end of the 15th century, and are the only examples of his work remaining in full.

Community Perspective: The setting of the monastery is very picturesque and the frescoes are well-preserved. It is a bit hard to reach by public transport, but you can do so via taking a bus from Vologda (Wojciech) or joining a Russian day tour (Martina).

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Ensemble of the Ferapontov Monastery (ID: 982)
Country
Russia
Status
Inscribed 2000 Site history
History of Ferapontov Monastery
2000: Revision
Formerly appeared on T List as Mural paintings by Dionsiy in the Rojdestva Bogoroditsy Cathedral (1996)
2000: Inscribed
Inscribed
WHS Type
Cultural
Criteria
  • i
  • iv
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Religious structure: Christian
Travel Information
No travel information
Recent Connections
View all (15) .
Connections of Ferapontov Monastery
Individual People
  • Ivan the Terrible
    "The history of Ferrapontov Monastery was linked with important events at some crucial points during the conformation of the centralized Russian state, such as (...) the reign of the first Russian tsar Ivan IV (...)." (OUV) – "Together with Kirillo-Belozersk Monastery, it became the favoured place of worship and of endowment for many members of the Russian feudal aristocracy (...) and rulers, like Vassili III and Ivan IV." "The 16th century was the period of the monastery's greatest prosperity. Princes and tsars came to worship there and Ivan IV granted it special privileges and charters." (AB Ev)
Architecture
  • Brick architecture
    The Treasury Chamber (1530s) "is the oldest brick civil building in northern Russia." (AB Ev) – "The Ensemble of Ferapontov Monastery (...) consists of 6 brick buildings of XV-XVII centuries enclosed in a brick wall of XIX-XX centuries". – "The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin [is] the first brick building of Lake Baloe region and the monastery." (Nomination file, p. 1, 4)
  • Domes
    The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin "is a three-aisled structure surmounted by a dome". (AB Ev)
World Heritage Process
Religion and Belief
  • Cathedrals
    cathedral of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin
  • Religious Relics
    "Securing the relics of Martinian and his subsequent canonization made it a place of pilgrimage and attracted many gifts and endowments." (AB Ev)
  • Nunneries
    The Monastery briefly was a nunnery, from 1904 to1924. (AB Ev)
  • Christian Pilgrimage Sites
    "Securing the relics of Martinian and his subsequent canonization made it a place of pilgrimage and attracted many gifts and endowments." (AB Ev)
Human Activity
WHS on Other Lists
  • Most beautiful villages
    Ferapontovo is among The Most Beautiful Villages in Russia (Самые красивые деревни России)
  • Cultural WHS set within an IUCN recognised protected area
    Russky Sever National Park - IUCN category II (national park) - "protection of the surrounding area as part of the Rouskii Sever National Park (166.6ha) under the 1991 Law." (AB Ev) – "Russky Sever National Park (...) protects natural and cultural landscapes around Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery and Ferapontov Monastery, places of great historical significance." (Wikipedia)

    See en.wikipedia.org

Timeline
  • Built in the 15th century
    Wall paintings in the church of the Nativity of the Virgin, painted by Dionisy in the late 15th century (AB)
WHS Names
News

No news.

Community Reviews

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First published: 26/10/17.

Martina Rúčková

Ferapontov Monastery

Ferapontov Monastery (Inscribed)

Ferapontov Monastery by Luis Filipe Gaspar

My husband Ivan and I have visited this WHS on a very gloomy and rainy August day in 2013. We turned it into a day trip from Moscow – we took a night train to Vologda on Friday evening and returned via night train again on Sunday morning, which gave us one long day. In terms of accomodation, if you're on the budget, this can save you money spent on hotels for two nights.

We walked from the train station to city centre, took some pictures, saw the church. Then we took a tour bus for a day tour that would take us to Ferapontov monastery and Kirillo-Belozersky monastery. It's a fair and reasonably priced option, they take you to both sites and even a lunch is included in the price. The only downside is that it's in Russian, the bus is full of Russian babushkas and the tour guides drives on an on about history of the sites in a minute detail, about the lives of saints related to these two monasteris and so on. We booked a place beforehand via phone and then paid the price at the office of the agency, which was located in the lobby of the Spasskaya hotel in Vologda.

As for the Ferapontov monastery, I enjoyed the visit very much. The white and black ensemble perched on green grass by a river is very picturesque, if you overlook the state of slight disrepair of some parts. Founded in 1389 it has survived a …

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First published: 02/10/16.

Wojciech Fedoruk

Ferapontov Monastery

Ferapontov Monastery (Inscribed)

Ferapontov Monastery by Wojciech Fedoruk

It is not easy to go to Ferapontov on your own. Although there are three buses daily from Vologda (direction Lipin Bor and Petrozavodsk), you have to walk around two kilometres from the bus stop. And the bus back to Vologda is either after 1-1.5 hours (hardly doable unless you are a very good walker) or after about 9 hours and the latter means long time of waiting in the middle of nowhere or trying to hitchhike (what I did successfully).

The monastery of Ferapontov is the only one of many famous temples nearby that was inscribed as WHS. One of the reasons is that it is preserved with almost no changes since its creation in XIVth-XVth centuries. The monastery hold the masterpiece of Russian religious art - frescoes of Dionise, who is considered, after Andrei Rublow, second most important icon painter (or, as Russians say, icon writer). The frescoes are very well preserved, although constant restoration is going. Before going to the church you have you watch a short movie about the frescoes and their difficult restoration (scientists search original components of the paint, sometimes including gems). The movie is in Russian, I am not aware whether they have an English version.

Beside the frescoes, it is worth visiting two remaining tserkvas and a small museum of icons (with much more interesting examples than many ones in the churches of Golden Ring).

By the way, being in Vologda you cannot miss the beautiful St. Sophia Sobor. It has the …

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First published: 01/05/05.

Anonymous

Ferapontov Monastery

Ferapontov Monastery (Inscribed)

Ferapontov Monastery by Luis Filipe Gaspar

When visiting Vologda this spring, we asked a local tourist-guide what to see and she recommended a trip to Ferapontov. As it was out of season we had a privat tour of the monastry by the director. What a place; so quiet and peaceful and the paintings in the church are absolutely amazing.

This place is well worth the trouble getting there.

The best way to see the monastry are to arrange with the infocentre in Vologda and it is relatively inexpencive to visit.

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