The St. Nicholas Convent of Pereslavl has a long and not always happy history. After the 1917 Revolution, churches and monasteries were closed throughout the country; sometimes they were adapted for the needs of the new communist authorities, and sometimes simply destroyed.
The St. Nicholas Monastery was partially destroyed: the Cathedral of St. Nicholas and the tent-roofed bell tower built in 1693 were blown up, and the monastery walls and cemetery were destroyed. Some of the buildings survived and were used as a livestock facility, furniture and textile workshops, and warehouses.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, monasteries and churches began to be returned to the Orthodox Church, but not always in good condition. The buildings of the St. Nicholas Monastery that had survived the revolution and the war were dilapidated and neglected. In 1994, the large residential building where the nuns lived burned down.
Fortunately, the fate of the convent attracted the interest of construction magnate Viktor Ivanovich Tyryshkin, who paid for the construction of a new cathedral, a magnificent triple bell tower, and a new residential building. This three-story building in the classical style houses episcopal chambers, the nuns' cells, and a modest house church dedicated to Sergius of Radonezh.
