Adjoining the southern side of the Trinity Cathedral is the Nikon Church, erected over the grave of Venerable Nikon of Radonezh. He was a disciple and the second abbot of the Trinity Monastery after Venerable Sergius of Radonezh.
The current single-domed Nikon Church was built in 1623 on the site of an older church structure dating back to 1548.
Inside, the church building is spacious, and the altar and nave are not separated by any barrier. In the 1630s, the walls were adorned with rich paintings that, unfortunately, have not survived to the present day, except for a few fragments.
The carved gilded iconostasis above the relics of Venerable Nikon is modern, dating from the 1950s. About a dozen and a half icons depicting the disciples, Venerable Sergius himself, and Saint Alexius were painted by one of the nuns in the 20th century.
The Nikon Church houses especially venerated relics, such as a fragment of stone from the Holy Sepulchre and a copy of the icon of the Mother of God "Quick to Hear".
The church's architecture largely repeats the style of the Trinity Cathedral and follows its proportions, so the two are often perceived visually as a single whole. However, the newer church has richer decoration and smoother forms - specialists notice this immediately, while lay visitors simply enjoy the beautiful architectural ensemble without delving into such subtleties.
